Josh Weiner
President Trump campaigned across Arizona and Montana this week in support of Republican midterm candidates, using the stops to defend his acceptance of a luxury jet gifted by Qatar that now serves as Air Force One.
Speaking at a rally in Bullhead City, Arizona, Trump described the aircraft as “the best of all the 747s” and brushed aside criticism of the arrangement, telling supporters, “When you’re given gifts, you take ’em, right?” He said he had originally asked Qatar’s leader if he could borrow the plane before the emir offered it outright as a gift.
In Arizona, Trump rallied support for Republican Andy Biggs, who is running to unseat Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, part of a broader push to shore up GOP candidates in competitive Western races ahead of the November 3 midterms.
Trump then traveled to Montana's 1st Congressional District, where he campaigned for Aaron Flint, an aide to retiring Representative Ryan Zinke. At an evening rally there, Trump warned supporters that the Second Amendment would come "under siege" if Democrats won control in November, and announced a new military testing range that Montana Republicans had been seeking.
The two-state swing reflects the Trump campaign's effort to energize rural and Western voters in the campaign's final weeks, even as the Qatari jet continues to draw scrutiny from critics who view the gift as raising ethical questions about a foreign government providing a US president with a high-value asset.
