"Make Airplanes Great Again: One Grift At A Time"

Trump’s $400M Qatari “gift” isn’t diplomacy; it’s a dangerous sale of influence that risks national security and democracy, all to stroke one man’s ego.

Let’s not sugarcoat this: President Trump just landed in Qatar, grinning like a petulant child at a candy store, except instead of a lollipop or some Swedish fish; red ones of course, he's been offered a $400 million aircraft; yes, offered, as a “gift” from the Royal Family. Now, call me crazy, but when a foreign government hands the President of the United States a flying fortress that costs more than the GDP of a small nation, we should probably hit the brakes, call a congressional hearing, and ask a few freakin questions.

First question I would ask: what the hell is going on?

Let’s set aside, for just a moment, that accepting a gift of this magnitude from a foreign government without congressional approval is not only shady; it’s potentially illegal. Let’s also momentarily ignore the fact that such a gift would require nearly a billion dollars; that’s right…a billion dollars, in additional U.S. taxpayer spending just to ensure there aren’t hidden national security threats baked into the fuselage like a kill switch, spyware or hidden listening devices in the coffee pot. I mean, have we learned nothing from the TikTok and Huawei debacles?

Even Trump’s own allies; yes, the yes-men and sycophants who’ve followed him into every dark alley of corruption; are stepping back and saying, “Wait, what?” That’s how you know this one’s bad. When Ben Shapiro, Laura Loomer, Mark Levin, Steve Bannon raise an eyebrow and Lindsey Graham stutters his disapproval, you know Trump’s pushed the envelope past its breaking point.

Let me break this down in terms anyone outside the Mar-a-Lago bubble can understand: This isn’t diplomacy. It’s a fire sale of American integrity. It’s an ego-fueled grift dressed up in gold-plated patriotism. Trump isn’t acting like a president; he’s behaving like a late-stage monarch, trading favors and flaunting power with zero regard for national consequence.

And why Qatar, of all places? Sure, it’s oil-rich and filled with luxury, but it’s also a nation with complex ties to groups that don’t exactly have America’s best interests at heart. Like Hamas. Is it a coincidence Trump is cozying up to them right as reports surface about backchannel deals involving sovereign wealth funds and Trump-branded projects abroad? You’d be foolish to think so.

This is the same Trump who in the first administration sold the presidency like it was a licensing deal. Who turned the White House into a family-run reality show. Now, in his second term, he's not even pretending anymore. A $400 million “gift” isn’t a gift; it’s a down payment. On what, we don’t know. But history tells us it won’t be in America’s favor. This I can assure you!

Meanwhile, back in the real world, where people actually buy their own groceries and don’t receive aircraft as swag bags, inflation just hit a four-year low. Good news, right? Well, yes; but also no.

Trump, naturally, is taking a victory lap. At a recent briefing, he bellowed that “egg prices are down 12.7 percent; that’s my doing!” Uh, no, Donny. The reason egg prices are falling is because the bird flu epidemic that ravaged poultry farms has finally ended. Nothing to do with economic policy, and certainly nothing to do with Trump. Unless, of course, you believe he personally cured avian influenza.

This is the Trumpian delusion machine at full tilt: take credit for what you didn’t do, deflect blame for what you did, and shout louder than the facts. But let’s look closer. According to Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, this inflation cooldown may actually be signaling something far more troubling: a weakening economy.

“Those are telltale signs of consumer stress,” Brusuelas said. In other words, the lower inflation numbers aren’t entirely good news. Americans are tightening their belts not because they feel great about the economy; but because they have no choice. Layoffs are creeping up, credit card delinquencies are rising, and wages aren’t keeping pace with the cost of living. It’s not a boom. It’s a slow bleed.

That’s the chaos tax of the Trump presidency. The daily barrage of scandals, missteps, and power grabs isn’t just exhausting; it’s expensive. It creates uncertainty. Markets don’t like uncertainty. Neither do families trying to plan a budget, or small business owners navigating rising interest rates.

Trump’s Qatar stunt is just the latest symptom of a man who views the presidency as a personal ATM and Air Force One as his Uber Black. It’s not leadership; it’s looting. And while he smiles for the cameras on some Qatari tarmac, Americans back home are struggling to make sense of why their groceries are cheaper; but everything else feels worse.

This isn’t just concerning. It’s a five-alarm fire for anyone who still believes in the idea of public service. Trump doesn’t serve the public. He serves himself, with a side of ego and a dessert of delusion.

If the Republican led Congress has even a shred of dignity left, they’ll demand answers; immediately. This aircraft deal should be dead on arrival. And the American people? We should be furious. Not just at the grift, but at how numb we’ve become to it.

It’s time to wake up. Because if we keep accepting this kind of corruption as business-as-usual, the next “gift” might be our democracy.

PERSONAL NOTE: I CAN’T DO THIS ALONE.

If you’re reading this, it means you care. You care about truth. About justice. About saving our democracy from the grip of grifters, liars, and power-hungry con men. But let’s be real; I can’t carry this weight on my own.

I’m asking, no, urging you, my loyal Substack readers, to help grow this platform into a force they can’t ignore. We’re not building a newsletter; we’re building a movement. One loud enough, sharp enough, and relentless enough to push back against the lies and hold the corrupt to account.

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