On a daily basis, Donald Trump says all kinds of offensive things, but during remarks at Joint Base Andrews two weeks ago, he said something that nearly everyone could agree with. Unveiling the latest Air Force One, a luxury jet he received from Qatar, Trump said, “A normal president wouldn’t do this.”

Unlike so many of the Republican’s public comments, this had the benefit of being entirely true: A normal president most certainly would not have accepted a luxury jet from Qatar — a Middle Eastern country that Trump used to accuse of supporting terrorism — which he apparently intends to “donate” to his presidential library after leaving the White House. (Since receiving the plane, the president and his administration have cozied up to Qatar to a remarkable degree, even unilaterally extending a NATO-like security guarantee to the nation.)

On Wednesday, the president took his first flight on the plane, but before boarding, he took a little time to talk to reporters, one of whom asked how much it cost American taxpayers to upgrade the jet.

“Well, it cost very little relative to what it would cost if we did it a different way,” Trump responded cryptically. He added, “Frankly, we couldn’t build a plane like this.”

I’m not sure who counts as “we,” but the jet was built by Boeing, which is an American company that built the plane on American soil.

As for the question the president apparently didn’t want to answer, The New Republic noted, “The jet — one of the largest presidential gifts ever — is valued at $400 million. The Air Force said it spent around $400 million on renovating the plane, changing the cabin layout, communications system, and security upgrades. That doesn’t account for the taxpayer-funded, continued maintenance of the plane, either.”

As part of the same Q&A, Trump boasted of the plane, “The country is very proud of it.” It’s not at all clear how he arrived at this conclusion, as there’s no publicly available survey data to suggest this project enjoys broad public support.

As for the near future, MS NOW reported, “The jet is meant to serve as a ‘bridge,’ easing the strain on aging aircraft until two purpose-built planes enter service in 2028, the administration official and the Air Force spokesperson said.”

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From MS Now.