The current American president is repeating all the errors of Joe Biden
Remember Donald Trump’s vow that there would be “all hell to pay” if Hamas hadn’t released all the hostages by the time he took office? What happened to that? Four months later and for all his tough talk, the president is slumping into a Biden crouch.
His envoy, Steve Witkoff, is poised to unveil a revised Israel-Hamas ceasefire proposal amid optimistic leaks, mainly from sources in the United States, that a larger deal may be in the offing.
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So far, so Joe Biden. For those Trump supporters who were looking forward to seeing Hamas blasted to kingdom come as soon as his feet hit the Oval carpet, it all looks rather flaccid. What happened to his cherished Riviera?
When it comes to Gaza, Trump is all mouth and no trousers
The current American president is repeating all the errors of Joe Biden
President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., is opening a new exclusive club in Washington D.C. And he’s making it clear that only a certain kind of Republican is welcome.
The Daily Beast reported Monday that the new club, which will be called “Executive Branch,” is tailor-made for the MAGA crowd — and its founders are making it clear that traditional conservatives and journalists will be barred from entering. David Sacks, who the Beast described as Trump’s “crypto czar,” told the New York Times he wants to make sure that the type of conservatives who frequent other GOP-oriented D.C. clubs will be turned away at the door.
“To the extent there are Republican clubs, they tend to be like more Bush-era Republicans as opposed to Trump-era Republicans,” Sacks said. “So we wanted to create something new, hipper, and Trump-aligned.”
‘Heavily vetted’: No ‘Bush-era Republicans’ welcome in Trump Jr.’s new MAGA safe space
The president and his family have monetized the White House more than any other occupant, normalizing activities that once would have provoked heavy blowback and official investigations.
When Hillary Clinton was first lady, a furor erupted over reports that she had once made $100,000 from a $1,000 investment in cattle futures. Even though it had happened a dozen years before her husband became president, it became a scandal that lasted weeks and forced the White House to initiate a review.
Thirty-one years later, after dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Jeff Bezos agreed to finance a promotional film about Melania Trump that will reportedly put $28 million directly in her pocket — 280 times the Clinton lucre and in this case from a person with a vested interest in policies set by her husband’s government. Scandal? Furor? Washington moved on while barely taking notice.
The Trumps are hardly the first presidential family to profit from their time in power, but they have done more to monetize the presidency than anyone who has ever occupied the White House. The scale and the scope of the presidential mercantilism has been breathtaking. The Trump family and its business partners have collected $320 million in fees from a new cryptocurrency, brokered overseas real estate deals worth billions of dollars and are opening an exclusive club in Washington called the Executive Branch charging $500,000 apiece to join, all in the past few months alone.
Just last week, Qatar handed over a luxury jet meant for Mr. Trump’s use not just in his official capacity but also for his presidential library after he leaves office. Experts have valued the plane, formally donated to the Air Force, at $200 million, more than all of the foreign gifts bestowed on all previous American presidents combined.
And Mr. Trump hosted an exclusive dinner at his Virginia club for 220 investors in the $TRUMP cryptocurrency that he started days before taking office in January. Access was openly sold based on how much money they chipped in — not to a campaign account but to a business that benefits Mr. Trump personally.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in a Sunday interview that the pending transfer of a Qatari luxury jet “detracts from” what he saw as President Trump‘s “largely successful” Middle East trip and “gives the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
Why it matters: Paul, who has already cautioned against the possible gift to Trump, is one of a group of Republicans who have raised legal, ethical and national security concerns over the prospect of the administration accepting a jet worth roughly $400 million to potentially serve as Air Force One.
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Paul said on ABC’s “This Week” that there is “probably a perfectly legal way” the plane could be accepted, but added that he thinks the discussion has “raised more questions than I think it’s worth.”
Paul, who said he has in the past pushed to block arms sales to Qatar and Saudi Arabia over alleged human rights abuses, contended, “Could it color the perception of the administration if they have a $400 million plane to be more in favor of these things? Perhaps.”
Paul continued, “It at least gives the appearance of a conflict of interest. I don’t think it’s worth the headache.”
Qatari jet “gives the appearance of a conflict of interest” for Trump, senator says
Paul said on ABC’s “This Week” that the discussion has “raised more questions than I think it’s worth.”
President Donald Trump’s claim that a jet plane from the Qatari royal family was a “gift” is facing turbulence after multiple sources tell CNN it was in fact the Trump administration that initiated talks to acquire the Boeing 747 that could temporarily serve as Air Force One.
Four sources familiar with the discussions contradict Trump’s implied line that Qatar spontaneously offered the plane. Instead, they say US officials, frustrated by delays in Boeing’s delivery of the new presidential fleet, actively pursued alternative options — Qatar among them.
“Qatar was one of the clients,” a source told CNN, explaining that Boeing pointed the Pentagon toward existing international customers. “The Pentagon offered to buy the plane and Qatar indicated it was willing to sell it.”
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The administration was told by Boeing, which is making the next generation of Air Force One planes, that the two planes would not arrive until 2027. Trump wanted something sooner. So the Pentagon, with the White House backing, reached out to Qatar.
Boeing had given the administration a list of possible planes that could work as Air Force One in the meantime, and Qatar had one of those planes.
The president’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, he also helped facilitate these early meetings. The Pentagon then offered to buy the plane, and Qatar offered to sell it. Now, we’re told the lawyers are still hashing out the details, but the White House is still claiming that this is going to be a donation from Qatar. Or, as Trump wrote on Truth Social recently, a gift “free of charge.”
Trump Made the First Move for Jet ‘Gift’ From Qataris: Report
Trump’s claim that a promised Qatar jet plane was a “gift” is facing turbulence after sources tell CNN it was in fact the administration that initiated talks.
Naked profiteering by the US president and his family has triggered alarm bells in the Maga movement
Most.
Corrupt.
President
Ever!
Donald Trump caught his first sight of the so-called “palace in the sky” in February as he climbed the red-carpeted steps of the Boeing 747-8.
The Qatari plane was parked at Florida’s West Palm Beach International Airport, and offered a chance for the president to see what a newly refitted Air Force One could look like, easing his frustration with the long-delayed Boeing project.
In the event, it appears to have been more of a test drive. His administration’s plan to accept the $400m (£300m) luxury jet from the Qatari royal family, which he is expected to use after his presidency, is the latest example of what many view as an increased disregard for ethics in Washington under his second term.
During his first term in the White House, foreign governments buying meals and block-booking rooms at Trump hotels set alarm bells ringing.
Yet now the president has created even more opportunities for those looking to curry favour with him – and his children. From pay-to-dine cryptocurrency schemes, a new social media platform that carries advertising and the expansion of their property empire, it has never seemed easier for the Trump family to line their pockets.
President Donald Trump was confronted aboard Air Force One by New York Times White House reporter Jonathan Swan over a $2 billion foreign deal that’s being paid for with Trump crypto.
Trump is currently on a four-day swing through the Persian Gulf region with stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, which has been dogged by the controversy over his eager acceptance of a $400 million “flying palace” from Qatar to serve as Air Force One.
The trip has also drawn attention to Trump’s family businesses, including the cryptocurrency firm World Liberty Financial.
That company’s USD1 currency was selected by state-owned UAE firm MGX to pay for a $2 billion investment in Binance earlier this month. The deal was announced by WLF co-founder Zach Witkoff, son of Trump Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff.
Trump plays dumb:
JONATHAN SWAN: An Emirati government-backed firm did a $2 billion deal using the Trump digital coins. How did that deal come about?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know anything about it. I really don’t know anything about it. But I’m a big crypto fan, I will tell you. I’ve been that from the beginning, right from the campaign. I’m a believer in crypto.
Trump Confronted on Air Force One by NY Times Over $2 Billion Crypto Deal
Trump was confronted aboard Air Force One by New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan over a $2 billion foreign deal that’s being paid for with Trump crypto.
The emirate, once called “a funder of terrorism” by President Trump, has spent lavishly on overhauling its global reputation.
The president, who has described the emir as a “great gentleman” and a “friend of mine,” is granting Qatar the honor of hosting one of the first foreign visits of his second term. As for the plane, the president says he would be “stupid” not to accept such a nice gift despite loud objections, not only from Democrats but from some of his most fervent MAGA supporters.
It is a dramatic turnaround for a small Persian Gulf country that Mr. Trump derided eight years ago as “a funder of terrorism at a very high level.” At that time, he cooperated with Qatar’s bitter rivals in the region — who imposed a punishing blockade on Doha — in calling for an end to what he described as the country’s “extremist ideology.”
President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, former real estate attorney and investor Steve Witkoff, has left administration insiders distressed by his approach to negotiating with two of America’s greatest adversaries.
Witkoff, who has become Trump’s de facto personal ambassador to Russian President Vladimir Putin in addition to taking on the Middle East portfolio, takes part in high-level meetings alone — and is said to have even occasionally leaned on Kremlin translators — in a break with longstanding diplomatic procedure, multiple sources told The Post.
Ahead of Witkoff’s most recent meeting with Putin this past Friday, the New York native greeted the Kremlin tyrant like an old friend — with no sign of the usual coterie of advisers, experts and military officers who typically accompany US officials conducting negotiations.
Exclusive | Steve Witkoff shouldn’t be leading Iran, Russia negotiations, allies and insiders say
Steve Witkoff, who has become Trump’s de facto personal ambassador to Russian President Vladimir Putin in addition to taking on the Middle East portfolio, takes part in high-level meetings al…
The condition is part of a seven-point plan to end the war that leaves Ukraine with no clear US security guarantee.
It was due to be discussed in London on Wednesday, when US officials would hear Kyiv’s reaction, though the talks were downgraded when US secretary of state Marco Rubio pulled out.
Foreign ministers from the UK, France, Germany and Ukraine withdrew in an apparent response. Discussions were instead scheduled to take place between senior officials from those nations and the US.
The Trump administration’s peace proposal involves the US offering formal recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and implies de facto recognition of other occupied territories.
As if it’s King Donald’s decision. My bet is that this “proposal” is Dead on Arrival. Rewarding Russia’s aggression will only invite them back to grab the rest of Ukraine when they think they can get away with it.
Trump to let Putin keep land seized from Ukraine
Seven-point plan gives Kyiv no clear security guarantee from the US
