Rachel Maddow called out Donald Trump over the reported true cost of his efforts to spruce up the superluxury jumbo jet he’s set to receive from the royal family of Qatar, accusing the president of taking funding from a key nuclear safety program to bankroll the renovations.
On Monday night, she walked viewers through new reporting from The New York Times about a “mysterious” transfer of $934 million out of a Pentagon project to modernize America’s nuclear missile sites.
“This isn’t like old books or soccer balls that you stashed in a milk crate on a shelf in your garage and forgot about,” Maddow said of the nuclear sites, adding: “These are real, live nuclear weapons that need upkeep and modernization. They need care and tending.”
According to the Times, citing private conversations with Air Force officials, part of the funding for that care and tending has been diverted to pay for renovations to the Qatari jet.
Trump is now “robbing the ground-based nuclear missiles’ safety and modernization budget — for himself,” Maddow said.
Although the plane renovations could take years to complete, Trump has insisted he wants to use the lavish jet as Air Force One during his time in office. After his term, the plane is expected to be transferred to his future presidential library.
“So our aging, leaky, ground-launched nuclear missile system needs some attention, needs a little TLC. … But Trump is taking the money from that program for himself to instead fix up this plane that he wants,” Maddow said.
She added: “Diverting $934 million in taxpayer funds from the Pentagon for nuclear weapons safety to instead making sure he gets the gold inlay he knows he deserves, on the plane he plans to take with him when he goes.”
Maddow said Trump’s priorities put him in line with other authoritarian leaders, who share an affinity for luxury over governing.
“Everywhere all over the world, these guys are all the same,” she said. “And they all want gold toilets. They all want to rob the country they lead blind, to give them gold gewgaws that make them feel special.”
Watch Maddow’s full takedown of Trump in the clip at the top of the page.
