MaddowBlog-Trump's rhetoric about the Air Force One gifted by Qatar takes a weird turn

[LetMyPeopleVote]

“Frankly, we couldn’t build a plane like this,” the president said, referring to a jet built by an American company on American soil.

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-qatar-jet-air-force-one-gift

On Wednesday, the president took his first flight on the plane, but before boarding, he took a little time to talk to reporters, one of whom asked how much it cost American taxpayers to upgrade the jet.

Q: How much did it cost American taxpayers to upgrade the plane?

TRUMP: It cost very little relative to what it would cost if we did it a different way. This was a gift from a country that's treated us very well.

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-07-01T12:39:48.770Z

“Well, it cost very little relative to what it would cost if we did it a different way,” Trump responded cryptically. He added, “Frankly, we couldn’t build a plane like this.”

I’m not sure who counts as “we,” but the jet was built by Boeing, which is an American company that built the plane on American soil.

As for the question the president apparently didn’t want to answer, The New Republic noted, “The jet — one of the largest presidential gifts ever — is valued at $400 million. The Air Force said it spent around $400 million on renovating the plane, changing the cabin layout, communications system, and security upgrades. That doesn’t account for the taxpayer-funded, continued maintenance of the plane, either.”

Trump on his new Qatari plane: "The country is very proud of it. And you can do two things -- you can low key it, or you can show it. And I think the country should be very proud of it."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-07-01T12:36:20.141Z

As part of the same Q&A, Trump boasted of the plane, “The country is very proud of it.” It’s not at all clear how he arrived at this conclusion, as there’s no publicly available survey data to suggest this project enjoys broad public support.