During President Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East this week, he visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, announcing business deals with the nations.
In Saudi Arabia, he announced a $142 billion agreement where the Kingdom will purchase US weapons and other military equipment. Talks of a Saudi civilian nuclear program with US technology are also reportedly in progress.
From the Qatari government, Trump said he accepted a luxury Boeing 747-8 aircraft to be used as Air Force One on behalf of the US, sparking a wave of bipartisan criticism. Critics, including including right-wing influencers Ben Shapiro and Laura Loomer, have argued that Trump’s acceptance of the Qatari jet breaches the Constitution’s prohibition on US officials accepting gifts from foreign states without proper vetting. However, others were optimistic about his deal making.
Zeeshan Aleem (Left bias) wrote in MSNBC (Left), “The Constitution’s emoluments clause prohibits public officeholders from receiving gifts from foreign states without consent from Congress. There’s a simple reason for that: Those countries have their own interests that are separate from, and often at odds with, the interests of the American public. By accepting the jet, Trump would be accepting a favor that could raise the potential for a reciprocal act that serves the interests of Qatar instead of the U.S.”
A writer for The Dispatch (Lean Right) wrote, “This is an administration that’s not only perfecting traditional forms of bribery, it has developed cutting-edge ways to monetize the presidency, including by involving novel technologies. The Trump kids are on a sort of world tour as I write this, aimed at cashing in on their father’s power with dad set to benefit personally from some of the deals they’ve struck—one of which involves Qatar. The White House is so hostile to ethical oversight of itself and its political allies that one of the first tasks it assigned Bondi after she became AG was to cripple anti-corruption units at the DOJ.”
In Al Jazeera (Lean Left) a writer, taking a wider perspective on the Middle East trip, argued, “It has become increasingly clear that President Trump holds US strategic interests above all else, and that he correctly views peace as his country’s overarching strategic interest. This translates into true potential for peace in the Middle East.” This echoed some writers on the right as well, who added that, “Mr. Trump may be the most consequential president in the Middle East peace process who has ever lived.”
An opinion in The Washington Examiner (Lean Right) commenting on the Qatari plane read, “The fact that this is even a possible scenario that is being considered, let alone celebrated, by the president is both telling and terrifying… Even on its face, accepting this ‘gift’ from a pro-terrorism Islamist dictatorship would represent a stunning national security risk of clownish proportions. But it’s also an indication of something far more insidious: that Qatar owns Americans in the White House.”
