Trump's Populist Attack on Boeing

Don't sell Donald Trump short. In the ongoing kerfuffle over Air Force One, the president-elect is showing political, public relations and business savvy that his critics underestimated and that could help him to govern as a deft deal-maker after he takes office Jan. 20.

Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday, "Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!" Later, he told reporters, "It's going to be over $4 billion for the Air Force One program, and I think it's ridiculous. I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money."

What Trump appears to be doing is serving notice that he will be a vigilant protector of public funds and won't simply accept government or corporate estimates of costs but will rebel when a price tag seems exorbitant to him. This is an approach that millions of Americans will welcome.

He is also demonstrating a willingness to have the federal government aggressively second-guess corporate America, which Republicans are often loathe to do. He already did this with his announcement last week that he had intervened to save U.S. jobs that were being transferred to Mexico by the Carrier company in Indiana.

For its part, Boeing seemed to be accommodating. "We look forward to working with the U.S Air Force on subsequent phases of the program, allowing us to deliver the best planes for the president at the best value for the American taxpayer," a Boeing spokesman said.

Air Force officials are in the early stages of arranging for the construction of two new 747-8 jets for the president because the current 747-200 aircraft, a primary and backup, are approaching the end of their useful life of 30 years. The new planes aren't scheduled to arrive for about five years, and could take longer because installing some of the required systems, such as those for communication and security including anti-missile defenses, can be time consuming and complicated. It could cost $4 billion for the two planes by the time they are completed, aviation specialists say.

As I reported in my book "Air Force One: A History of the Presidents and Their Planes," Air Force One is not the code name for a particular plane but for whatever Air Force aircraft the president happens to be on. Generally, it's the 747 jumbo jet.

Trump has his own private jet, a fancy Boeing 757 for which he paid $100 million, he says. It's a great way to travel, Trump adds, but his plane doesn't have the technology that the government 747's have, so it's doubtful that the Secret Service would want Trump to use his private jet after he becomes president. "Trump Force One," as some have called it, also has only half the seats, at about 40, that the 747 has.

     

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