By Steve Rodriguez
Part I
–Excerpt from the January 22 2026 edition of the New York Times
Headline: Trump Could Begin Flying on Jet Donated by Qatar by this Summer
President Trump could start flying later this year on the 747 Boeing jetliner donated by the government of Qatar after the Air Force said it expected to deliver the refurbished plane no later than this summer…Mr. Trump brushed off ethical concerns about the gift, saying that only someone “stupid” would reject it.
Part II
So I still recall the rapturous joy
of receiving that spectacular gift
when just eleven years old. Blue Schwinn bike
with banana seat. Ultimate surprise,
having ceded a son’s expectations
to mom and dad’s notion of thriftiness.
Struck by my happiness and expressions
of gratitude, they smiled down at me,
like magnanimous royal heads of state
happy to bring pleasure to one of their
loyal but destitute peasant subjects,
young stranger to gold-plated luxury.
Yet, they knew nothing of my efforts in
the weeks preceding to shake down
various prominent local merchants,
strongly hinting they gift me a Boeing
jumbo jet. Imagine, retailers paid
visits from a punk kid vowing to cut
off business traffic flowing through their doors.
I’d point to the sky, to four-engine planes
approaching our nearby airport, and tell
store owners, “I deserve one of them birds
as a present, so if you know what’s good
for you and your business…?” and then I’d wink
in the manner of a charming movie
gangster, convinced they got my dark intent.
Borrowing a friend’s black leather jacket
for bold effect, I struck fear in their hearts.
I really wanted that wide body plane.
Fortunately, my parents intervened
and bought me the coolest of bikes. As a
result, I grew up well adjusted, sure
of my role in life – never demanding
too much. Though to this day, when I look up
and see a 747 fly
by, I mumble Corleone-like, “What if…?”
