‘Opposite of America First’: Expert weighs in on Trump’s Qatar-Idaho air base deal

Published on: Oct 11, 2025 01:46 am IST

Pete Hegseth announced that an agreement had been reached with Qatar that would allow them to build a facility at the Idaho air force base.

President Donald Trump’s government has come under fire from MAGA supporters after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Friday that an agreement had been reached with Qatar which would allow their air force to construct a facility at the Idaho air force base.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (R) and Qatari Defense Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met, after which the announcement was made about the Qatar facility at the Idaho Air Force base. (AFP)

Trump ally Laura Loomer on X exclaimed “WTF IS AMERICA FIRST ABOUT ALLOWING QATAR TO HAVE A MILITARY BASE ON US SOIL? This is an abomination.” She continued “So much for “Make America Safe Again”. By letting funders of HAMAS and the Muslim Brotherhood have a military base on US soil.” Loomer called the Trump government’s actions ‘unbelievable’.

Her thoughts have been echoed by Max Abrahms author of Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant History.

What expert said on Qatar-Idaho air force base deal

Abrahms who is an International security professor said on X “This administration’s relationship with Qatar is quite weird.”This administration’s relationship with Qatar is quite weird.”

He continued, “Trump used to call out Qatar out for sponsoring terrorism. Since then, Qatar has increased its sponsorship of extremism especially in the West, the opposite of America First.”

Trump in 2017 had called out Qatar – a key US ally. He had accused them of funding terrorism ‘at a very high level’. Trump had also said that solving the problem there could be ‘the beginning of the end of terrorism’. He had also derided what he called Qatar’s ‘extremist ideology in terms of funding’, an accusation the nation has repeatedly and vehemently denied, as per Associated Press.

However, the president changed his tune in 2025, praising Qatar and its leadership. This year the Trump family company struck a deal to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar, Associated Press reported, adding that with such foreign investments there was “the danger of a president shaping U.S. public policy for personal financial gain”. Qatar also gave Trump a jet plane, estimated to be worth $400 million, as an ‘unconditional gift’, and the president plans to use it as Air Force One.

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