Trump's traveling trunk show is backfiring

For the record, there is no truth to the rumor that Donald Trump has an embroidered pillow that reads, “Those who die with the most toys wins.”

That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t like one. He’s just not going to pay for it; apparently, no one has given him one as a gift yet.

Trump has made it pretty clear where his shriveled little heart lies. And it lies often about everything to benefit himself and no one else.

It’s a yard sale, folks, and Trump is selling while the world is buying. A former Trump official clarified it for me further. “If you think Trump is holding a yard sale, I would remind everyone that the United States is the yard that is for sale and everything, including security secrets, defensive initiatives, private data, and secrets most people don’t know about are for sale.” If that doesn’t bother you, my source said, “And no one in this administration is going to call him out. The new Trump regime is becoming increasingly insulated while his activities grow more outrageous. Everything he does is pay to play.”

Most of the world has grown weary of the man, if elections in Canada, the growing resentment of him in Europe, or even the new criticism of him among MAGA circles mean anything. Then again, his latest trip to the Middle East shows that the obscenely rich and powerful potentates who oppress and repress their fellow countrymen while they gain more power and wealth due to their oil reserves are more than willing to hand over hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, to Donald Trump (Not the USA) in a bid to curry favor with him so they can get what they want at his yard sale. They may be sick of him, but they sure know how to manipulate him.

The latest hue and cry from the masses about Donald Trump comes from the announcement that the country of Qatar has gifted him a $400 million Boeing 747. Ostensibly, it is to be used as Air Force One, but it will be Trump’s to use once he leaves – if he ever leaves – office.

So, to recap, the richest and most powerful are willing to bribe the man who wants to be one of the richest and most powerful because Trump nominally represents the world’s largest consumer nation.

Go figure.

Trump, of course, is angry that anyone would question his motives. On Tuesday, he insulted an ABC reporter with a sneer and his usual mangling of the English language and logic when he said, “They’re giving us a free jet. I could say no, no, no, don’t give [it to] us. I want to pay you $1 billion or $400 million or whatever it is. Or I could say thank you very much.” Trump also compared taking the gift to former professional golfer Sam Snead. “He had a motto; when they give you a putt, you say ‘thank you very much,' you pick up your ball and you walk to the next hole.”

It always boils down to golf with Trump. He is more likely to expire on the back nine of a golf course after shanking a par 5 off the tee than any man I’ve ever known. His analogy also carries a deeper meaning. It tells you the extent of his grift. Take any freebie you get – even though in this case it’s not a freebie. A source inside the DOD told me, “Don’t worry it’s never going to be used as Air Force One. By the time they check it for bugs, retrofit it and prepare it, the country will have spent $1 billion and Trump will be out of office. It’ll just stay parked at an airport nearby his so-called Presidential Library so he can use it personally whenever he wants.”

This gets interesting because MAGA boosters like Laura Loomer, Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro have joined the ranks of Democrats and progressives like Bernie Sanders and James Carville in criticizing Trump for making the deal.

“I think if we switched the names to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, we’d all be freaking out on the right,” Shapiro said Monday on his podcast. “President Trump promised to drain the swamp. This is not, in fact, draining the swamp.” Shapiro also linked the potential airplane deal to other acts of “influence peddling,” like Trump’s cryptocurrency sweepstakes. “The administration’s policy is too important for this sort of activity,” Shapiro said.

Loomer blasted Trump on social media with anti-Hamas posts (Qatar is an ally of Hamas) and said she hoped the deal wasn’t true because she’d take a bullet for Trump. Levin chimed in with a “Ditto.”

Sounds like what James Carville said Tuesday, except for the taking a bullet part, when he urged lawmakers to “jump on this corruption and never get off of it.” Trump is “taking a $400 million jet for lifetime use from a foreign government,” Carville told Chris Cuomo on News Nation. “He’s selling places at a White House dinner for people that buy his meme coin, which goes right into his pocket. And that’s what the tragedy is.”

Trump has been criticized by the left, right, middle and everyone but those in the Middle East who are paying a hefty sum for Trump’s attention. You’d think someone would tell them that Trump’s price tag is a lot less than $400 million. Hell, Elon Musk, the immigrant who criticizes other immigrants, bought Trump for about half that much.

Stop by the White House for Trump’s yard sale, contribute to his cryptocurrency and get a free dinner with him; or if you can’t make it to the White House, he’ll go to you. And while Trump continues to sell out his country, it isn’t the entire story. It certainly isn’t the most egregious part of the story.

Donald Trump stood up in Saudi Arabia and lavished praise on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He called him “an incredible man” and a “great guy” and declared that he liked him “too much.”

MBS, sitting in the first row of attendees while Trump made his speech, smiled and waved. Let the record show that the CIA named MBS as the mastermind behind the murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi. Joe Biden wouldn’t meet with the man, but Trump is making deals right and left with the guy he likes “too much.” The press? We’ve pretty much ignored that unsettling fact. Almost like we’ve been cowered into submission by Der Leader.

So much for free speech and the right to dissent. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller (who some in the White House refer to as “Pee Wee German”) told us last week the administration is eliminating the Department of Education so we can teach young American children the right way to think. No one is talking about Khashoggi’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, however. He’s dead, buried and apparently forgotten.

Presidential Pep Secretary Karoline Leavitt, meanwhile, suffered her latest humiliation as she talked herself into a knot trying to defend Trump’s yard sale. Sure, she said, “The president is abiding by all conflict of interest laws,” but he’s obviously not. She can say that it’s “ridiculous” to suggest that “President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit,” but that’s obviously his first concern. He’s leveraging the Middle East to pad his own pocket. The question remains: Will he change U.S. policy to favor his bottom line? It’s not a question that requires a lot of deep thought. Trump has spent a lifetime in his narcissistic pursuit of doing what’s best for him at the expense of everyone else.

There’s plenty of evidence to show us what the yard sale is doing for Trump.

Within the last month, Eric Trump announced plans for an 80-story Trump Tower in Dubai, the UAE’s largest city. He also attended a recent cryptocurrency conference there with Zach Witkoff, a founder of the Trump family crypto company, World Liberty Financial, and son of Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

“We are proud to expand our presence in the region,” Eric Trump said last month in announcing that Trump Tower Dubai was set to start construction this fall.

True to form, Trump’s business interests include a business partnership with Qatari Diar, a real estate company backed by the sovereign wealth fund in Qatar, to build a luxury golf resort there. Wonder why Trump got the 747? Come on.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Meanwhile, the Trump family is also leasing its brand to two new real estate projects in the Saudi Arabian Capital, Riyadh. There, they are partnering with Dar Global, a London-based luxury real estate developer and subsidiary of private Saudi real estate firm Al Arkan. What’s the life of a Washington Post journalist compared to those deals? Trump’s in. It’s pay to play, baby.

The Trump Organization has similarly partnered with Dar Global on a Trump Tower set to be built in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and an upcoming Trump International Hotel and luxury golf development in neighboring Oman. Wonder what they got at the yard sale to justify that?

During the crypto conference, a state-backed investment company in Abu Dhabi announced it had chosen USD, World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin, to back a $2 billion investment in Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Critics say that it allows Trump family-aligned interests to essentially take a cut of each dollar invested.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Trump said when asked by reporters about the transaction on Wednesday. When he says he doesn’t know anything about the subject, be it Epstein Island, COVID, Project 2025 or hundreds of other subjects he claimed ignorance about, you know he’s lying.

So when Shapiro asked in his podcast, “How does this put America First?” He was echoing the thoughts of everyone from Bernie Sanders, AOC, and your average American auto worker to Trump supporters in the House and Senate.

Perhaps Donald Trump is right: He’s bringing unity to the United States. At least on this issue, we’re united against Trump.

And yet there still remains little hope that there will be a combined effort to stifle Trump or hold him accountable for his actions. As a former insider I know told me Wednesday,

Trump is “not worried” about MBS, the trip to the Middle East or anything else because “The Democrats remain floundering.” So busy are they fighting over “David Hogg and how to appeal to American voters without listening to the voters,” that my source is convinced the Republican Party (insert MAGA) will continue to win future elections and Donald Trump will make away with billions while selling out America. The yard sale will continue.

By dealing with MBS, Trump is also telling you that he doesn’t care who you kill to get to the head of the table. Money talks. It may be a profitable way to run a business, but I doubt many of us could sleep soundly knowing innocent people were killed so others could purchase our goods at a yard sale.

Trump?

He’ll sleep just fine. No one sleeps more soundly than a man without a conscience, a heart, or any common sense. Unless he’s not making a profit. Right now, Trump is obviously profiting and in the best position he’s ever been in during his life. It’s doubtful anyone will stop him.

And we will suffer for decades because of it. Just remember what happened to Jamal Khashoggi.