The Issue: Qatar’s gift to President Trump of a $400 million jet to replace the current Air Force One.
The Defense Department should not accept Qatar’s airplane and convert it into a presidential Air Force One (“Is Qatar’s outreach a shady Uncle Scam?” Douglas Murray, May 16).
That Qatari jet will need to be torn down to the studs for security clearance, work that only Boeing’s experts would be qualified to do. But that will delay Boeing’s work of building two brand-new AF1s.
If the DoD does accept the airplane in time before President Trump leaves office, he should not be allowed to keep it after his term.
This bribe is corruption — plain and simple. If Trump is the billionaire he claims to be, he could buy the plane for $400 million with his own money after leaving office.
Bruce Joffe
Piedmont, Calif.
This is nothing more than a blatant attempt to bribe a US president on an unheard-of scale.
How hypocritical is this when he criticized Hillary Clinton for accepting a $425 necklace?
Alan Swartz
Verona, NJ
Leftist media morons have been ragging on Trump all week over Qatar’s offer to provide a 747 jet to the US government.
These people relentlessly lie by giving the impression that Trump has already accepted the aircraft. Both Qatar and the US governments are presently analyzing the legality of such a transfer. Both are only in the “speaking” stage and no actual aircraft transfer has yet been made.
Earl Beal
Terre Haute, Ind.
There are obvious political and security problems with Trump accepting the jet Qatar and then keeping it for his presidential library after his term.
But there have also been legal and ethical problems. First, some sticklers insist Congress must approve the grift, err, gift. Second, some claim there is no precedent for whether Trump keeps the jet — but that is wrong.
When his term was over, President Grover Cleveland didn’t take personal possession of the Statue of Liberty and move it to his presidential library in Caldwell, NJ.
Trump evidently still believes the plane will be his, perhaps on the theory that if you tell a lie and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
Mike Barrett
Ashburn, Va.
If Qatar wishes to honor Trump, it should equip one or more flying hospitals or flying eye clinics to benefit humanity as a whole, with his name painted prominently on them.
Such aircraft would be a long-term way of honoring him. It would also avoid any ethical concerns or violating the emoluments clause.
Bruce Couchman
Ottawa, Canada
The Issue: A 70% rise in crime in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district amid her recent absence.
It appears that at least some of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s constituents are paying attention to her lack of attention to the needs of her district (“Crime soars 70% in absent AOC’s pcts.” May 18).
While their insight is gratifying, I doubt it will have an impact on her re-election, or on her status in her party. Those who voted for her are in sync with her anti-police, anti-Israel and “tax the rich” brand of socialism.
The fact that she’s a front-runner for 2028 speaks volumes about the pathetic state of the party.
Robert Mangi
Garden City
It just doesn’t get any better. There’s a perfect term here: Schadenfreude.
AOC’s constituents inflicted a mini-monster on all of us and deserve every day of her incumbency.
To those few souls who didn’t vote for her, I feel your pain: Now keep a stiff upper lip in hopes that your neighbors might eventually see the error of their ways.
Mitchell Schwefel
Barnegat, NJ
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