What did Donald Trump do today?

He said Americans couldn't build an American plane.

Trump took his first trip on the jet that he intends to use as Air Force One. It was given to him—for his personal use, including after he leaves office—by the government of Qatar. In remarks to reporters just before departing, he said this:

So this was a gift from, uh, a country that's treated us very well, and, uh, they're an ally of us over in the Middle East, Qatar. And, uh, I went to Boeing, I said, "Who has the best one?" They said, "Qatar." There's no—there's never been a plane like this. Frankly, we couldn’t build a plane like this because we wouldn’t be willing to spend the kind of money necessary. They spent top dollars.

The plane is a custom Boeing 747-8. It was built in the United States, by Americans. 

In fact, Americans built this particular plane twice. First in its initial manufacture, and then a second time in retrofitting it with the communications and security equipment necessary for it to be used to carry a president. That process has been estimated to cost taxpayers about $1 billion. The Air Force has released lower numbers for the conversion—about $400 million—but the actual figure is classified. Trump has a long history of insisting that he is doing things at no cost to taxpayers and then hiding the bill. Most recently, reporters uncovered a secret $500 million no-bid contract for his demolition of the East Wing of the White House. 

In order to prevent corruption, the Constitution prohibits the president from accepting "any present… of any kind whatever, from… any foreign State" without Congressional approval. Trump is personally heavily invested in projects co-sponsored by the Qatari government. At the same time, the authoritarian government Qatar has received much more favorable treatment in Trump's second term than it had earned in previous administrations.

Why does this matter?

• No president should ever, under any circumstances, say that there's anything American workers can't do. 

• It shouldn't be this easy or this effective to bribe the President of the United States. 

• Saying something is free and then hiding an enormous price tag with paperwork is what two-bit scammers do. 

• If Trump's story about asking Boeing and being told this specific 14-year-old jet was the best one were true—and it obviously isn't—then he'd be confessing to soliciting a bribe as well as as receiving one.