And Republicans who are saying it would be stupid for Trump not to take the offered plane are downplaying the fact that--of course!--Accepting such a rich gift, even if it isn't going to Trump directly, will buy Qatar a lot of goodwill from the president. 

First, the whole claim that this is a "bribe" to Trump is overblown. The plane is being given to the U.S. Air Force, not to the president himself. I agree it looks pretty skeezy because the president will be using the plane during his term, so he clearly benefits to that extent, but nobody questions that the president would use any new Air Force One so it's not like he is getting much of a benefit that he isn't supposed to have as president. If Boeing had delivered the new Air Force One aircraft as it was supposed to nobody would say "Boo" about that because the president is supposed to have reliable planes to fly on. 

The problem really is WHO is giving the plane, not that it is being given while Trump is in office. If Keir Starmer had gifted a plush 747, most Democrats would thank him, as they should. Not that that would happen, but I don't recall anyone complaining about the Resolute desk that sits in the Oval or the Statue of Liberty. 

Read the investigation: https://t.co/TO6Olnnmmg

— The Free Press (@TheFP) May 14, 2025

What's much more troubling than the optics of Trump accepting this gift to the United States is that it is clearly part of Qatar's influence operation, and liberal institutions are at least as guilty of being lured in by bribes from Qatar. 

Tens of billions of dollars of gifts and grants have flowed to establishment institutions, regardless of ideological affiliations. Universities have greedily accepted all the cash that the Qataris will throw to them, and a heck of a lot of goodwill toward the country has flowed Qatarward.

The very same people who are now complaining that Trump is cozying up to Qatar didn't say "Boo" when, in 2022, Joe Biden designated Qatar a "Major non-NATO ally." Cozying up to Qatar is not a Republican sin; it is an American one. Everybody likes Qatar's money, and why not? It's money spends fine. 

Qatar has spent almost $100 billion to establish its legitimacy in Congress, American colleges and universities, U.S. newsrooms, think tanks, and corporations. Over the past two decades, it has poured those billions into purchases of American-made weapons and business investments ranging from U.S. real estate to energy plants. It built—and still pays for—the Al Udeid Air Base, even as the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have ended. Doha finances research and campuses at prestigious American universities. And its lobbyists have the connections needed to open all the right doors in Washington. Since 2017, it has spent $225 million on lobbying and public-relations efforts in the nation’s capital.

The Free Press reviewed thousands of lobbying, real estate, and corporate filings. We interviewed dozens of American, European, and Middle Eastern diplomats and defense officials. We also analyzed secret intelligence briefings and previously undisclosed government documents. Together, they explain how Qatar has amassed so many loyal allies in America.

The why not is pretty obvious: Qatar has deep ties to Islamists, including but not limited to Hamas. As much as it reaches out to Western countries seeking legitimacy and friends, it does the same with Islamist countries and terrorist groups. It's no secret that Hamas had its leadership and headquarters in Qatar, and billions of dollars have flowed through that country to some of the most unsavory people in the world. 

As Qatar buys influence by sponsoring sports--golf and European "football" most notably--it builds its arenas using slave labor. All that glitz that impresses Westerners came courtesy of workers who slaved away in scorching heat that killed many of them. Qatar is hardly a paragon of liberal democracy and Western values. 

Countries have always used money to advance their interests abroad, and recipients know that the bargain often includes realpolitik that requires them to hold their noses. Qatar is an extreme example of that geopolitical codependence.

The influence built by Qatar in the U.S. has no modern parallel, The Free Press found, whether compared with large American companies seeking to influence antitrust policy, energy firms trying to win new drilling rights, or other foreign governments aiming to shape U.S. policy—or shield themselves from it. For comparison, Qatar spent three times more in the U.S. than Israel did on lobbyists, public-relations advisers, and other foreign agents in 2021—and nearly two-thirds as much as China did, according to the government’s latest reports.

There is a lot of focus on Trump's financial interests in Qatar, and there is no doubt that he has plenty, given the businesses he holds. Anybody who develops properties or has interests in sports has financial interests in Qatar, because Qatar is where billions of dollars flow. But anybody who defended Biden's family business, which was entirely dependent on selling access to the White House over the past decade and a half to countries like Ukraine and China, has no moral ground to stand on criticizing Trump. Trump's business interests are actually legitimate, at least, not selling access to US policy. He would be doing business in Qatar, whether he were president or not, because that is where a lot of business is to be done. 

How many countries are throwing money at Hunter Biden now that his father is discredited?

As unsavory as it is that so many Americans have been bought by the Qataris, given their ties to Islamists, calls to distance ourselves from the country based on moral qualms are pretty easy to dismiss for practical reasons, none of which have to do with the influence purchasing they have done in the United States and Europe. 

The reasons are purely Machiavellian:

In 2022, President Biden declared Qatar a “major non-NATO ally” of the U.S., easing the way for more arms sales and greater U.S. military support. Last year, the two countries agreed to extend the lease on Al Udeid for another decade and discussed the possibility of joint-weapons production. “They’ve been an extraordinary partner to us, and Al Udeid Air Base remains a critical juncture for us in the Middle East,” said retired U.S. Army General Joseph Votel, who led the U.S. Central Command in the region from 2016 to 2019.

American diplomats have also expressed gratitude to Qatar for serving as a middleman between the U.S. and adversaries such as Iran, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Tehran’s proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah. That role has proven especially important during negotiations to release Israeli and American hostages seized by Hamas in 2023 and imprisoned in the Gaza Strip. In March, Steve Witkoff described Qatar’s leaders as “people who don’t have the old sensibilities, people who want to do business.”

Qatar is absolutely key to US foreign policy in the region. Our largest military bases are in Qatar--both naval and air--and Qatar's ties to Islamists are quite useful to the US, Europe, and even Israel itself. 

Qatar is where you go to sit down and negotiate with our enemies. It is, in a bizarre way, a kind of Switzerland or Casablanca, where clashing worlds overlap and under-the-table deals are done. 

Little discussed, for instance, is Qatar's offer to kick Hamas out of the country after the October 7th attacks, and the offer was rebuffed by none other than Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. The reason? The US needed a way to communicate with the terrorist organization. In much the same way that Pakistan represents Iran's interests in the United States and Switzerland represents the US interests in Iran, Qatar acts as an intermediary between the US and our Islamist enemies. 

The world is more complicated than we can ever imagine. 

Is Qatar trying to buy goodwill from Trump by gifting the 747? It is. Is it a bribe? Only in the sense that every donation Qatar makes to just about every nonprofit and university in the West is a bribe. Ask the Clinton Foundation or the Gates Foundation whether the money they took from Qatar bought them. How about Yale? Harvard? 

Are Trump's critics going to denounce them? 

On this issue, everybody is a hypocrite. Qatar is acting as a small, wealthy, and weak country in a very dangerous neighborhood, trying to stay out of the line of fire by buying everyone off and making powerful friends. It is behaving in a very Machiavellian way, and, to be honest, playing its cards well from its point of view. 

The same is true for everybody doing business with Qatar. They are willing to look the other way because there is no upside to making the country a pariah, and some downsides for doing so. The US would lose vital military bases, a way to communicate with our enemies when we need to, and lots of investment dollars. 

So everybody pretends to be either horrified by Qatar or that they are entirely philanthropic. The reality is both simpler and more complicated. What Qatar is, as far as I can tell, is Machiavellian. They are a country of just over 300,000 citizens sitting on ungodly amounts of oil. In order to survive, they have chosen to buy goodwill. 

And people are willing to sell plenty of it in return.