In 1974, President Richard Nixon gifted Egyptian President Anwar Sadat a Sikorsky VH-3A Sea King helicopter similar to Marine One. After chain-smoking First Lady Pat Nixon asked Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai for a cigarette and commented on how cute the pandas were on his special pack, Zhou gifted them two giant pandas. The Nixons were also received a set of crown jewels. Azerbaijan gifted Hillary and Bill Clinton a priceless handmade rug with their images on it. President Reagan received a white horse from Mexico. And on and on it goes.
And now everyone is having a conniption fit over President Trump possibly receiving a 747 jetliner that Qatar currently uses as a charter jet.
Calm down, everyone.
Unless you’re Hillary Clinton and order staff to pack up all the good stuff out of the White House and send it to your new home, presidents can’t keep gifts like that. In fact, they can’t keep anything worth more than about $500. Even Hillary couldn’t. She had to return $190,000 worth of furniture, dishes, rugs, TVs, and other items. They were given a chance to purchase other items and paid out $28,000 to keep them.
Aside, from concerns I have about the Qatari plane being a security fiasco because Qatar is not our friend and hasn’t met a jihadi they don’t love and want to fund, all of those spendy gifts go to the woke National Archives or other government entity and are doled out for loaning to museums and presidential libraries after they’ve been used by the administration
Related: Where’s the Beef? It’s in Trump’s Unprecedented Trade Deal With Britain
The two presidential Air Force One jets now in use have been flying since 1990 and have been used by every president since George H.W. Bush. The old ones were mothballed. This is the reason why former President Reagan was able to park one of those out-of-commission bad boys at the Reagan Library.
Air Force One 27000 used by Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton and W. Bush at @Reagan_Library pic.twitter.com/6rDTX5qa1e
— Marta (@MartaL_ML) February 19, 2018
But the discussion about the Boeing jetliner being gifted to the Trump administration has lit a fire under Boeing’s CEO to speed up the delivery of the Air Force Ones.
The Boeing jets were already on order since 2015 when Trump 45 complained that the time and materials contract was a disaster and demanded a renegotiation for an all-inclusive deal for one price and not a penny more in 2018. Trump saved the Air Force $1.4 billion over the previous deal.
Initially, Boeing said it would get them out the door in 2024, but Trump said he wanted the craft delivered by 2021. But Trump left office, and nobody seemed to ride herd on Boeing. Recently, delivery dates were pushed back for some time in 2029.
Trump 47 has been complaining about the slow production since his first days in office. CNN reported:
“I’m not happy with the fact that it’s taken so long,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One in February. “There’s no excuse for it.” He said he wouldn’t turn to Boeing’s European rival Airbus
,but would consider buying a used 747 and having a different company refurbish it for use as Air Force One.…Soon after those comments Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg told investors that he is “all in” on trying to speed up the delivery and praised suggestions made by Elon Musk, who visited the Texas facility where the work is being done in December on Trump’s behalf.
“The president is clearly not happy with the delivery timing,” [Boeing CEO Kelly] Ortberg said at that time. “He’s made that well known. Elon Musk is actually helping us a lot in working through the requirements… to try to help us get the things that are non-value-added constraints out of the way, so we can move faster and the president those airplanes.”
But labor problems at Boeing and the defense contracting giant’s difficulty in finding parts and components, along with other supply chain issues, have made it difficult to finish the two jetliners.
Ortburg now says he hopes to have them done by 2027, before Trump leaves his second term of office.
Qatar made the offer of the plane in February, and President Trump toured the craft when it was parked in Palm Beach, Fla., near the Summer White House at Mar-a-Lago.
Related: See If You Can Spot the Biggest Difference Between Biden’s and Trump’s China Deals
Let’s recap: Boeing’s late and probably over budget. Qatar offered a plane a couple months ago. Trump toured said plane, noting that it will cost millions to retrofit it to minimum Air Force One standards. And Boeing is left sputtering about getting production sped up.
The mediacrats are shilling the fake news that Trump only wants the Qatari 747 for himself because they can’t expand their minds to consider that what Trump really wants is for Boeing to get off their backsides and get these done. That’s applying pressure on Boeing.
Trump just did Boeing a solid in the recent deal with the UK.
The company is a defense and national security asset, and now the man in the Oval Office wants them to get their production lines moving.
Trump to Boeing: Help me help you, or I may buy a new plane and ask another company to kit it out. It’s up to you, Boeing.
Thanks for reading PJ Media. Why not become a VIP Member to get our exclusive, ad-free content?
Help us continue to report on Trump’s accomplishments and expose leftist corruption. Join PJ Media VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
