On Plain Bribery
A hypothetical for your consideration.
So, back in 2022, I was still serving as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences when a Saudi student with ties to the royal family stopped by my office. He was studying to obtain a master’s degree in international relations, a program housed in my old department and one in which I had taught in until recently. He was in his second semester and had asked to stop by to meet me, and I was happy to do so.
As we were chatting, he noticed a bill on my desk for an automotive repair. Yes, I lamented, my car is getting old and it really needs to be replaced, but the supply chains were so disrupted after the pandemic that I have just been having a hard time getting what I want. I just feel stuck.
The student sat up and told me that he would love to be of service! His father had an extensive collection of automobiles! It made Jay Leno look like a Matchbox Car collector! He would be happy to donate a car to the College for my use, and it could be transferred to the Taylor Family Trust upon my retirement. In fact, he remembered a slightly used Rolls-Royce Phantom just gathering dust in the corner. It was probably only worth around $250,000!
Wow! That sounds great! I said. What kind of idiot would turn down a free car? Why, the great Sam Snead said to never turn down a gimmee putt!!
He politely nodded, knowing neither who Sam Snead was, nor what a gimmee putt might be.
So it was done. The university attorneys checked state law and found that, of course, Colleges could get free cars from students and that deans could then have them transferred to their trusts upon their retirement.
No one I knew thought there was anything odd about the gift. They just marveled at how cool it was.
That student never, ever was seen again in my office. He never asked for any favors! (*wink*). I certainly never felt any reason to show gratitude or lenience to him in any way.
That car sits in my garage even today. It sure is shiny!
Meanwhile, apropos of nothing, I recommend this from Ben Wittes: A Used Plane That Needs Work.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-plane-qatar-schumer-nominees-senate-8efd139a898c32cb7a1fa554c3e937c7
Three things of note:
1. Apparently this is worthy of action when sending allegedly undocumented immigrants to an El Salvadoran prison for funsies is not. (Without due process, we do not know these are undocumented, nor that they have committed crimes that would merit life imprisonment in horrific conditions) Nor is trashing the government by shutting down congressionally created agencies and withholding funds. Nor the crypto shit.
2. Trump just announced a big deal where Qatar is buying a bunch of Boeing civilian planes, plus a lot of military tech.
3. Someone credible needs to inform Qatar that the next Democratic administration is not likely to look favorably upon them or their actions. For instance, purchasing American military hardware is not going to be as effective if they cannot get replacement parts.
His Majesty Manuel Andres 0 served since December 2018, his reign overlapped with the rapist’s first term. One of his objectives in office was to sell the presidential plane from the previous administration, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Imagine if instead of selling it, he’d have donated it to the felon in the same way the Qataris are now doing? I wonder if the thought ever crossed his mind. Sure, the Air Force demands 4 engines for a US presidential plane (meaning the next one will be two 777-9s glued together), but who’d turn down a new, barely used latest generation jet?
The MAGAs are saying that this is just a very clever Trump ploy to get Boeing to hurry up and finish Air Force One.
@Gustopher:
Trump may have given the Qataris reason to believe there won’t be a next Dem administration.
@CSK: “…a very clever Trump ploy to get Boeing to hurry up and finish Air Force One.”
That, and as a flood-the-zone-with-shit outrage to distract from the administration’s other outrages, are not that clever but may have helped inspire this gift 747 proposal.
But it’s ridiculous this idea is still moving forward, or at least is still on the table. It was never going to be an Air Force One, and elected democrats and the press should not be giving any credibility to the idea by referring to this used foreign government-owned luxury jet as even a proposed “Air Force One.”
Schumer, for example, reading prepared text on the floor of the Senate, said “So in light of the deeply troubling news of a possible Qatar funded Air Force One and the reports that the attorney general personally signed off on this clearly unethical deal…” No. It’s not a possible Qatar funded Air Force One.
This is what happens when we have incompetent loyalists in key administration positions. He wants what he wants, but Hegseth isn’t about to tell him that a used Qatari 747 is not only of no use to the DoD, but would actually cost the department a fortune to do anything with it, except maybe for target practice. The DNI isn’t going to say anything–she couldn’t even keep her answers straight to congressional questions on whether classified info was included in the Signal chat. The NSA isn’t about to call out that the plane is a non-starter from a security perspective–he’s a lemming who wouldn’t acknowledge that clearly sensitive national security info was presented on the chat he participated in, and instead gave not-my-job answers to questions about it. And the Attorney General… that story of conflicting interests and corruption writes itself.
@CSK:
Then the bribe ought to have gone to Boeing.
And they should be careful what they wish for. last time Boeing cut corners, they killed several hundred people in two Max crashes and lost tens of billions in fleet groundings, redesigns, re-certification, and compensations.
No aircraft with the call sign Air Force 1 has ever crashed. But we’re in an era where precedents tend to get shattered.
IANAL, but it seems to me much of this goes back to the 2016 SCOTUS decision in McDonnell v. United States. At root, the decision said it isn’t bribery if there isn’t a specific, illegal quid pro quo. Subsequent reporting shows the Justices may have had their personal situations in mind. But, as long as the Qataris aren’t dumb enough to have a quid pro quo in writing or otherwise recorded, ex-Qatari lobbyist Pam Bondi can claim this is legal. A far cry from the Caesar’s wife standard.
As I’ve observed before, this is the big leagues. You don’t do anything crass, like handing a councilman an envelope of $100s to vote for your rezoning. This is the bigs where you provide a luxury bus, or an Alaska fishing trip, or a cushy headhunting gig for the wife, in return for loyalty to your class. Or your nation.
@Kathy:
Well, the average MAGA isn’t bright enough to figure that out for him or herself.
@CSK:
I hurriedly read some complaints that Air Force One should be made in America…
BTW, the biggest fool in all of this is the Qatari government or the royal family.
Most other heads of state can play the rapist for free.
Yup, it’s a 14 year old bird.
Been on the used-jet market for quite some time. I would speculate the engines are about timed-out. 10 years would be about right for a jet only used as a royal taxi. This is the typical sell-point for the fabulously well-to-do with their toys. With engines needing replacement, the value is probably a lot closer to $100 mil than $400 mil and it is likely that they could find no buyers even at that. The uber-rich can garner all needed status with the biggest and baddest of Gulfstreams, which can get in and out of many more airports in the world than that beast can. If they really want to go big the 737BBJs are available, burning half the fuel, and again capable of getting into a great many smaller airports that a 747 can’t.
A project to spend hundreds of millions on an old jet to make into an Air Force One for only a couple years before it has to be handed over to the Trump library? Was DOGE consulted?
If Boeing’s too busy, maybe the US government should consider placing an order with Airbus?
I’m sure they’d be happy to help.
*schnork*
@JohnSF:
A few months ago the Air Force acquired some B747-8s to convert for use as E-4B aerial command post, or Doomsday Planes. The contract to retrofit the planes was given to Sierra Nevada Corporation rather than Boeing.
IMO, that’s damming for Boeing.
Steven, you forgot to mention that you hired the lawyers who signed off on it, and that they previously worked for that student.
@CSK: Rushing an airplane manufacturer seems like an excellent idea.
/s
Always uplifting to see the President of the United States acting like a 13 year old with an iPhone15 saying he won’t go to school anymore because the cool kids have iPhone16s, and he’s just too embarrassed to be seen with a 15.
I read elsewhere that the 707 on display at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley was used not only by Reagan, but by the four presidents who preceded him – which would include everyone back through LBJ. Also worthy of note is that the Air Force has B-52s in service that are much older than the 36-year-old 747s that now serve as Air Force One.
*Clarence Thomas nods in approval*
An honest ruler makes the nation strong; a ruler who takes bribes will bring it to ruin.
This is no more a bribe than when Bondi accepted cash from Trump (and dropped an investigation shortly afterwards).