In his first term, Donald Trump slammed Qatar as a country that he said had been a “funder of terrorism at a very high level.” Asked about those comments over the weekend, the president told reporters, “In 2017, I didn’t really know them very well.”
In other words, as Trump sees it, he didn’t really know what he was talking about. Now, however, he has a new perspective, because he “got to know them.”
Evidently, he got to know them quite well. Shortly after Qatar gave the president a free luxury jet, he’s been quite eager to sing the Middle Eastern country’s praises, but the push hasn’t been limited to flattering rhetoric. In fact, earlier this month, Trump unilaterally extended a NATO-like security guarantee to Qatar.
It was against this backdrop that Trump’s defense secretary generated some additional headlines late last week. The Washington Post reported:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that the United States will host a Qatari air force training facility at an Idaho air base. Hegseth later said the air base itself would remain under U.S. jurisdiction, after his announcement triggered online backlash from those mistakenly thinking that the decision would amount to having a foreign military base on U.S. soil.
As a factual matter, this wasn’t quite as dramatic a story as it might’ve seemed at first blush. Plenty of foreign countries are welcomed to U.S. military training facilities all the time, and this generally goes unnoticed by the broader political world.
But it was Hegseth’s specific choice of words that made the developments with Qatar qualitatively different.
Hegseth: "I'm also proud that today we're signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emeri air force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-10-10T14:22:25.676Z
“We’re announcing we’re signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emeri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho,” the beleaguered Pentagon chief declared. “The location will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots.”
It wasn’t long before Hegseth’s comments sparked a minor meltdown with the Republican Party’s MAGA base.
“Never thought I’d see Republicans give terror financing Muslims from Qatar a MILITARY BASE on US soil so they can murder Americans,” influencer Laura Loomer wrote online early Friday. “I don’t think I’ll be voting in 2026. I cannot in good conscience make any excuses for the harboring of jihadis.” “This is where I draw the line,” she added. The freak-out was arguably blown out of proportion, though it was the result of Hegseth’s own public comments, which he appeared to read while referencing a prepared text. The former Fox News host has been dogged for months by accusations that his tenure has featured one example of amateur hour after another. This latest incident didn’t help matters. Vice President JD Vance told Fox News, “This is largely a fake story.” Perhaps. But whose fault is that?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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