War Chief Hegseth scrambles after MAGA fury over ‘Qatar base’ in Idaho

 

 

WASHINGTON — War Chief Pete Hegseth is on cleanup duty after a MAGA firestorm erupted over reports that the U.S. will host a Qatari air force facility on American soil — a move Trump’s base blasted as “treasonous.”

 

Flanked by Qatar’s defense minister in a Friday presser, Hegseth announced a “letter of acceptance” to build a Qatari Emiri Air Force facility at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. Within hours, pro-Trump influencers and conservative groups exploded online, accusing him of “handing jihadis a base in America.”

 

By nightfall, Hegseth was backpedaling on X: “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.”

 

But the clarification did little to calm the MAGA revolt. Firebrand Laura Loomer declared she was “done” with the movement, calling Qatar’s ties to Hamas and Iran “a threat to national security.” Steve Bannon told Newsweek that “no foreign power should ever have a military base on sacred American soil.”

The Idaho Freedom Foundation called the move “a completely unacceptable overreach,” warning that foreign troops “whose loyalties don’t align with ours” have no business training in the U.S.

 

Critics note that Qatar recently gifted President Trump a $400 million luxury jet — and that Trump signed an executive order last month pledging to defend the Gulf kingdom.

 

Even for Trump loyalists, this one hit a nerve: America’s populist right isn’t buying the idea of “Qatari partners” in red-state Idaho.

 

Key Takeaways:

• MAGA base erupts over Qatari air force facility planned for Idaho.

• Hegseth insists “it’s not a foreign base,” but backlash intensifies.

• Critics point to Trump’s deepening ties with Qatar’s royal family.

 

Yahoo News

Loony Laura Loomer is behind this.

Qatar hosting the Hamas leadership is MAGA's icing on the cake.

 

Trade Idaho for a used jet? Why not?

Hegseth learning there’s no reverse gear on his mouth.

News organizations, including Hegseth’s former employer Fox, reject new Pentagon reporting rules

 

Updated 2:40 AM GMT+7, October 15, 2025 --  Fox News, the former employer of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has joined a near-unanimous outpouring of news organizations rejecting new rules for journalists based in the Pentagon.

 

Fox signed on to a statement with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN saying they would not agree to Hegseth’s new rules, saying “the policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections.” So far, only the conservative One America News Network has said its reporters would follow the new regulations.

 

Hegseth has said that outlets who don’t agree to the new rules by the end of Tuesday, which restrict reporting on news not specifically approved by his team, will be evicted from the Pentagon on Wednesday.

 

The Associated Press says it will not agree to the rules. The New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters, NPR and The Atlantic are among the other news outlets saying they won’t sign onto the new rules. Another conservative television network, Newsmax, has also rejected them.

 

https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-reporting-rules-hegseth-defense-department-access-0d33768b22e9079049508a63bad89a91

Anything opinion on this in the Express or Mail?

We train them on our bases regularly. Their military comes to America and trains (boot camp is but one example)  right alongside our people. Been that way for 50+ yrs