Democrats have raised serious, weighty objections to President Donald Trump’s move to accept a $400 million plane from the governor of Qatar, with many arguing it’s a clear violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution and a possible security threat.
On Wednesday, they’ll also be trolling Trump, hoping to draw some public attention to the issue.
On Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee is having a plane fly a banner near Mar-a-Lago, the president’s beloved home and club in Palm Beach. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. it will identify the location as “Qatar-a-Lago.”
“Donald Trump is using the presidency to personally enrich himself while he bankrupts working families. His corruption is a slap in the face to the millions of Americans who are struggling to get by and put food on the table,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement.
“The DNC is highlighting what foreign autocracies around the world already know: Trump has no loyalty to the American people, national security, or the Constitution — his only allegiance is to his bank account and his billionaire buddies,” Martin said.
Critics of the plan worry that the move threatens to turn Air Force One, the president’s plane and a global symbol of American power into an airborne collection of ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence concerns. The Constitution prohibits federal officials from accepting things of value, or “emoluments,” from foreign governments without congressional approval.
Even some of Trump’s most ultra-MAGA supporters, normally loath to say anything remotely critical about the president, have objected to the arrangement.
Trump has defended accepting the gift from the foreign government.
“I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” the president told reporters on Monday. “I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’”
When word first got out about it over the weekend, it was reported as a plan to give the airliner to the government for Trump to use as Air Force One while in office then transfer it to his presidential library for him to use after he leaves office.
He subsequently walked that back, saying he wouldn’t use the Boeing 747 for post-presidential travel. Instead, he said, a future presidential library would use it similarly to how the Boeing 707 used by President Ronald Reagan was decommissioned and put on display as a museum piece.
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.