Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho will soon have a base for… QatarUAE Air Force pilots will train on F-15s, which has angered some MAGA supporters who don't trust the Qatari government and who (wrongly) believe Qatar is building its own base in the US.
“Today we are announcing the decision to build a Qatar Air Force facility at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho,” Hegseth said while standing next to Qatari Defense Minister Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday. Some in the MAGAverse felt this meant Qatar would have its own base rather than building a facility on an existing US base.
JD Vance He was asked on Fox News to clarify the Trump administration's statement on Sunday.
“It's largely a fake story,” Vance said of those who believed Qatar would build its own base in the US. “We continue to have relationships with the countries that we work with, we have relationships where sometimes their pilots work at our bases, sometimes we train together, sometimes we work together in other ways. Reports that somehow a Qatari base will be established on United States soil are simply not true. We continue to work with a number of our Arab friends to ensure that we can enforce this peace, but we do not intend to allowing a foreign country to have a real base on American soil, so there is some misinformation about it, as there often is.”
Hegseth's initial announcement caused shock among some in the MAGA universe.
“I never thought I’d see the Republicans give terrorist-financing Muslims from Qatar a MILITARY BASE on US soil so they could kill Americans,” far-right influencer Laura Loomer. published last week. “I don't think I'll vote in 2026.”
Following Loomer's criticism, Hegseth later provided an “important clarification” to his original comments: letter on X (formerly Twitter) that “Qatar will not have a US base – or anything resembling a base. We control the existing base, as do all partners.”
This did not reassure Loomer, who replied specifically: “A jihadist in a suit is still a jihadist. He is a threat to our national security.”
Steve Bannon, who was White House strategist during Trump's first term, said Newsweek he believes that “there should never be a military base of a foreign power on the sacred soil of America.”
Conservative radio host Mark Levin wrote on X: “I never dreamed of something like this. Not only did we agree to go to war for Qatar, but now they are building an air force base in our country. Shocking.”
He added“This is very serious… New facility at our base. Train your pilots on their planes that they bought from us. Even though they allowed [terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed] run away, plan 9/11 and pour billions into our country while promoting Islamism and anti-Americanism… This is outrageous to most of us.”
This is not the first time a foreign country has established a training center on US soil. In fact, Singapore hosts several training programs in the US, including Exercise Valiant Mark, where, according to the Singapore Army, website“U.S. training ranges provide ideal conditions for large-scale vehicle, mechanized and combined arms maneuver training, as well as complex air and ground live-fire exercises in both conventional and urban environments.” Germany, the Netherlands and Britain have also trained their forces at US bases for years. The US military also trained at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
But for the right, allowing Qatar to train its forces on US soil is a different matter. First, both Trump and conservatives have long criticized the Qatari government for funding terrorists.
“The nation of Qatar has historically been a sponsor of terrorism at a very high level,” Trump. said in June 2017 in an address at the White House, addition that “the time has come to call on Qatar to stop funding… and extremist ideology.”
But during his second term, Trump moved closer to Qatar's authoritarian government. Earlier this year, Qatar gave Trump a luxury jet worth $400 million, for which the United States will pay nearly $1 billion. turn into the next Air Force One, a move that also drew criticism from Loomer. Trump accepted the plane, dubbed the “flying palace,” despite concerns from national security experts that it could lead to security breaches because the Qatari government may have hidden listening or surveillance devices on the plane.
Trump earlier this month signed a decree This means that an attack on Qatar would be considered an attack on the US, and the US would take “diplomatic, economic and, if necessary, military” action to defend Qatar. President Joe Biden in 2022 appointed Qatar as one of the US's major non-NATO allies has helped establish a working relationship between the US and Qatari militaries.
Even the Trump Organization, Trump's private corporation run by his sons, works closely with Qatar. Company signed the deal in May to build a Trump-branded golf course, golf club and luxury villas on the coast of the Arab country north of Doha. This is the first foreign deal the Trump Organization has struck since Trump became president again.
