Trump 2017: 'Qatar is a funder of terrorism'- Trump DoD in 2025: 'We're building a Qatari Air Force facility in the US'

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No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen @NoLieWithBTC
Trump in 2017: “Qatar has been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”

Trump administration in 2025: We are building a Qatari Air Force facility in the United States.

Link to tweet

A new Qatari air force facility will be built in Idaho, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday.

“Today we’re signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatar Emiri air force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho,” Hegseth told reporters. “It’s just another example of our partnership.”

At the end of September, Trump signed an Executive Order stating 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 a controversial move a few months earlier, Trump accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar to use as Air Force One. Democrats attempted to block funding to turn the jet into Air Force One, but Republicans rejected that effort on Thursday.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/qatari-air-force-facility-to-be-built-in-idaho-hegseth/ar-AA1Oehvc

October 2, 2025
Trump offers Qatar, which gave him a fancy plane, a NATO-like security guarantee

Qatar has apparently been on Donald Trump’s mind quite a bit lately. A couple of weeks ago, for example, the president told reports, “A lot of people don’t understand that about Qatar, but Qatar’s been a great ally,” adding that Qatar’s been “a very great ally.”

A day later, Trump complained again that “a lot of people don’t know” just how great an ally Qatar has been to the U.S. A week after that, Qatar got a presidential shout-out during his address to the United Nations. And then again during a White House press conference. And then again in the Republican’s remarks to U.S. generals and admirals.

In his first term, Trump slammed Qatar as a country that he said had been a “funder of terrorism at a very high level.” His perspective on the Middle Eastern country has apparently evolved quite a bit over eight years.

But the president’s shift has gone well beyond rhetorical praise. Politico reported:

Trump’s new executive order added that the U.S. was prepared to take “all lawful and appropriate measures — including diplomatic, economic and, if necessary, military — to defend the interests of the United States and the State of Qatar.”

Part of what makes the NATO charter so important is the security guarantee: An attack against any member nation is seen as an attack on every member nation.

This week, Trump decided to extend a similar guarantee to Qatar — which is not a member of NATO.

Politico’s report added, “The unilateral creation of any Article 5-like security guarantees by a president — under the Constitution, treaties must be ratified by the Senate— is highly unusual.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/01/trump-promises-to-defend-qatar-in-wake-of-israeli-missile-strikes-00589638

June 9, 2017

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday accused Qatar of being a "high level" sponsor of terrorism, potentially hindering the U.S. Department of State's efforts to ease heightening tensions and a blockade of the Gulf nation by Arab states and others.

"The nation of Qatar unfortunately has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level," Trump told reporters at the White House.

"So we had a decision to make, do we take the easy road or do we finally take a hard but necessary action. We have to stop the funding of terrorism. I decided ... the time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding," Trump said, adding that he helped plan the Qatar action with Arab leaders after a recent summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A senior administration official told Reuters earlier this week that the United States had no indication from the Saudis or Emiratis in Riyadh during Trump's visit last month that they would sever ties with Qatar.

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/trump-scolds-qatar-as-tillerson-seeks-to-ease-crisis-idUSKBN18Z2ZF/

New Republic: MAGA Melts Down Over Trump Giving Qatar a Military Base in U.S.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/maga-melts-down-over-trump-giving-qatar-a-military-base-in-us/ar-AA1OeBie