On the Fourth of July this year, President Trump is planning some kind of flight formation over Washington, D.C. led by Air Force One, which I guess might pass for excitement if you live in Washington, D.C. But this being the big 250th birthday bash for America, this will be the new Air Force One, which was just unveiled on Friday. In some of his oft-quoted remarks about this plane, Trump has said, “This is considered ​the world’s most luxurious plane.” And he’s claimed that part of the rationale for speeding this long-stalled project along was that other countries’ heads of state “have a plane that’s much newer ​and much better.” So how exactly is this plane “better”? Alternatively, is this plane, in fact, worser? This is going to be an article about a plane, its features, and its attributes. But this plane—the one supposedly gifted to the U.S. military from the nation of Qatar—happens to be a touchy topic, so at the start let me try to dispense with the biggest difference between this one and the old one, the controversy: This plane is controversial, but the issue may be (relatively) short-lived Experts have laid out the case many times that the means by which this plane changed hands from Qatar to the U.S. was unconstitutional because it allegedly violates the emoluments clause. Experts also seem to expect that, either way, there will never be an attempt to litigate this or punish Trump. The counterargument the president has offered is essentially that the Pentagon can accept a gifted plane from Qatar without dirtying the president’s hands. And It appears from CNN’s reporting that the plane was less an unsolicited gift, and more like Trump essentially saying, “Could I pretty please have your plane as a free gift?” Whether or not you find all of this okay probably depends on whether or not you agree with this president generally.