Vanity in the skies


Trump disembarking Air Force One at Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Scotland on July 25. To hide the cost of renovating the plane Qatar donated to Trump, the Air Force appears to have tucked it inside an over-budget, behind-schedule nuclear modernisation programme. — Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

US President Donald Trump makes no secret of his displeasure over the eye- watering cost of renovating the US Federal Reserve headquarters – around US$2.5bil, or higher by his own reckoning.

But try getting the White House to talk about another of Washington’s sky-high renovation projects – a refurbished “free” Air Force One gifted by Qatar – and you’ll hit a classified wall.

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