Donald Trump is maneuvering to accept a Boeing 747 jumbo jet valued at over $400
million from the royal family of the autocratic, oil-rich Middle Eastern nation
of Qatar.

This seems like a good time to recall the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the
United States Constitution:

“No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person
holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of
the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind
whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

Notwithstanding capitalization, punctuation, and syntax that may seem peculiar
today, what it very clearly says is that the president of the United States absolutely may not accept any gift from
another country or its ruler unless Congress approves it .

As he has with so many laws, Donald Trump has repeatedly violated both the
letter and the spirit of the Emoluments Clause. Even so, Trump’s latest salvo in
an ongoing campaign of open disdain for the clause is as flagrant as it is
unsurprising.

Here’s what one of us (Robert) told the national media:

“Trump’s plan to accept a luxury plane from Qatar is blatantly unconstitutional.
The concern with foreign gifts is that they can sway a president’s policy and
predilections — and there’s little doubt that Qatar wants to gift Trump a
‘palace in the sky’ for exactly that reason. Even in a presidency defined by
grift, this move is shocking. It makes clear that U.S. foreign policy under Trump
is up for sale. The juxtaposition with cancelled foreign aid grants and programs
for poor and vulnerable people — cancellations that will cost millions of lives
unless reversed — could not be starker or more morally grotesque.”

By the way, Qatar spews more climate threatening carbon dioxide per capita than
any other country on Earth. Does giving Trump hundreds of millions have
something to do with that?

The American people are right to be morally offended and furiously opposed to
the rank corruption on display here — which is as plain (or should we say
“plane”?) as the nose on Trump’s face.

Tell Congress: [[link removed]]

To accept the “gift” of a 747 jumbo jet worth more than $400 million from the
Qatari royal family would be a new low even for someone as morally ungrounded,
awash in corruption, and easily bought as Donald Trump. Congress must use its
full authority over emoluments to reject what is essentially a naked attempt at
bribing the president of the United States.
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