Trump War Chief Hegseth Pushes Back After MAGA Backlash To Foreign Base
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth sent out a “clarification” after major MAGA backlash over news that the U.S. will host a Qatari air force facility on U.S. soil.
“Today, we’re announcing a letter of acceptance in building a Qatari Emiri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho,” Hegseth announced Friday while sitting alongside Qatar’s Minister of Defense Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
After outcry from MAGA supporters, Hegseth posted an “important clarification” to X, writing, “The U.S. military has a long-standing partnership w/ Qatar, including today’s announced cooperation w/ F-15QA aircraft. However, to be clear, Qatar will not have their own base in the United States—nor anything like a base. We control the existing base, like we do with all partners.”
Even after the “clarification,” MAGA influencer Laura Loomer called the facility, “a threat to our national security” due to Qatar’s ties to Hamas and Iran.
On Friday, Loomer seemingly handed in her MAGA badge, writing, “Never thought I’d see Republicans give terror financing Muslims from Qatar a MILITARY BASE on US soil so they can murder Americans. I don’t think I’ll be voting in 2026. I cannot in good conscience make any excuses for the harboring of jihadis. This is where I draw the line.”
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon also told Newsweek there “should never be a military base of a foreign power on the sacred soil of America.”
The MAGA-friendly Idaho Freedom Foundation “unequivocally” condemned the action.
“To unilaterally decide that Idaho will host a foreign nation’s Air Force facility, which would house and train foreign nationals whose loyalties don’t align with our own national and state interests, is a completely unacceptable overreach,” they said.
In September, President Donald Trump signed an executive order committing the U.S. to defend Qatar in the event of an attack, and pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apologize to the Kingdom for a missile strike that killed a serviceman. Earlier this year the Qatari royal family gifted Trump a $400 million luxury jet that for his official use that Trump claimed would later be donated to his presidential library.
