Trump’s plane and other exotic offers

Since he had again took office as president of the United States, Donald Trump has been an unavoidable figure of international public debate in various vectors. From foreign policy to trade policy, from culture to universities, Trump’s first 100 days were frantic. In recent weeks, in addition to the constant and complex negotiations for a ceasefire in Ukraine, one of the prominent presidential matters has been the plane that, according to the American administration, was an offer by the Government of Qatar. An offering to which Trump was promptly receiving and even honored, aiming to use it to replace the current Air Force One, the US president’s official plane.

The debate on this hypothesis has been lit for various issues, especially for security, and has resurfaced pieces that try to mark several of the gifts that heads of state receive with some regularity. So, let’s see, beyond Trump’s plane, other offers made to world leaders like Jair Bolsonaro, Spanish king Juan Carlos and many other White House tenants.

Trojan plane?

Asked by the press regarding the situation, Trump countered the questions by saying that it would be « stupid » not to accept, without counterparts, a « very expensive plane ». And unlike the previous planes carrying the US head of state, he would eventually be in Trump’s hands when he finished his stay in the White House. The president assured that he would not use it after his presidency and would have intentions to give him to his future presidential library.

But the issue of safety and the ethical dimension has been the main arguments of those who oppose, both Democrats and Republicans, to the use of a Santa Catarense aircraft. An opinion article on York Dispatch was to the point of comparing the plane to a Trojan horse: “Perhaps President Donald Trump has never read Odyssey. But even if there are no Catarense or its technology hidden within a $ 400 million luxury jet that this country can offer to the US, there are clear ethical reasons so that our president does not accept extravagant gifts from foreign nations. « The repeated violations of Trump’s basic ethical norms, » ​​the text continues, « impairing its presidency, endangers American security and weaken our position in the world. » He concludes: « There may not be Greeks hidden inside, but bringing it beyond our gates makes us all weaker. »

Royal offer?

But will the Qatar offered the plane to Donald Trump? The latter published on his official Truth social network account that it is a « offering, free of cost ». However, CNN published a play on Monday, written by journalists Alex Marquardt, Kristen Holmes and Natasha Bertand, who seems to counteract this narrative. « Sources contradict Trump’s version of the fact that Qatar offered a plane as ‘gift’, » is the title of the text that resorted to sources such as the White House itself, the US Qatar embassy and a Boeing spokesman, the company responsible for the presidential plane.

« The Trump administration approached the Qatar for the first time to find out if it could acquire a Boeing 747 that could be used as Air Force One by President Donald Trump, four sources familiar with discussions to CNN said, as the president wants » a replacement plane « more promptly than the Boeing planned. Then one of the fundamental passages that contradicts the narrative of the acquisition of the « Cost-Free » plane can be read: « After the company’s initial commitment to the company, Boeing provided US defense officers a list of other Boeing clients worldwide with airplanes that could work in the meantime, they said three of the sources. ‘And Qatar was one of the customers,’ said the second source familiar with the discussions, adding that the Pentagon ‘offered to buy the plane’ and Qatar indicated that he was willing to sell it.

Regarding the dimension of security, the change process would be highly expensive and time consuming, continues CNN journalists: “Adapting and installing the necessary safety and communications equipment on a second hand aircraft of another government, even if it is a friendly government, is a monumental task. It may take two years and cost the multiple of the value of the plane, current CNN told CNN and former employees. US spy and safety agencies in charge of the review would essentially dismantle the plane to its structure and rebuild it with the necessary equipment.

For this, and also for other legal barriers that can still be raised, the offer, or the business, between Trump and the Qatar may not materialize. However, and if the narrative of the offer is confirmed, it is one of the largest in the history of the American presidency.

Elephants, pandas, secretaries and rugs

But the Qatar plane is far from being the only case in US history. In fact, as the New York Post wrote, it is a practice that « dates back to the founding of the country in 1776, with US leaders to receive all kinds of exotic and expensive gifts from royalty and heads of government around the world. » The first to generate controversy was « a golden rap box and diamonds offered » by King Louis XVI « Benjamin Franklin after his nine -year diplomatic mission in France. » « The present has raised questions about corruption and foreign influence from the newly formed US government officials, we can read in the text.

About eighty years later, Abraham Lincoln refused a herd of elephants that had been offered to him by the king of Zion and, still in the nineteenth century, « Queen Victoria sent to President Rutherford Hayes a wooden secretary, intricately sculpted and about 600 kilograms, built from HMS Resolution oak woods. » Also iconic Winston Churchill offered to his great ally and friend Franklin D. Roosevelt a painting prepared by the British statesman himself.

Richard Nixon, after his important visit to China in 1972, accepted two pandas offered by the Maoist regime. George HW Bush received a komodo dragon offered by Indonesian president and his son, George W. Bush, « received 136 kilograms of raw lamb as a goodwill gesture of then Argentine president Nestor Kirchner » and « a dog of Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov ». In 1997, « President Clinton and his wife Hillary received a hand -made rug with their chariots in the tapestry as a gift from Azerbaijan leader Heydar Aliyev, » says the New York Post play.

The Great Seal

Since security issues are inevitable when accepting an offer from a foreign government, it is important to look at one of the most iconic gifts of the second half of the twentieth century, when the United States and the Soviet Union were dignified in an intense cold war. Spying was one of the fundamental aspects of the relations between Americans and Soviets, and began in 1945.

According to the International Spy Museum, « a group of Soviet children visited the US embassy in Moscow and offered the ambassador a large seal of the carved US US » that remained in the office « until 1952 ». However, after seven years of exposure of an seemingly harmless and symbolic offering by a group of children, American technicians « discovered a remarkable listening device inside. » It was’ a ‘passive cavity resonator’, activated by a radio beam from a van abroad. When people spoke, sound waves entered through small holes under the eagle’s beak. These vibrated a membrane that modulated the radio beam, returning it as an audio signal to the people who were listening to the van. It was one of the most caricatured diplomatic incidents of the Cold War.

The Spanish Royal House and the Saudis

Of course, American leaders are not the only recipients of foreign offerings. After his coronation as king of Spain in 1975, Juan Carlos I received $ 10 million from the Saudi Arabia royal family, as last year revealed the Spanish diary El País.

This money, wrote journalist José María Irujo, « was deposited in a Swiss bank and was not declared to the tax authorities, such as other subsequent donations and payments of millions of euros. » Irujo also remembered an iconic phrase of the Spanish king:  » This is my banker. This is my financial advisor, ‘King Juan Carlos I told Saudi King Khaled Bin Abdelaziz and his entourage when he moved to his palace in Riyadh in the late 1970s to thank him for his first dollars’ first personal donation. From among the various controversies that marked the reign of Juan Carlos, this was one of the most popular.

‘Caps, nightgowns and high value objects’

Returning to the Western Hemisphere, but this time in the South Zone, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro also accumulated offers during his four as Brazilian head of state. According to Jornal Nacional, Bolsonaro received, in all, « 9,158 items » that « range from caps and nightgowns to high values ​​such as watches, jewelry and sculptures. »

« After analyzing the entire listing, the researchers asked the office to explain 18 items considered of higher value, » the text continues, stressing that « ten items were returned to the Brazilian State in March. Among them, the Rolex clock with diamonds and two jewelry sets: one in white gold and one in rosé gold. Some pieces have diamonds. The Federal Police concluded that these items were set for sale in the United States and recovered after the Federal Court of Auditors ordered to be returned.

That said, it is clear, of course, that this practice is not exclusive to Donald Trump, having been a constant throughout history-for good and bad (or less ethical) reasons.