Scott Bessent Compares Trump's Qatari Jet Gift to the Statue of Liberty

[highplainsdem]

Source: Rolling Stone

No, Qatar‘s royal family gifting a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet known as a “flying palace” to the government that will reportedly then go to Donald Trump‘s presidential library is not the same as France giving the Statue of Liberty to the American people. But that is what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tried to claim on Sunday.

“Even if Qatar isn’t asking for anything in return now for the jet, I mean, that’s a bill that could come due,” Jake Tapper, host of CNN’s State of the Union said to Bessent. “Nobody… just gives a $400 million jet just to be nice.”

“Well, I don’t know, Jake,” Bessent said. “The French gave us the Statue of Liberty. The British gave us the Resolute Desk. I’m not sure they asked for anything in advance.”

-snip-

“The gift of this particular plane, the principal enjoyment of which both during the next three and a half years… and then for the rest of his life would accrue only to Donald Trump,” University of Missouri law professor Frank Bowman told PolitiFact. “That’s an emolument, any way you slice it, because the benefit goes to one person.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bessent-trump-qatar-statue-of-liberty-1235342112/

[BootinUp]

1. This competition to be the greatest sycophant

in modern history is pretty boring. No suspense at all.

[zorbasd]

11. Absolute beta boi cucks

no ways about it.

[Cheezoholic]

2. If we get back in power the Feds should confiscate it and fly home illegally deported/detained people n/t

[Walleye]

5. That's a good suggestion

[FakeNoose]

22. Since Chump's pals are expunging the records as fast as possible

... in order to erase their own guilt, I don't think it's going to be possible to return the deportees later on. Only if other countries are going out of their way to keep better records than the folks running ICE and DHS.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. If it is a gift to the country (it is a white elephant), then it is not loaned for 3 1/2 years. . . . . nt

[truthisfreedom]

4. Congress voted on accepting the Statue of Liberty

Per the Constitution. So let’s do that. Let congress vote. Make ALLAH Force One exactly like the Statue of Liberty. Turn it into a national monument. Let people witness its opulence. Put it up on its tail to welcome visitors and immigrants to our great nation.

[Delmette2.0]

29. The French didn't try to sell the Statue of Liberty before they gave it to America.

[Shermann]

6. Plans to build the library and museum have yet to be announced

At this early stage, wouldn't a gift of construction materials or furniture be more appropriate? What do they need with a jumbo jet?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. I'm sure they could fit all the comic books and colouring books into the back of Cessna single prop plane. . . . nt

[Marcuse]

24. The presidential library has been restocked and is open for business.

[Docreed2003]

7. Trump could do ANYTHING

And his sycophants would line up to make excuses about how brilliant, how misunderstood, how amazing he is, no matter how appalling, corrupt, or deranged

[Marcuse]

23. He counts on that.

[Walleye]

8. He knows that's a lie. Someone explained in something I was reading why they tell these lies.

That are so easy to disprove. It’s just their way of telling each other, and telling Trump, that they will do anything for him especially bold face lies. so it’s a waste of time to show them how wrong they are. So, we know they’re wrong, they know they are wrong, and we know that they know they’re wrong. It’s a real problem.

[Ocelot II]

9. If the Statute of Liberty had been open only to Grover Cleveland and his staff and family

while he was president and then given to him personally when he left office, the analogy would be fair. But, of course, that's not what happened. The SoL was given by the government of France to the government of the US in perpetuity as a symbol of friendship, designed and planned long before it was actually delivered. The extent to which Trump's lackeys twist themselves into pretzels trying to justify his corruption just amazes me.

[Retrograde]

18. And the Resolute desk doesn't require much specialized maintenance

beyond the routine polishing and dusting - no more so than any piece of antique office furniture. It didn't need millions of dollars to overhaul it and get it up to spec when Britain gave it to the US, and it remains government property when presidents leave office.

So, yeah, despite the mental gymnastics there's really no comparison.

[Srkdqltr]

10. The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the entire country. People can see it and go to it. Its for anyone and everyone.

Where as the plane is for only Trump and those he allows on. For the life of either.
If it was put someplace and used like a theme park ride, maybe it would be almost, In a small way, somewhat ok. Maybe.

[Norrrm]

12. Like being gifted a timeshare. An eternal expense/obligation...

[cstanleytech]

13. Not even comparable.

[Qutzupalotl]

14. So make it a monument. The Statue of Tyranny.

[Martin68]

15. Wrong on so many levels, not the least of which is the fact that the statue was a gift to the American people, not

an individual president.

[sop]

16. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Given Trump's hostility to immigrants, Bessent couldn't have come up with a more ironic comparison.

[MadameButterfly]

34. Agree. Exactly the last comparison

they should be citing.

[brush]

19. Worth $400,000 my ass. It's used. Lost half it's value when it first rolled of the assembly line...

Last edited Mon May 19, 2025, 06:11 AM - Edit history (1)

just like any used vehicle, and is further discounted everyone of it's 14 years.

The Statue of Liberty wasn't used. It was assembled here.

Bissent is as big a moron as TSF and the rest of the clown car cabinet.

[twodogsbarking]

20. France wasn't bribing anyone and the President wasn't making business deals while in the WH

[Susan Calvin]

21. So that's where my so-called representative got it from.

I knew he wasn't smart enough to come up with it himself.

[ToxMarz]

25. Anyone who tries to defend or diminish the unconstitutional nature of this

let alone downright criminality (they would obviously be a MAGAT), ask them if they would have been OK with George Soros giving Barack Obama a $400 million plane (or anything) that he personally got to keep. Their fuckin heads would have exploded at the thought of it. .

[surfered]

26. There is a huge difference. Yes, they gave those things to US. This plane will be given to Trump, personally.

[dedl67]

27. Does the stupid ever stop (in this administration)?

I guess not.

[Vinca]

28. Except the American taxpayers wouldn't have to put hundreds of millions of dollars into the Statue

of Liberty right off the bat and the president in office at the time it was gifted couldn't take it home for his garden when he left office.

[D. Spaulding]

30. It appears the jet has already been accepted. My question is,

how did Trump allocate the funds to contract for its upgrade, which supposedly will run into several hundred million dollars? The Dept of Defense just had that much unspent money laying around?
Why the hell isn't anybody asking that question?

[NoMoreRepugs]

31. Bessent is one prolific ass kisser.

[BaronChocula]

32. Looks like he's not on the xitter

[Srkdqltr]

33. It's 14 years old. He's getting sloppy seconds. What a deal.

[keroro gunsou]

41. dloppy seconds in deed

totally on brand for president trump.

[jmowreader]

35. Y'know guys...

I think I didn’t see the part about the Statue of Liberty where President Cleveland took it home with him after his presidency ended, or the part about the Resolute Desk where President Hayes put it in his house.

[orangecrush]

36. ...

[milestogo]

37. Show us you are an idiot without actually saying so.

[AntiFascist]

38. "Give me your tired, your poor..."

I'm sure the kind of Libertarianism Bessant and Trump are into is: "Give me your wealthy who are tired of paying taxes, the entitled few billionaires who are yearning to be free of them."

[Butterflylady]

39. The Statue of Liberty was for all to see....

This is for F47 strictly.....what a dumb ass....

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

40. Because they look alike and convey the exact same message? (n/t)

[Bengus81]

42. A gift to an entire NATION vs a gift to a grifter who happens to be President.

But hell...did anyone expect Bessent to say anything that made sense? Better get back to your pink Barbie house Scott.

[bdamomma]

43. Such BS

I wonder if they would choke on some of the things they say.