Since news broke that President Donald Trump was being gifted a new plane by the government of Qatar, some have tried to justify it by bringing up the Statue of Liberty, which was a gift from France to celebrate the 1876 U.S. centennial.
But while Lady Liberty’s pedestal famously features the words “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” the social media reaction to Trump’s plane gift was more like, “Give me a break.”
That’s because there’s a big difference between the two: The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the U.S. from France to celebrate a century of U.S. independence, one Congress authorized President Grover Cleveland to accept. Meanwhile, Trump will reportedly use the $400 million Qatari plane as Air Force One until the end of his presidency and then donate it to his presidential library.
Although Trump has claimed the plane wouldn’t be a gift to him but to the Defense Department, his past behavior ― like when the FBI recovered thousands of government documents during a 2022 raid at Mar-a-Lago ― suggests a guy who will take what he wants despite any rules or norms in place.
The plane gift is raising serious ethical and security concerns from both sides, even as some people try to conflate it with France’s gift of a statue.
However, many people, including a few current and former members of Congress, chimed in to explain the very significant difference between giving a gift to a country vs. sending one to a country’s leader.
Others pointed out that the Constitution requires Congress to approve any gifts from foreign states.