DA PLANE! DA PLANE!
Vol. III | Issue. 301 | May 15, 2025
The show Fantasy Island debuted in 1977 and ran through 1984. It opened with midget actor Hervé Villechaize standing on the beach with the handsome, middle-aged Ricardo Montalbán, famous for the "fine Corinthian leather" commercial and a B-movie actor. Villechaize would joyfully yell, “Da plane! Da plane!” as the latest Fantasy Island guests were spotted arriving in their seaplane. Villechaize and Montalbán formed the identifiable Fantasy Island team leaders—Montalbán as the island host, and Villechaize as his cheerful and dutiful lackey.
Such a show could never exist today unless Villechaize, the midget, rather than Montalbán, the B-movie matinee idol, were in charge—but that's a commentary for another day.
However, during the past few news cycles, "Da Plane" has made headlines in a very different light. "Da Plane" isn’t the one carrying tourists to their fantasy destination—it’s the one the Government of Qatar will be gifting to the United States of America to be “temporarily used as 47’s Air Force One.
As you all know, I’m deeply supportive of President Trump, his programs, and his broad agenda. There’s no doubt his delivery is, often, to say the least, unorthodox. That said, there is no human being on Earth who has the force of personality, drive, and vision to reverse the damage that has been done to this country over the past 60 years of sick political and cultural indoctrination that has been force-fed to the American public.
However, I strongly believe that the President's acceptance of “Da Plane” is a big mistake. Even assuming the acceptance of this "gift" from the Qatari government passes the required legal hurdles, it’s a move that shouldn’t be made. Qatar—a nation comprised of roughly 300,000 actual citizens, the remainder of whom are foreign guest workers—sits at the center of geopolitical conflict reeking from every corner of the Middle East, not the least of which is their full-on support, aid, and comfort of Hamas terrorists and others. A country with this track record should not be allowed to “gift” America an aircraft that, next to the U.S. Capitol and White House, serves as one of America’s most visible, powerful, and symbolic representations of our nation on the world stage.
Qatar, pound for pound, has bought and paid for more influence in the United States than any other nation, including China. They essentially own or influence American universities effectively to the point of ownership, most significantly Texas A&M University, and influence virtually every other “elite” University. They fund Al Jazeera and, until very recently, provided a home for Hamas’s top billionaire terrorists.
In addition to the obvious symbolic disaster of accepting this $400 million "gift" from Qatar, such an acceptance may well serve to create significant vulnerabilities in terms of defense and national security. More so than anything else, it creates an egregious appearance of impropriety.
Qatar—despite my complete anathema for this country that, in my opinion, is more a bank account masquerading as a country—may well play a role in the broader acceptance of the Abraham Accords. That said, a country that funds terrorism, Al Jazeera, and has hosted Hamas terrorists should not be allowed to co-opt the bright and shining symbol that is Air Force One. Mr. President, please rethink this one.
Air Force One, when viewed from the ground in virtually every country it has visited through a succession of American Presidents, has been a symbol of Freedom, Justice, and The American Way. In other words, “Da Plane” has meant something far more than just a fantasy vacation—and it shouldn’t be permanently tainted by being accepted as the new Air Force One.
-Emes