President Donald Trump will make his first flight on the new Air Force One gifted to the U.S. by Qatar Wednesday as he travels to North Dakota to tour its new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
The 96,000 square foot library in Medora, overlooking a national park named after the 26th president, will open its doors to the public Saturday as part of the country’s Fourth of July and “America 250” celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
To get there, Trump will be departing from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland aboard the $400 million Boeing VC-25B aircraft he was presented with in Doha last year, a gift met with accusations of influence-buying against the emirate.
The luxury jumbo jet sparked uproar for a second time when it emerged that it would require significant and costly upgrades to meet the standards required of a presidential plane, with some estimates pricing the refurbishment work at $1 billion.
Now complete, the aircraft sport a red, white, dark blue and gold paint scheme personally selected by Trump, which he first called for during his first term in 2018.
open image in galleryThe president toured the completed jet last month and described it, characteristically, as a “flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody’s ever seen before.”
It has since undergone a “final exam” and undertaken a series of commissioning flights with the U.S. Air Force to prove it is up to the task, Military Times reports.
Two replacements for the ageing VC-35A currently in service as Air Force One had already been commissioned from Boeing, only for supply chain issues to push the originally slated delivery date of December 2024 back to mid-2028.
Trump expressed huge frustration over the delay and gladly accepted the luxury jet offered by Qatar as an alternative, insisting it was “free” and therefore represented a good deal for the American taxpayer.
open image in galleryAll being well, the new model is expected to be used again later this month to fly the president to a NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara, Turkey.
Trump has also teased its use for a return visit to China in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
In addition to the plane, the president’s trip to North Dakota will also see him ride a “BNSF Freedom 250 Train” into Medora before finally being escorted to the library site in his motorcade by a ceremonial Rough Riders Troop, nodding to Roosevelt’s cavalry connections, according to The New York Post.
The president will be joined on the visit by, among others, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a former governor of North Dakota who wrongly claimed on Fox News this week that Roosevelt had overseen the country’s 125th anniversary celebrations on July 4, 1901, whereas in fact he was only vice president at that time and did not take office until September that year after the assassination of William McKinley.
open image in galleryTrump has frequently praised Roosevelt, a rugged conservationist who served as president from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt expanded the nation’s reach, helping to push Spain out of the Americas and securing control of the Panama Canal. During his tenure, the United States was emerging as the global power it remains.
As part of his week of events, Trump plans to move on to South Dakota Friday to observe a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore, the mountain sculpture bearing the faces of Roosevelt, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln – to which Burgum has proposed adding Trump’s own.
He is then expected to return to Washington, D.C., aboard the Qatari plane in time to deliver a campaign-style speech Saturday in the nation’s capital that will include another fireworks display over the Potomac River.
Trump has embraced this summer’s anniversary celebrations to underscore his leadership and vision for the nation ahead of November’s midterm elections, which, as things stand, spell trouble for his party amid disquiet over the ongoing cost of living crisis and his unpopular decision to go to war with Iran.