President Donald Trump’s plan to accept a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar has triggered unexpected backlash from within his own base. Prominent MAGA personalities like Laura Loomer and Ben Shapiro are denouncing the plan, citing concerns about Qatar’s ties to groups like Hamas and its broader relationship with Iran, alongside other national security risks.
Lesser-known Trump fans spoke up on X, with a few expressing concerns about the President’s safety. Others opposed accepting the gift not on any constitutional grounds, but because they’re not fans of Qatar.
Laura Loomer, Ben Shapiro, and Mark Levin agree
Right-wing media personality Laura Loomer took a break from yelling “WOKE MARXIST POPE” to speak out on Sunday on reports that Trump intends to accept what has been referred to as a “sky palace.” Loomer mentioned that she’d take a bullet for the man (twice) but had to speak her truth.
“I have to call a spade a spade,” she wrote. “We cannot accept a $400 million ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits.”
“The Qataris fund the same Iranian proxies in Hamas and Hezbollah who have murdered US Service Members. The same proxies that have worked with the Mexican cartels to get jihadists across our border. This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true.”
Qatar is an Iranian ally and allowed senior Hamas officials in the capital of Doha until November 2024. They don’t tend to count fans among pro-Israel Trump supporters. Fox News host Mark Levin agreed with Loomer, quote-tweeting her post with the word “Ditto.” He may have gone against his network in doing so, considering the network’s X account repeatedly posted President Trump’s denials of wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro dedicated an episode of his podcast to opposing Trump’s plan. Right-wing political commentator Ian Miles Cheong posted a clip from this episode without offering his own opinion.
“Taking sacks of goodies from people who support Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera, all the rest—that’s not America first,” said Shapiro. “Like, please define America First in a way that says you should take sacks of cash from the Qatari royals, who are behind Al Jazeera.”
“If you want President Trump to succeed, this kind of skeezy stuff needs to stop.”
‘I miss the old Trump’
The big names weren’t the only ones feeling a strain on the limits of their loyalty to Trump. While crowds of MAGA accounts defended the President, a few expressed that they are not 100 percent on board. Most of this dissent centered on their distrust of Qatar, leaning more into the national security concerns than the constitutional ones.
“I don’t trust Iran and I don’t trust Hamas,” wrote @jessalanfields. “I don’t trust their ally, Qatar, who has given Hamas nearly $2 billion.”
“And I don’t want our President anywhere near an airplane originating in Qatar—much less flying on it regularly. The national security implications are grave.”
Pro-Trump lawyer Marina Medvin, who defended January 6 defendants, agreed.
“I miss the old Trump, the one that was cautious of and critical of Qatar,” she said.
Some fans can’t get their heads around this particular contradiction. One MAGA user pointed to Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) acceptance of a trip to Qatar in 2023 to attend the World Cup, which led some conservatives to claim that Omar alone must be a Qatari asset.
“Why would Qatar both fund Ilhan Omar and gift a $400 million plane to President Trump?” asked @EYakoby. “The Qataris are Jihadists in fancy suits.”
Would it be legal for Trump to accept the Qatari jet gift?
Some might remember the hullabaloo over the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution during Trump’s first term. Back then, Democrats were outraged that he was profiting by hosting world leaders in his hotels. Those profits likely added up to less than $400 million and were not a direct gift like the sky palace would be.
This part of the Constitution prohibits federal officials from accepting anything of value from foreign governments without the approval of Congress. The current Congress has not approved of accepting the plane, and Trump’s defense for accepting it anyway boiled down to, “Why not?”
“I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” he said to reporters. “I mean, I could be a stupid person say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’ But it was—I thought it was a great gesture.”
He further claimed that the gift would be to the U.S. Department of Defense, not to him personally. This may be undermined by his additional claim that it would be decommissioned and given to a presidential library after his second term is up. Constitutional scholars do not appear satisfied by Trump’s explanations.
“This is a classic example of what the founders worried about,” University of Minnesota law professor and former White House ethics chief Richard Painter told AP News. “But I don’t think the founders anticipated it would get this bad.”
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