In a shocking announcement today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed that the United States will host a new Qatari Air Force contingent at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, where Qatari pilots will train to fly F-15 fighter jets. The decision, signed off by the Trump administration, marks a deepening of U.S. military cooperation with the Gulf nation, even as Qatar’s financial ties to Donald Trump’s personal and business interests draw mounting scrutiny.
“The location will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training, increase lethality, [and] interoperability,” Hegseth said Friday. “It’s just another example of our partnership.”
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The Pentagon described the deal as routine, noting that U.S. bases have long hosted foreign training detachments, including Singapore’s air force F-15SGs already stationed at Mountain Home, and Germany’s long-standing air defense training at Fort Bliss, Texas. Yet the timing, coinciding with reports of Trump’s growing financial and political entanglements with Qatar, has provoked a storm of criticism from both Democrats and Trump-aligned conservatives who see the move as a betrayal of “America First” principles.
While the Pentagon insists that no foreign country operates an independent base on U.S. soil, the optics of a Qatari military presence in Idaho have become politically explosive. Qatar, a small but immensely wealthy Gulf monarchy, has faced bipartisan criticism for years.
For Trump’s most loyal supporters, allowing Qatar to plant a permanent military footprint in America represents not cooperation but capitulation.
Far-right influencer Laura Loomer, one of Trump’s most prominent online defenders, blasted the announcement on twitter:
“WTF IS AMERICA FIRST ABOUT ALLOWING QATAR TO HAVE A MILITARY BASE ON US SOIL? This is an abomination. So much for ‘Make America Safe Again.’ By letting funders of HAMAS and the Muslim Brotherhood have a military base on US soil. Un-f***ing believable.”
Loomer’s public revolt underscores an unusual moment of intra-MAGA dissent, where some of Trump’s most devoted backers are accusing him of hypocrisy and corruption.
The Idaho air base announcement came just months after revelations that Trump accepted a $400 million Boeing 747-8 from the Qatari royal family, purportedly as a “gift” for future presidential transport. The jet, which will need extensive retrofitting to meet White House security standards, could ultimately cost taxpayers up to $1 billion to secure and refit.
Even more controversially, media reports suggest that some of the retrofit funds will be diverted from the Sentinel nuclear modernization program, which is already billions over budget. The revelation has intensified claims that the Trump administration is blending public defense resources with private benefits.
Adding to the unease, the Trump Organization announced a deal this week to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar, featuring Trump-branded villas and an 18-hole course, in partnership with a Saudi development firm. The agreement marked the first major foreign business venture by the Trump family since returning to power, despite the president’s past pledge to avoid overseas deals while in office.
For critics, the convergence of military, personal, and financial ties with Qatar paints a portrait of foreign influence unprecedented in modern U.S. politics.
The Trump administration has long argued that hosting allied air forces enhances deterrence and joint readiness. But the decision to do so while simultaneously benefiting from the Qataris, both in personal gifts and corporate expansion, risks blurring the line between national policy and private profit.
For Hegseth, a loyalist elevated to the Pentagon post for his unwavering defense of Trump, the Idaho announcement was intended to highlight partnership and strength. Instead, it has become the flashpoint of a much larger question: Whose interests does “America First” really serve?
If Trump’s critics on the right continue to grow louder, this could become one of the defining internal reckonings of his second term, not between left and right, but between loyalty and legitimacy.