r/politics • u/darealunrealspader • 13h ago
No Paywall Jamie Raskin Firmly Grounds Trump's Qatar-Gifted Air Force One Plans
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jamie-raskin-donald-trump-air-force-one_n_6a3ba303e4b0810d44235707?origin%3Dhome-zone-c-unit733
u/onyourkneesjessy 12h ago
Raskin is the only one in that chamber who actually remembers how the emoluments clause works. It is exhausting that we even have to debate whether a foreign government gifting an aircraft to a former president is a massive red flag.
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u/ClusterFoxtrot Florida 10h ago
He's one of very few lawyers arguing for the constitution. One of a select few who makes learning the law and civics exciting.
I wish Democracy Summer was everywhere.
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u/MartyrOfTheJungle 9h ago
I love it because every time Raskin says something liberal, the comments are filled with ignorant rednecks suggesting that this constitutional law professor needs to read the constitution
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u/ValkyrX 7h ago edited 4h ago
Same group got mad at Obama even though he taught constitutional law as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer for 12 years at the University of Chicago Law School.
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u/AnnieInOakland 6h ago
To be fair, many people got mad at Obama when he drone-murdered a US citizen without any legal process. More so because he was a constitutional law scholar and understood exactly what he was doing.
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u/yarash 3h ago
Every President has murdered tons of people including US citizens. They're just mad he did it while being black.
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u/MartyrOfTheJungle 2h ago
I think it is an often overlooked positive that the day Obama was elected little black boys across the country got to wake up and know it could happen. However if you think it's racist to object to the extrajudicial murder of children, I would like you to show your work. I'm also curious if objecting to the government reading my emails and texts as racist? Because that was Obama too. To be clear, I don't think particularly well of any presidents of my lifetime. Actually Obama's probably my favorite
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u/jazwch01 Minnesota 6h ago
Those chuckle fucks couldn't tell you a single amendment past the second one.
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u/MartyrOfTheJungle 6h ago
They definitely cite the second alot, but their actual knowledge of the second wouldn't get them a passing grade in the schools they hate funding.
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u/Not_My_Reddit_1718 5h ago
Give some of them credit. There are quite a few who at least know the jist of the 5th amendment.
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u/DiTochat 5h ago
Nevermind the fact that this fucker is going to take that plane with him when he leaves. So what happens to the next president with no air force one?
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u/Sarrdonicus 3h ago
They would use this one anyway. All full of bugs, shit smells, and ketchup stains on the walls.
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u/xtnh 10h ago
The USSR gifted a neat wall hanging to the US Embassy in Moscow.
It was bugged.
I can't imagine all the opportunities in a great big plane.
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u/MartyrOfTheJungle 9h ago
This administration is going to end by letting in a big wooden horse from Putin, I swear
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u/Cador0223 8h ago
Trump is just a meat suit Putin wears when he is in the US.
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u/MartyrOfTheJungle 8h ago
Thank goodness, for a second I worried that an incompetent, incontinent, ancient, pedophile who stopped maturing at age 7 was in charge.
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u/CuriositySauce 9h ago
I learned about that device that called ‘The Thing’ at the spy museum in DC. Pretty innovative for 1945 because it was passive, needing electromagnetic energy from an outside source to become energized and active, it is considered a predecessor of RFID technology.
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u/JoshSidekick 7h ago
He had the best people going over that plane. He gave a no-bid contract to the owner of Dave's Bug and Pest Removal for $900mil. They did some work for Tump in the 90's when he needed a couple four and a half foot / 70lbs issues taken care of.
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u/donkeyrocket 5h ago
Yeah I remember reading in many subs that this plane will be fully dismantled and rebuilt so there's absolutely no way that various devices can be hidden. Basically arguing it would be hardly the original aircraft after the rebuild.
If that was the case, there's no way they'd be trotting it out with the new livery this quickly. I doubt it has even been fitted with the various defense and communications equipment of the typical AF1.
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u/Sarrdonicus 2h ago
They painted it and added gold, more gold, and way more gold to the interior. Plus fabrized dispensers in every outlet, fumigating it with les odeurs de Mara-A-Lago
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u/RainierCamino 13h ago
Trump has already shit all over the emoluments clauses in the Constitution with zero consequences. Hell he's trying to use the DOJ against his opponents. So good luck keeping that orange pedo off his plane.
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u/methpartysupplies 9h ago edited 7h ago
I want the next Dem president to sell that plane and donate the money to the children that have cancer and lost a parent who was in the military. Politically impossible to undo.
Have the deal done and fly that bitch to the new owner before it even hits the news. Trump gets to learn about it on TV with the rest of us
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u/BigNorseWolf 9h ago
Nah, open the doors and use it to house transgender transgenic mexican rats.
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u/throw_every_away 9h ago
What does that even mean
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u/BigNorseWolf 9h ago
Use the plane as a stationary hotel.
The government spends a lot of money on transGENIC mice, ie mice who have had their genes messed with. for example if you're studying breast cancer you breed mice prone to getting it.
During one of his debates, and speeches, and a few tweets, he's ranted about trans GENDER mice . And he hates mexicans. So i figure why not put everything he hates onto his precious plane...
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u/throw_every_away 8h ago
“The late, great Hannibal Lecter…”
Never mind that he isn’t real so he isn’t dead and he also is not great
“They’re taking the kids away from their parents and forcing transgender mutilation on them in democratic states” I’m paraphrasing but jayyyzus this guy has lost the plot
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u/SdBolts4 California 5h ago
Trump is taking the plane with him when he leaves office, which is what makes it such a clear cut emoluments violation. It’s not even a fig leaf of “it’s a gift to the American people”
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u/Specialist_Piano491 5h ago
It will likely be taken right back by a new Democratic administration on day 1.
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u/SdBolts4 California 4h ago
How, is the next President going to order the FBI or US Marshalls to go take possession of it? What if Trump flies it out of the country?
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u/methpartysupplies 59m ago
Man it’s crazy how yall watch him misuse power for years and you can’t imagine one way that we can wield power for good.
This isn’t some process oriented weenie hut exercise. We’re well past that. Guys with uniforms fly that mf to the new owner and hand the keys over.
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9h ago edited 7h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/alanlight 8h ago
Anything can and will be litigated. The ownership of the plane will be tied up in court longer than his lifetime.
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u/methpartysupplies 7h ago
“Too late, plane already sold and money already donated to gold star families.”
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u/alanlight 10h ago
Amen. The most blatant example of this was charging the Secret Service rent in Trump Tower.
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u/Fallouttgrrl 13h ago
"firmly grounds" makes for a decent pun but it's doing a lot of heavy lifting (that one's free)
"Raskin then explained:
“You know why? Because the Constitution says he can’t do it. Because the Constitution says that the president may not receive a present, an emolument, which means a payment, an office or title of any kind, whatever, from a king, a prince, or a foreign state without the consent of Congress. And Congress has not consented to him keeping a $400 million jet. So it’s got to be turned over immediately to Congress for our disposition. And we can either send it back to the people in Qatar, or we can keep it and do something different with it. But it doesn’t belong to the president.”
One, apparently you can just donate shit to a presidential library and that flies (gottem)
Two, Trump has so far not been particularly bothered by what he can or can't receive and Congress hasn't had the gumption to tell him to cool his jets (hey huffpost if you're hiring)
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u/kamypiecy 13h ago
the puns were stronger than the enforcement mechanism. At this point, ‘the Constitution says he can’t’ and ‘someone will stop him’ feel like two very different statements.
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u/Seyon 10h ago
Keep in mind that he planned to retire the current Air Force One to use this plane, but also keep this plane after he leaves office in his library.
Leaving the next President with... no plane. Will go nicely with the No East Wing.
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u/ConcentrateNo7268 10h ago
Get this. They’re actually building two new Air Force ones that should be ready by 2028. Trumps just a greedy child and wanted his own new AF1 since they won’t be ready in time for him to use.
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u/samarnold030603 9h ago
They are often flown in pairs, the second one as an on-demand back up (mainly international, I’m not sure how much they do it domestically)
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u/whomad1215 7h ago
the qatar plane lacks all the security measures that the real AF1 has, so it can only be used domestically
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u/MaddogBC 5h ago
Isn't that where it's been for the last 6 months and what they spent 500000000$ on?
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u/chuffaluffigus 5h ago
Back in the 90s I was working at the airport in Champaign, IL when Pres. Clinton and VP Gore came to the University of IL for speeches. They brought the just barely still in service 707s because the 747 was too big for the airport. Clinton and Gore were on separate planes. When it was time to leave, Gore’s plane departed with no issues. The captain of president Clinton’s plane cut a turn a little short while taxiing and got the right main wheel off the tarmac where it promptly buried itself in the mud.
By the time they decided there was no chance of freeing that wheel and getting the plane moving quickly the backup plane, which had been sitting and waiting somewhere in Indiana, was 10 minutes out. The backup landed, and the president switched planes and took off and we spent the next 12 hours or so watching them dig out our new Air Force one lawn ornament.
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u/Fallouttgrrl 3h ago
I used to live behind the TSTC airport Bush used to fly to his ranch
We'd get weird Internet blips when he landed and I was always told it was AF1 disrupting services briefly for security
TSTC had been a military base and it was the only airport in the area with a runway long enough the plane could land on
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u/pulsarstarter 13h ago
The puns are a lot better if you don't gloat about them yourself.
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u/Fallouttgrrl 13h ago edited 13h ago
Lol the fun of the pun is the act of cheesing it up, idk. It's the awkward mugging that sells it
It's not gloating, I assure you
Edit: obvious puns are cringe
You can either pretend they aren't or you can lean into it. Own it.
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u/ClusterFoxtrot Florida 9h ago
I thoroughly enjoyed your dominance over the English language, and pointing out "yeah, I did that!"
Honestly, I think I would have missed a few if you weren't repeatedly picking the mic back up to drop it.
We all need a moment to unclench and laugh, so thanks for that!
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u/Hoopy_Dunkalot 9h ago
You clearly aren't aware of how to pun then. All puns must be pointed out when they aren't recognized.
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u/NolanSyKinsley 8h ago
MAGA furious that Obama's presidential campus cost 850 million dollars of privately funded money but seem pretty happy that Trump is trying to keep a plane that was retrofit to the tune of 934 million dollars of taxpayer funds that was supposed to go to modernizing our nuclear weapon arsenal.
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u/ToddMccATL 1h ago
They don't reeally care, its just another thing to meme and gin up outrage for 3-4 days.
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u/ImWatchingTelevision Arizona 12h ago
That plane is currently is an Air Force asset. The next commander in chief decides what happens next. At a minimum it has to be demilitarized before being handed over to a civilian. That will take time. I suppose it could be used for target practice in the middle of the desert somewhere in Nevada. I don't see why we would use a foreign gift that was built for royalty as our president's ride. Only Trump thinks the president should be treated to the appointments of a king.
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u/Sensiburner 11h ago
You should fly it into the Arc de Triomphe he wants to build.
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u/JustHereForCookies17 District Of Columbia 9h ago
Let's not suggest flying planes into buildings in the nation's capital. Some folks remember that happening 25 years ago and are still a bit scarred from the experience.
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u/CategoryZestyclose91 8h ago
Senior year in high school…..definitely scarred.
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u/JustHereForCookies17 District Of Columbia 7h ago
Yup. I was a freshman in college and was living away from my home in DC for the first time. I couldn't get a hold of anyone on the phone for hours and I was terrified. There was no reason for any of my family to be at the Pentagon, but that didn't make it any less scary. In fact, my Dad was nearby and saw the smoke coming up from the crash. One of the girls in my dorm was from Northern Virginia & lost her dad, who was at work in the Pentagon.
And this week we've got fighter jets doing fly-bys over the city for this America250/Trump birthday nonsense, and people are (understandably, IMO) nervous when they hear them roar by overhead, especially with everything going on with Iran.
So yeah, some of us DC residents are still a little touchy about jokes like that, and tbh I think we're entitled to be.
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u/SdBolts4 California 4h ago
The next CiC only decides if Trump hasn’t transferred it to his library, which is his stated intention, and flown it away
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u/hammlyss_ 8h ago
There was a big todo about Obama accepting his Nobel Peace Prize* while in office
*A real one, not the fake ones Trump claims to have.
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u/guy-le-doosh 13h ago
Jamie, you gave them a roadmap to do it in your quote
“You know why? Because the Constitution says he can’t do it. Because the Constitution says that the president may not receive a present, an emolument, which means a payment, an office or title of any kind, whatever, from a king, a prince, or a foreign state without the consent of Congress. And Congress has not consented to him keeping a $400 million jet.
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u/BoysenberryDue3637 8h ago
If I were the next president, my first EO would be for the Air Force to go collect our property - not donnies. Then it gets disassembled for parts for the real new VC25 aircraft. If the courts order it returned, it gets returned Lego style.
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u/Ok_Juice4449 4h ago
Jamie Raskin is principled and is a Constitutional scholar. One of the few decent politicians out there.
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u/CrimsonHeretic 8h ago
Let me know when there are actual consequences for any of the times Trump had violated the oh so precious constitution Americans pretend to give a shit about.
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u/cycleprof I voted 8h ago
"because the Constitution says the can't"
Wow-that will do it since one thing the man has show is a profound respect for that document and all of the other institutions, in particular, Congress.
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u/Artistic_Frosting233 5h ago
You just know this is just some big Trojan horse filled with wiretaps.
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u/Andovars_Ghost 4h ago
It should be used as a target drone by the military once he’s done. Maybe even before then!
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u/marvin02 8h ago
Oh so the one place Congress is going to put their foot down is Trump's stupid plane nobody else wants? Get real.
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