Incredibly, despite leaving even his closest allies horrified at the idea, Donald Trump is going to accept that $400 million bribe from Qatar in the form of a “flying palace” jet that’ll become Air Force One. But, and this point can’t be underlined enough, it’ll stop being Air Force One the moment Trump leaves the presidency and become… his.
Even by Trump’s standards, this is a bad look, and has left him open to widespread criticism of corruption, bribery, and leaving himself wide open to foreign influence. This is clearly a sore spot, as proved by his furious reaction to a journalist bringing it up during his meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Donald Trump has a meltdown in front of the South African President when he's asked about the $400 million jet from Qatar.
— Art Candee
25th this guy already. pic.twitter.com/WHxFWEOJdC(@ArtCandee) May 21, 2025
Trump’s regular orange hue turned an angry shade of red as he ranted at NBC reporter Peter Alexander, calling him “a terrible reporter”, that he’s “not smart enough”, and saying NBC needs to be investigated.
Ramaphosa watched on in bemusement, likely wondering just what kind of circus he walked into. He interjected by sarcastically telling Trump, “I’m sorry I don’t have a plane to give you.” That sarcasm flew over Trump’s head and lodged somewhere in the Oval Office curtains as the president took his comment at face value, “I wish you did! I would take it. If your country offered the United States Air Force a plane, I would take it.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called out Donald Trump on the jet from Qatar to his face:
— Art Candee
"I'm sorry I don't have a plane to give you."pic.twitter.com/YeJfShXF1E
Yes, Mr. President, I think at this point your desire to accept bribes from foreign leaders is well-established. No need to gild the lily!
Humiliation for the nation
We can only guess what Ramaphosa made of this farce, though judging by his calm response to Trump baselessly accusing him and his country of “white genocide” it seems he was well briefed going in. Incidentally, Trump managed to humiliate himself on this point as well, brandishing an image he claimed proved this racist conspiracy theory was true.
The only problem was that the photo was from the Democratic Republic of Congo and had nothing to do with white farmers in South Africa. All of which means, in typical Trump fashion, this meeting of world leaders was an absolute disaster that, once again, dragged the international reputation of the United States through the mud.
