Lie Of The Day: Trump Claims To Save Billions For Air Force

Lie Of The Day: Trump Claims To Save Billions For Air Force February 25, 2017

Air Force One (Courtesy - Boeing)
Air Force One (Courtesy – Boeing)

Conservatives need to ask themselves some questions.

If I had a friend who lied to me this much would I be worried or think this is perfectly normal behavior for a responsible adult?

Why does Trump feel the need to lie to me on such a regular basis? Does he think I am stupid?

As you ponder these things I point you to Air Force One.

The aircraft the president flies in is a specifically configured, highly customized Boeing 747-200B series aircraft. In addition to the base aircraft it is stocked with state-of-the-art communications equipment, electronic countermeasures against attack, and a bunch of secret stuff I cannot mention (mostly because I do not know them).

According to the Air Force the cost for the two they have ordered will be over $2 Billion. But they have yet to determine the final cost as bidding continues on the specialized electronics the aircraft will carry. But Donald Trump insisted in a tweet in December that the cost was already $4.2 Billion and the program should be cancelled.

This past week Trump declared:

“They were close to signing a $4.2 billion deal to have a new Air Force One,” Trump said at a rally on Saturday in Florida. “Can you believe this? I said, ‘No way.’ I said, ‘I refuse to fly in a $4.2 billion airplane. I refuse.’”

Instead, Trump said, “we got that price down by over $1 billion, and I probably haven’t spoken, to be honest with you, for more than an hour on the project. I got the generals in, who are fantastic. I got Boeing in. But I told Boeing it’s not good enough. We’re not going to do it. The price is still too high.”

The problems with this statement are that first there is no contract that was even close to being signed and therefore there is no firm price yet. The second is that Trump did not negotiate the price down by $1 Billion. Untrue statements which we commonly call LIES.

The Air Force is dumbfounded by these claims and demurred to their boss, Donald Trump, for further comment. They literally have no idea what he is talking about.

“The Air Force can’t account for $1 billion in savings that President Donald Trump said he’s negotiated for the program to develop, purchase and operate two new Boeing Co. jets to serve as Air Force One.

“To my knowledge I have not been told that we have that information,” Colonel Pat Ryder, an Air Force spokesman, told reporters Wednesday when asked how Trump had managed to reduce the price for the new presidential plane. “I refer you to the White House,” Ryder said. A White House spokesman didn’t respond to repeated inquiries about Trump’s comments.”

Trump has also claimed to have saved billions on the the F-35 fighter jet program. He has not.

My questions to conservatives listed above still stand. Additionally, how does this continual lying, which I will document here daily, serve our nation? How does this continual lying reflect on you and your contention that you, and your side, have the moral high-ground? And when will you speak up? Or is your morality for sale to whoever offers you a bit of political power? Because that is what it looks like and it is not a pretty sight.

Check out article at Bloomberg.

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