MAGAMANIACS

Some of Donald Trump’s biggest fans are slamming his decision to accept a luxury jumbo jet from a wealthy Middle Eastern monarchy. Finally, something everyone agrees on!

• President Donald Trump has a special talent for dividing Americans. (I mean, who among us hasn’t had a tense Thanksgiving dinner in the past nine years?) But every once in a while, he brings the people of this country together… in a shared disdain for the most recent thing he did. This week, he achieved that rare feat once again, by insisting he will accept a half-billion dollar jet plane — so snazzy it’s been described as a “palace in the sky” — from the nation of Qatar as a replacement for Air Force One.

• “I love President Trump. I would take a bullet for him. But, I have to call a spade a spade. We cannot accept a $400 million ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits,” tweeted MAGA conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, an extreme Islamophobe. “Taking sacks of goodies from people who support Hamas … that’s not America First,” right-wing influencer Ben Shapiro said on his podcast. Mark Levin, another influential right-wing activist, came out strongly against the transaction.

• This isn’t the first time Republicans have bashed Trump for doing something objectively ridiculous. Now, however, they’re taking a cue from Democrats, and picking up the age-old, well-worn, anti-Trump cliché: “Can you imagine if Obama did this!?…” Shapiro put it this way: “I think if we switch the names to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, we’d all be freaking out on the right.” Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the same: “If this were Biden, we would be furious.”

• Democrats are scrambling to seize the moment. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to place a hold on all of Trump’s Department of Justice nominees until he receives more information about the plane, which would be transferred to the Department of Defense.

The plane looks like a personal payoff to the president, which the Constitution forbids. But Republicans are also worried about security.

• “Air Force One is much more than a passenger plane — it is the top of the command and control of the executive branch,” a former senior Trump defense official told What A Day. The plane needs to have special fuel tanks, classified protection systems, and a highly secure communications suite for the president. “None of these are on any standard Boeing 747. The construction of the aircraft itself needs to be observed throughout by U.S. officials.”

• Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) was more blunt: “I’d be checking for bugs.”

• We’ll see if more GOP lawmakers pipe up. But one person is already emerging as a surprising Trump critic: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). This week alone, he wrote a New York Times op-ed bashing MAGA over potential cuts to Medicaid and called out Trump’s plane gift: “It would be better if Air Force One were a big, beautiful jet made in the United States of America. That would be ideal.”

Why is this guy bashing Trump all of a sudden? “The jet thing might have a zero percent approval rating,” a Senate GOP aide told me. “And with Vance and Rubio gone, there’s an opening for lead pretend populist.” And by the way… Boeing is an American company, lol.

BAD BLOOD

Fresh details about former President Joe Biden’s doomed presidential campaign are leaking… and they ain’t pretty.

For one thing, the Harris camp doesn’t seem, uh, super grateful that Biden stayed in the presidential race so long.

Biden “totally fucked us” by dropping out too late, said David Plouffe, a former top Harris campaign aide who managed Obama’s winning 2008 campaign. That’s from an excerpt in Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s new book, “Original Sin,” coming out later this month.

Other eye-popping details from the book: Biden’s own pollsters didn’t see any evidence he would beat Donald Trump. His advisers discussed the possibility that he might need to use a wheelchair if he won re-election due to his deteriorating health. Biden seemed to not recognize George Clooney, a longtime friend, at a fundraiser. (And it’s not like you have to be George Clooney’s bestie to recognize that guy! Heck, I’ve never met him… and if he came to my party, I’d know.)

“It wasn’t a straight line of decline; he had good days and bad,” Tapper and Thompson write in an excerpt published in the New Yorker today. “But, until the last day of his Presidency, Biden and those closest to him refused to admit the reality that his energy, cognitive skills, and communication capacity had faltered considerably. Even worse, through various means, they tried to hide it.”

These revelations coincide with another age-related development: Biden spent last Friday in a Philadelphia hospital after doctors found a “small nodule” on his prostate during a routine physical. The nodule required “further evaluation,” a spokesperson said. (It’s very common for men in their 80s to have prostate issues.)

We’ll have our own review of the book for you next week.

NEWS NEWS NEWS

Star witness Casandra “Cassie” Ventura testified today against Sean “Diddy” Combs in his federal sex trafficking trial. “He would … knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me in the head,” Ventura said. She also shared details about his infamous drug-fueled “freak off” sex parties. Combs has pleaded not guilty to five criminal charges.

Kim Kardashian also testified in a separate court case today, detailing the time she was held at gunpoint by thieves in Paris nine years ago. Two men dressed as cops and demanded her $4 million diamond engagement ring: “I absolutely did think I was going to die,” she said.

The U.S. will lift all sanctions on Syria “to give them a chance at greatness,” Donald Trump said while in Saudi Arabia today. Syria has been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. since 1979, and more sanctions were imposed on the country during former President Bashar Assad’s reign. “So I say, Good luck Syria. Show us something very special, like they’ve done, frankly, in Saudi Arabia,” Trump said, referencing a country with an atrocious human rights record.

The GOP’s megabill to fund Trump’s tax cuts would cause 7.6 million people to go uninsured, according to a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. The bill is still being worked out, so a lot can change — and Republicans are facing increasing pressure to avoid sweeping cuts to critical programs.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned that the rule of law is “endangered” while speaking at Georgetown Law last night — but he didn’t point any fingers at Trump. “Did he point a finger at himself?,” a friend asked me. Good question!

Attorney General Pam Bondi isn’t calling all the shots in the Department of Justice, according to a New York Times report. The DOJ agenda is largely set by Trump, Stephen Miller (one of his most hardline MAGA advisers) and other officials. “It feels like she is just performing a part,” Elizabeth Oyer, the department’s former top pardon lawyer, told the outlet. “She is like an actor, in a way.” Embarrassing… you’d think with a name like Bondi, she’d at least be good at that!

Almost 60,000 people could lose federal housing assistance by next year, as funds for an emergency housing voucher program — which were set to last until 2030 — start to dwindle. Trump officials blamed the Biden administration for the problem, citing inflation and high housing costs. Instead of complaining, let’s try fixing it?

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby reassured customers that the Newark airport, which has seen multiple air traffic radar outages in recent weeks, is “absolutely safe.” Wow, I feel so much better already! Brb, booking my flight to Jersey!

UnitedHealthcare CEO Andrew Witty stepped down from the job for “personal reasons” today, the health insurance company announced. UnitedHealth has taken a big hit financially: It had lower-than-expected first quarter earnings, and since the December killing of then-CEO Brian Thompson, shares have dropped 38 percent.

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