With just weeks remaining before Election Day 2016, Donald Trump faced off against Hillary Clinton for the third and final presidential debate of the cycle, and the Republican seemed eager to talk about the Clinton Foundation — or more specifically, it’s Middle Eastern donors.
“Saudi Arabia giving $25 million, Qatar, all of these countries,” Trump said. “You talk about women and women’s rights? So these are people that push gays off buildings. These are people that kill women and treat women horribly. And yet you take their money.”
After the election, the president continued down the same path, spending part of his first term condemning Qatar as a regressive state-sponsor of terrorism.
His attitudes apparently evolved over time, however, especially as the Trump Organization pursued business opportunities in the Middle East. Now, nearly a decade after Trump condemned Clinton for being the indirect beneficiary of Qatari generosity, the Republican is eager to accept a superluxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from his friends in Qatar.
A New York Times analysis highlighted the ways in which the president is raising red flags about corruption that eclipse some of the dramatic controversies from his first term.
The administration’s plan to accept a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari royal family is only the latest example of an increasingly no-holds-barred atmosphere in Washington under Trump 2.0. Not only would the famously transactional chief executive be able to use the plane while in office, but he is also expected to transfer it to his presidential foundation once he leaves the White House. The second Trump administration is showing striking disdain for onetime norms of propriety and for traditional legal and political guardrails around public service.
The analysis added that Trump doesn’t fear legal consequences, since Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices effectively elevated the presidency above the law, and he doesn’t fear congressional accountability, because obedient GOP lawmakers hold majorities in both chambers of Congress.
It’s that latter point that’s of particular interest.
“The deeply chilling part of this bribe and national security betrayal from the president is just how blatant and erroneous what he’s doing is,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said as the controversy intensified. “He’s almost daring Republicans to stand up to him and defend our country.”
The New York Democrat added, “So, where are our Republican friends with this kind of egregious, grubby, awful self-enrichment?”
It’s hardly an unreasonable question. This apparent arrangement raises legal, ethical, political, mechanical, financial, and national security concerns. Are there any GOP lawmakers prepared to acknowledge reality? To date, no Senate Republicans have publicly called on the White House to reject the “gift,” but some came close. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, for example, described the plan as “a mistake” and “not worth the appearance of impropriety.” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina also sounded a note of skepticism, while Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin called Qatar’s offer “pretty strange.” But other GOP partisans were quick to say what the president wanted them to say. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, for example, compared the jet to France gifting the U.S. the Statue of Liberty — I don’t think he was kidding — while Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma suggested Congress would gladly approve the arrangement. My personal favorite was Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who said, “‘Gosh, let me give you a plane.’ I mean, that seems pretty nice, but they support Hamas, so I don’t know.” As the president continues to struggle to come up with a coherent defense, Senate Democrats are planning to force a vote in the coming days on a resolution disapproving of the plan. Watch this space.
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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