'Ridiculous!' Trump's new 'lie' torn apart as he doubles down on accepting Qatari jet

President Donald Trump has a new excuse for why he is accepting a $400 million luxury jumbo jet from the government of Qatar right as he is engaging in diplomatic talks in the Middle East, a development so controversial that even some Republicans are recoiling from it.

"The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME!" wrote Trump on his Truth Social platform. "It is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years. It will be used by our Government as a temporary Air Force One, until such time as our new Boeings, which are very late on delivery, arrive. Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done. This big savings will be spent, instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

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"Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" he concluded.

This explanation did not appear to convince many people.

"He thinks American voters are really dumb," wrote liberal journalist Aaron Rupar.

"Trump seems to be under the impression that if he just keeps posting about accepting a $400 million plane from a foreign country to fly around our most sensitive people and assets, it will start to sound less ridiculous," wrote The Atlantic's Yair Rosenberg. "But it just sounds more transparently ridiculous!"

"He’s lying. About so much here," wrote former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), a former Tea Party activist turned sharp critic of the Trump-era Republican Party. "But he also thinks the American people are stupid. And he’s utterly incapable of putting the country’s interests before his own. He always has been."