Trump's Fanciest Bribe

Qatar's wingéd corruption

“[No] Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” — (The Emoluments Clause, Article I, Section 9, U.S. Constitution.)

“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” ―George Orwell

**

Let’s not make this complicated.

Of course it’s a bribe.

Everyone knows it’s a bribe. The Qataris know it’s a bribe. Trump knows it’s a bribe. Even MAGA simps know it’s a bribe.

And you’re not crazy to think that it’s brazenly corrupt and illegal with hair on it. It’s exactly this sort of thing that the Founders had in mind when they wrote the Emoluments Clause.

The Qataris have been buying influence, access and clout for years, so they are veterans of payola. They could have given Trump piles of gold bars like the ones used to bribe Senator Bob Menendez; or envelopes of cash like Spiro Agnew pocketed. They could simply have purchased billions of dollars of $TRUMP meme coins. Or they could have given him secret accounts like the ones they used to finance Hamas and other terror groups.

But, writes Kevin Manahan:

What do you give to a president who already has enriched himself and his family by an average of $1 billion per month since taking office?

What could a guy — the most powerful man on the planet, who is planning 20 branded real estate projects around the globe — possibly want?

So the Qataris chose the fanciest lagniappe of all — a jumbo bribe on wings that will touch every one of Trump’s erogenous zones of avarice and excess.

The interior of Boeing's 747-8 jumbo passenger jet features LED lighting and sculpted ceilings. / Boeing

.The “Palace in the Sky” comes with a twist designed to skirt the plain meaning of the law: It goes to the US Government to be used as Trump’s bespoke Air Force One, and then will be transferred to his presidential library in January 2029, where it will be available for Trump’s perpetual personal use.

This is all kosher, and not-at-all unconstitutional, says Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi — who until recently was paid $115,000 a month as a registered foreign lobbyist for the Qatari government.

But, wait. It gets worse.

Happy Monday. Or, if we are talking about Trump’s trade policy: Happy Tariff Capitulation Day.

I know that there are a lot of claims on your time and your wallet, but this should be on your list: Support the voices that are supporting democracy, the rule of law, free speech, and fundamental decency.

As you know: You may disagree with me from time to time (and I expect you will, because I’m not promising you a safe space here). But I can promise you straight, sober, sane (and snarky) commentary — and a daily reminder that you are not the crazy ones.

The Qataris buy themselves a president

AGHamilton29 provides a quick summary of the Qatari play:

People pretend to be concerned about foreign influence, but are silent about the one country that has openly been spending billions to purchase US politicians, control US schools, and influence US policy. And with deep connections to anti-American terrorism.

Just imagine the national security issues with having the President fly in a plane built by Qatar.

He continued:

Putting aside the ties to terrorism and the fact that it is essentially an Islamist slave state, Qatari officials have:

- Been caught openly bribing politicians, including a US Senator

- Spent over $6 billion on funding extremism at US universities. By far the most of any country in the last several decades

- Regularly funded trips for US AGs and other officials

- have an extensive lobbying network that significantly exceeds that, outside of China, might be the most aggressive in the US

- control a large global news network that serves as a propaganda arm for terrorism and is thus banned in several key Arab state

- invested heavily in US media outlets and been caught buying up US influencers

All of that is absolutely true; Qatari’s massive influence peddling campaign — “buying access, shaping discourse, and laundering its image through think tanks, universities, and former officials” —is well known and well documented.

So are Qatar’s ties to terrorism.

Support for Hamas and terrorism.

In 2023, The Foundation for Defense of Democracies published: 10 Things to Know About Hamas and Qatar.

Qatar has enabled the terrorist organization Hamas politically and financially for decades. However, the tiny Gulf Arab state has successfully positioned itself as the lead negotiator in the Hamas-Israel war despite its lack of neutrality and ongoing support for terrorism. In fact, Doha hosts key members of Hamas’s senior leadership and has given an estimated $1.8 billion to Gaza’s Hamas-run government.

Qatar and state-sponsored terrorism:

Qatar has been accused of allowing terror financiers to operate within its borders, which has been one of the justifications for the Qatar diplomatic crisis that started in 2017 and ended in 2021. In 2014, David S. Cohen, then United States Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, accused Qatari authorities of allowing financiers who were on international blacklists to live freely in the country: "There are U.S.- and UN-designated terrorist financiers in Qatar that have not been acted against under Qatari law." Accusations come from a wide variety of sources including intelligence reports, government officials, and journalists

**

Buying influence and clout.

In 2023, the Network Contagion Research Institute published a report, “The Corruption of the American Mind” that found that Qatar was the most significant foreign donor to American universities, with donations totaling $4.7 billion to universities in the United States from 2001 to 2021.

But Qatar has taken a special — and intense — interest in buying access and influencing Donald Trump. During his first term, The Wall Street Journal reported “Qatar Targeted 250 Trump ‘Influencers’ to Change U.S. Policy.”

It deployed the list of 250 “Trump influencers” such as Mr. Dershowitz who are known to have the president’s ear formally or informally, Mr. Allaham says. He and Mr. Muzin say they compiled the list and approached their targets, sending roughly two dozen to Doha, covering their expenses and paying some directly. Among others they sent were former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and conservative radio host John Batchelor.

They also arranged meetings in the U.S. between Qatari officials and some Trump associates, they say, including Steve Witkoff, a fellow New York developer with no history in politics. Mr. Witkoff didn’t respond to requests for comment.

[Witkoff is now Trump’s special envoy to Vladimir Putin.]

That campaign has intensified in the second Trump term. Via the conservative Middle east Forum:

In the early days of the second Trump administration, while America focuses on domestic priorities and global challenges, Qatar is executing a calculated influence campaign within America’s power centers. Leveraging its immense wealth and strategic position, Qatari envoys and lobbyists are actively cultivating ties, shaping policy discussions, and seeking favor with key decision-makers throughout the nation.

**

Qatari’s influence campaign has paid off big with Pam Bondi.

President-elect Donald Trump's new pick for Attorney General once earned $115,000 a month as a registered foreign lobbyist for the Qatari government, which has often been accused of human rights abuses.

**

But Qatar is singularly focused on paying off Donald Trump himself: Trump Organization strikes deal for luxury golf resort in Qatar | AP News

The Trump family company struck a deal Wednesday to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar in a sign it has no plans to hold back from foreign dealmaking during a second Trump administration, despite the danger of a president shaping U.S. public policy for personal financial gain.

The project, which features Trump-branded beachside villas and an 18-hole golf course to be built by a Saudi Arabian company, is the first foreign deal by the Trump Organization since Donald Trump took office and unlike any done in his first term. Back then, he forswore foreign deals in an extraordinary press conference surrounded by stacks of legal documents as he pledged to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest.

Noah Bookbinder, president of a watchdog group that has sued Trump for alleged ethics violations, blasted the Qatari deal.

“You want a president making decisions that are in the best interest of the United States, not his bottom line,” said Bookbinder, who leads Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

When you’ve lost Laura Loomer…

Even reliable Trump toe-suckers were appalled by the news that Trump might accept the wingèd grift. Via Mediaite: ‘This Is Insanely Dangerous’: Conservatives Horrified by Report Trump Plans to Accept Lavish $400 Million Jet from Qatar

Here’s Mark Levin:

There are news reports that Qatar is buying us a jet. Who knows. But Qatar must stop buying our colleges and universities and spreading their anti-American, Jew-hating propaganda and funding terrorist groups and front groups. Their jet and all the other things they are buying in our country does not provide them with the cover they seek. It is a terror state. That is beyond dispute or their bank accounts.

And Trump’s crazy (but influential) BFF, Laura Loomer, is Big Mad about the whole thing.

Exit take: Someone is rather touchy about the whole thing. Last night, Trump lashed out at critics and defended his new Qatari ride.

Monday dogs

From 2022: Pete and his friend Leo.