Donald Trump made quite a bit of news in his interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, but there was another part of the interview that the president seemed especially excited about.
Less than a year after announcing a $3.9 billion makeover for America’s most famous aircraft, President Donald Trump shared never-before-seen images of Air Force One’s prospective redesign on Wednesday during an exclusive interview with ABC News.
“George, take a look at this,” Trump boasted to ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos, as he flashed mock-ups of his vision for the next generation of the presidential aircraft. “Here’s your new Air Force One.” […]
“We had different choices, here,” Trump said, pointing to images he said he designed himself. “These are all slightly different.”
The president went on to claim he “got $1.6 billion off the price” of the project — a claim that’s already been proven false many, many times.
But that’s not the only problem with this story. For example, the exterior colors of the new Air Force One look “remarkably similar to those on his own corporate jet.”
For that matter, House Democrats this week moved forward with a defense spending bill with a provision that requires congressional approval for changes to the “interior, paint and fixtures” of Air Force One.
But the part of the story that caught my attention was ABC News reporting that Trump pointed to “images he said he designed himself.”
I’m fascinated by what the president finds fascinating.
We know, for example, Trump took a keen interest in planning an ill-fated military parade in the heart of Washington, D.C. We also know that Trump has micro-managed aspects of steel border slats, giving detailed directions to officials on everything from paint color to the shape of their steel tips. He’s also spent some time focusing on making the 4th of July more about celebrating him.
Now it appears the president, according to his own version of events, has helped choose design elements of the new Air Force One.
The natural question, of course, is, “How does he find the time?” The answer, by all appearances, is that Trump isn’t as busy as he probably should be, so he tackles tasks like these in between consuming hours of television.
And perhaps that’s for the best. White House aides have told a variety of reporters that the key to keeping Trump out of trouble is keeping him busy and distracted. The more the Republican is focused on paint colors, the less time he’ll have for more dangerous pursuits.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."