With Trump Visit, Qatar’s Image Makeover Scores Another Success

As Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, hosts President Trump in Doha on Wednesday, it will be the culmination of a successful charm offensive by the Gulf emirate that now appears likely to include the promise of a luxury jetliner to Mr. Trump — with no strings attached.

The president, who has described the emir as a “great gentleman” and a “friend of mine,” is granting Qatar the honor of hosting one of the first foreign visits of his second term. As for the plane, the president says he would be “stupid” not to accept such a nice gift despite loud objections, not only from Democrats but from some of his most fervent MAGA supporters.

It is a dramatic turnaround for a small Persian Gulf country that Mr. Trump derided eight years ago as “a funder of terrorism at a very high level.” At that time, he cooperated with Qatar’s bitter rivals in the region — who imposed a punishing blockade on Doha — in calling for an end to what he described as the country’s “extremist ideology.”

Since then, Qatar has continued to try and transform its reputation in the global community, in part by spending millions of dollars on lobbyists in Washington and other capitals. Among those lobbyists was Pam Bondi, now Mr. Trump’s attorney general.

A big part of Qatar’s image makeover was its hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 2022. A year later, when Hamas-led terrorists attacked Israel and set off months of brutal war in Gaza, Qatar became a crucial line of communication between the militant group and Israel.

“What Qatar is trying to do today is not only bask in its wealth and be delighted by the fact that Trump wants to visit, but also sort of burnishing itself for being able to say, ‘Yes, we’re back,’” said Simon Henderson, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

For Mr. Trump, he said, the plane is important “because he likes big aircraft and also because he wants an identifiable business win — something which honors him.”

But the possibility of an Air Force One with a Qatari heritage has inspired a backlash among Americans who are not as bullish as Mr. Trump about Qatar’s generosity, or its motives.

Not surprisingly, the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, has objected, vowing on Tuesday to block all of Mr. Trump’s judicial nominees until the White House answers questions about the ethical and security ramifications of the president accepting such a gift and using it as his primary means of transportation.

The issue has also created a rare rift between Mr. Trump and the people at the heart of his political machine.

“Like, please define ‘America First’ in a way that says you should take sacks of cash from the Qatari royals,” Ben Shapiro, a leading conservative podcast host, said sarcastically on his show. “It just isn’t ‘America First’ in any conceivable way.”

Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer who has successfully pressured Mr. Trump to fire aides she deemed disloyal to the president, blasted the idea in several social media posts.

“We cannot accept a $400 million ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits,” Ms. Loomer wrote on Tuesday.

Qatar has long said that its funding for Gaza was approved by Israel, and that the money went to humanitarian projects and salaries for civil servants in Gaza. Critics like Ms. Loomer reject that explanation.

She added: “I say that as someone who would take a bullet for Trump. I’m so disappointed.”

Mark Levin, the host of a syndicated radio show and a fierce supporter of Mr. Trump, had a one-word response to Ms. Loomer: “Ditto.”

A Qatari official said no decision had been made about donating the plane, and that such a decision could be weeks or months away. The official said legal teams were reviewing the possibility of transferring the plane to the U.S. Defense Department.

The issue has arisen against the backdrop of potential business connections. A person with knowledge of the matter noted that Qatar and Boeing will announce a deal this week in which Qatar says it intends to purchase planes from Boeing.

For his part, Mr. Trump has shrugged off the criticism. “Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday.

The reaction underscores the fact that many people remain skeptical about Qatar and its self-proclaimed transformation.

Critics point out that Qatar’s role as a go-between for the Gaza conflict is the result of its willingness to let many of Hamas’s top political officials live there. Qatari officials often note that the United States had asked them to host Hamas leaders so there could be an open line of communication.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is among the country’s critics. “The time has come for Qatar to stop playing both sides with its double talk and decide if it’s on the side of civilization or if it’s on the side of Hamas barbarism,” Mr. Netanyahu wrote on social media this month.

Still, Israeli officials confirmed that a delegation of negotiators would go to Doha on Tuesday, on the eve of Mr. Trump’s arrival, to resume discussions about ending the war in Gaza. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s chief negotiator in the region, headed to Doha separately to participate in the talks.

Mr. Witkoff has spoken warmly about Qatar, noting that it has repeatedly used its influence with Hamas to break through impasses since the war began. That led to several hostage releases and two cease-fires, the most recent of which collapsed in March.

“They are well motivated. They’re good, decent people,” Mr. Witkoff said of the Qataris during an interview in March with Tucker Carlson. “What they want is a mediation that’s effective, that gets to a peace goal. And why? Because they’re a small nation, and they want to be acknowledged as a peacemaker.”

Qatar has worked hard to establish important connections with the United States over the years, including the sale of liquefied natural gas, which it has in abundance. It has spent $8 billion to develop the Al Udeid Air Base, which it lets the United States use as a key part of the American military presence in the region.

The Trump Organization, led by the president’s children, recently agreed to develop a new Middle East golf course and real estate project in Qatar in a deal involving a Qatari government-owned firm. Qatar also helped mediate the return of children to Ukraine who had been taken into Russia following its invasion in 2022.

Three Western diplomats, all of whom asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive regional diplomacy, said they believed that while the airplane for Mr. Trump was meant to solidify Qatar’s strategic relationship with the United States, it was also an attempt to compete with regional rivals that are making their own multibillion-dollar commitments.

Qatar competes fiercely with its much larger neighbors, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Mr. Trump is visiting all three nations during his trip to the Middle East this week, a signal of equality that has pleased officials in Qatar.

During the visit, the emir and other top Qatari officials are expected to celebrate Mr. Trump as the host of the next World Cup in the United States. Mr. Trump is being accompanied to Qatar by Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, soccer’s governing body.

For many sports fans, Qatar was a little-known country until it secured the World Cup, the most popular event in global sports.

Qatar’s surprising victory in the World Cup bidding context, often called one of the dirtiest in sports history, relied on the tiny, thumb-shaped peninsula wielding the biggest weapon it could: cash. Qatar, which vigorously denied allegations of bribery in the process, outspent its rivals, including the United States, to convince members of FIFA, several of whom would later be indicted on corruption charges, to choose the desert state as host.

The country was also criticized for its treatment of workers who helped build and operate the World Cup venue. A report in 2024 urged compensation for workers who were injured and for the families of those who died.

The buildup to the World Cup put Qatar on the map, giving it a prominence it would rely on when facing one of the biggest challenges in its history — a dispute with its Gulf neighbors that Qataris viewed as a threat to their very existence.

Despite its much smaller army, Qatar managed to withstand a diplomatic and economic blockade that began in 2017, when Saudi Arabia and several other neighbors accused Qatar of supporting terrorism, cut ties and banned Qatar from crossing its land or airspace. The dispute was not resolved until 2021.

In seeking the World Cup, Qatar spent vast amounts on public relations consultants and Western surrogates to make its case. Being the host of the games and a major soccer investor offered a form of protection, without which it would have been far more vulnerable to the economic damage from the blockade, regional experts said at the time.

Qatar, which is still a FIFA sponsor, has continued to spend on sports and use it for global influence. The businessman Nasser al Khelaifi, a former tennis partner of the emir, has become one of the most powerful men in European soccer.

Despite the various criticisms directed at Qatar, Daniel Benaim, who was deputy assistant secretary of state for Arabian Peninsula affairs under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., called the relationship a worthwhile one for the United States, overall.

“None of these countries have a monopoly on vice or virtue, including Qatar, and each brings different strengths, liabilities, and priorities when it comes to advancing a wide range of U.S. interests,” Mr. Benaim said.