President Donald Trump has vowed to provide military support to Qatar if it ever finds itself under attack, a move that appears to be in return for the country’s luxury airplane gifted to Trump in May.
In an executive order Monday, Trump declared that "the United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States.”
"In the event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and appropriate measures — including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military — to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of Qatar and to restore peace and stability,” the order states.
A cartoon by Jack Ohman.
The language creating a pact with Qatar is nearly identical to the Article V pact between NATO nations, which are actual allies of the United States.
And, of course, the Constitution clearly states that any pact between nations must be ratified by Congress. But Trump has shown that he doesn’t give two shits about congressional power, trampling all over constitutionally granted powers to do whatever he pleases.
Still, this new agreement sure sounds like an impeachable offense, giving military support to a nation in exchange for a bribe.
In May, Trump announced that he was officially accepting the jet from Qatar. Now he’s spending billions of taxpayer dollars to convert the jet into his new Air Force One, which he will then ludicrously keep for personal use if he ever leaves office.
The corrupt move is vile, both because of how obvious of a bribe this was and because Qatar serves as a haven for terrorist leaders and subjugates women and dissidents.
Even Trump himself said in 2017 that Qatar needs to stop funding terror groups.
“The nation of Qatar has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level,” he said. “I decided, along with secretary of state Rex Tillerson, our great generals and military people, the time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding, they have to end that funding and its extremist ideology,”
Even more absurd is Trump’s vow to protect Qatar while neglecting NATO allies—which Trump has not committed to aiding in the event of an attack.
Just last month, Trump would not commit to defending NATO nations if Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked them, saying that it “depends on the circumstance” of the attack.
Trump has claimed that he’s “America First,” but now that he’s offering military support to Qatar, it’s clear that’s not true at all.
He’s purely “Trump First,” caring only about his own finances and comfort rather than the people he’s supposed to represent.
