Everyday, or perhaps every hour, there is another “WTF [INSERT EMOJI]” moment that comes as a result of what the President does, says, or Tweets. Here’s another: According to Bloomberg, the President wants to change the colors of Air Force One from my favorite baby blue. The President said, “It’s going to be the top of the line, the top in the world, and it’s going be red, white and blue, which I think is appropriate.”
Why is that color any more appropriate than the current combination? There’s a grace and elegance of Air Force One in its subtle colors. The current Air Force One doesn’t try to impose its will on nations when it lands on foreign soil. It is gentle and unassuming. This is the direct opposite of the stereotype of the ugly American tourist who is obnoxious, irreverent, and most certainly has a pair of American flag Budweiser board shorts.
No one knows why the President feels it is necessary to change the colors of Air Force One. I have a few theories. The first is so it can look more like his ugly Trump plane, in an attempt to further blur the lines of what belongs to him and what belongs to the people of this country. Hopefully he doesn’t use his hideous font on the new Air Force One. The second explanation is that he doesn’t know that we already have a patriotic airline. If the President wants to fly red, white, and blue and boast that he is an American, just fly American! Though personally, I would fly Cathay using my AAdvantage miles. Does that make me unpatriotic? Lastly, the President’s obsession with our nation’s colors comes from his obsession with the flag. The President has tried to take the symbol of America and the colors that make up that symbol, not to unite, but to divide. He is trying to do the same with the plane. “Don’t like the new paint job? You’re being un-American. For too long we’ve been laughed at by foreign leaders of Uruguay, Argentina, and the unrecognized Republic of Anguilla (Pronounced an-GILL-a by Mr. President) for flying under their colors!”
The situation is far too real to be unbelievable. Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, independent, or part of the blind mob, we should all agree that Air Force One is already perfect. We don’t have to make it not great for the first time.
Trump planes are not hideous. Change is good sometimes too! At least somethings are changing in government!
They certainly are. So long democracy, hello dictatorship. As a first generation Iraqi American, I see way too many scary similarities. Fortunately, the people won’t stand for this crap.
Trumps planes aren’t pretty. It’s like the guy who designed Emirates’ went on a 3 day crack-fueled bender and shit gold all over an old 757.
Lol lol!!! Truth! Though I’d take a bucket of KFC.
All one needs to do is read the first sentence of this article to realize it’s just another hate piece written by someone afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Oh is that all one has to do? Haa. Thanks for stopping by.
Wow, what an immature and childish post. Fly the red, white, and blue proudly!
Immature and child=redundant. Thanks for the comment!
Ha, absolute brilliance! Piss of those that read this blog.
Let’s do the math … fewer readers = fewer dollars. Make it up on volume. Hang on.. what volume?
Moving on to any other travel blog that stays out of politics. Good Luck, moron.
Thank you. See you never again! Come back when you value the First Amendment.
Gosh,this is not a 1st amendment issue. It’s the economics, stupid.
For some reason I assumed you waste your life on this pointless blog to make money. Turns out it is really to piss people off. More brilliance!
Piss off readers, piss off sponsors, piss off everyone, Hmm, what could go wrong with this plan?
Maybe, you’ll realize by the all of negative posts that you found yourself on the wrong side.
Stupid eh? That’s rich.
No I do this as a hobby. In my real life, I’m a NY consumer arbitration attorney who fights big businesses that screw consumers.
Looks like everything is going right with the plan. Views are up!
And you think that a bunch of negative comments validate your claim? Or is it a gang mentality where one person feels emboldened because another has said something negative. After all “there were bad people on both sides, on both sides.”
I appreciate the editorial piece, however, I may not agree with it all. I would like to see some different artist renditions and let the people vote on the new livery since we are paying for the new plane anyway!
Fair point! I just love Tar Heel blue, even though I went to UMich. I appreciate your level-headed comment that focuses on the issue and not attacking me personally, something I obviously expect when I write stuff like this.
If we stay the same, we would never have had the Concorde or the 747. Why have we not condemned JFK for radically changing Air Force One? Or Nixon (see later).
The fact is that Trump has not revealed his design. It could be a masterpiece or a disaster. To say that the current livery is the best ever is short sided.
The current livery isn’t even the original. JFK’s had gold accents on the tail, a black nose, and not the upswing blue on the front. Nixon got rid of the gold accents on the tail and put the blue upswing on the front. I think Reagan or Clinton got rid of the black nose.
The Nike swoosh on the tail is very 1960’s. Air France had it. So did other airlines. JFK copied it. The current rage is a shash on the tail, like the new Lufthansa or Qantas.
A good design may be evolutionary. Maybe have a very dark blue on the bottom instead of the light blue. Replace the gold line with a thin red line. Have a dark blue winglet with a presidential seal on it. Keep the United States of America font, flag, Nike swoosh on the tail, blue upswing.
I did not know most of the history. Thank you for sharing. Perhaps a new design could work. However, given the man in the White House, I am going to vote disaster if he’s in charge of design.
@derek I agree, without seeing the design, it’s hard to tell what it will look like. TPOL just doesn’t like the man in charge this election and doesn’t mind letting others know. It’s his site to share his views and a lot of good, no great, Americans gave their all for that freedom. I don’t agree with everything that Trump does but I do think that it’s a good change. I would like to see America stand for something rather than bowing to all other nations and leaders like the previous administration. That’s my point of view and we’ll see what the new design is and go from there.
Fair enough. I hope the new design is as elegant.
As someone not American or living in the USA, I can tell you that the USA has never bowed to anyone. This is just Trumps ridiculous talk line which serves no purpose. If anything, Trump is the one bowing to the Saudis, and the Russians. Obama, for all his faults, did actually stand up to the Saudis, eg, the Iran nuclear deal.
And from a purely aesthetic perspective, Trumps love of bling does not bode well for any design input he may have for AF1. Of course, he might let his immigrant wife handle that.
like
How brave of you to post something anti-Trump, especially under such a brutal dictatorial regime. Kudos to you, SJW.
Everyone has gone soft. Too scared to upset anyone. That is how the slow moving coup works.
Perhaps if you stopped attacking the president personally and stick to travel topics without inserting your personal political views you would have more “level headed comments”
Excuse me? Perhaps you should consider that I am more than just a travel blogger. And say whatever you want. That’s the point of this blog and the point of living in America.
Well, to be honest I’ve never read your blog before so I went to it just now. Sure looks like you are a travel blogger. Try doing it without the political commentary and you might appeal to a much larger audience.
I didn’t say I wasn’t a blogger. I said more than a blogger. And I’m happy to write about whatever I want. If you don’t like it, perhaps you’ll read the next post. Perhaps you won’t read again, yet on we will go.
Really poor taste post! US would never become the mess that Iraq has been. He is no dictator either
US is the reason why Iraq is a mess. But that’s a discussion for another day. It is not poor taste to dissent.
Lame post!
Work harder to put together a more coherent travel blog!
This is USA why shouldn’t the plane be American color? Maybe we should just do a green one according to this post. Double check yourself!
How does one put together a more coherent blog?
I’ll answer your question by saying the same thing with one slight change. This is USA why should the plane be American colors?
And no idea what double check yourself means. Thanks for the comment.
“However, given the man in the White House…” Wow. You just can’t help yourself, can you? If you would have just stopped before that, it would have actually been a “level headed comments”.
Yes, with his personality, who knows what we will get. I see nothing wrong with saying that. I see nothing wrong with criticizing his policies. I see nothing wrong with condemning his rhetoric. I see nothing wrong with making fun of him personally. This is what democracy is. You can say what you say, I can say what I say, so long as we are civil.
The planes should be proudly painted with the Puerto Rican flag! (Or maybe Russian…)
Hey we know the Aeroflot guy!
Puerto Rico!
Don’t tell Mueller…
He knows everything!
Given the folks that showed up to profess their antipathy for any criticism of the current President, I wanted to support your assessment of the paint job situation’s likely outcome if he makes a change. As well as the general direction he is taking the country in.
However, it’s not really his fault. It’s those that vote for him and the GOP whose views are the issue, trying to push the country into a past where they felt superior to certain groups as their birthright, while ignoring the advantage that the rich have taken of them and everyone else through the culture wars. His supporters have historically supported their own abusers as long as they can blame someone with a different background.
An important subset COULD switch to backing politicians who support the average citizen instead (some were Obama voters), but I fear their current enjoyment of owning the libs or SJW or whatever is making them ignore the giant tax and no accountability and privacy and pollution giveaways to large corps and ultra high net worth GOP donors. Let’s see what this subset decides in November. And whether any Democratic leaning voting groups show up any better than in 2016.
Well put. This post has turned into CNN Tonight with Don Lemon lol
Yeah, but what could be more important these days anyway… One last thing, can’t let the Democratic party entirely off the hook either, they’ve been pretty strongly in the camp of the outsourcing corps and the bailed out bankers and big healthcare too since the 90s. Not sure if that REALLY moves the needle for most GOP voters, but maybe that Obama voting subset were disappointed and were fine with channelling their anger through Trump? If so, it’s like chopping off your arm to deal with a rash. Will they outperform most of humanity through history and dump the manipulators?
Here’s my confession: I have one arm. Don’t tell anyone.
Hate to jump on board with the other people here and join the “mob” but I agree. I’m here to read travel tips and ways to save money, not read about how you feel about the president. Thanks for the posts throughout the years, but this will be the last time I read your blog. Best wishes going forward.
Goodbye forever! I don’t know why you or anyone thinks I only write about travel. I have a category called Scholar where I share my world views. Not going to apologize for having an opinion, nor am I going to be relegated to only writing about points, even if it means losing someone like yourself.
https://thepointsoflife.boardingarea.com/category/about/the-pulse/
On your way out, get a copy of my book: https://amzn.to/2v2s9vL
Probably because Boarding Area describes the site as “For more than 25 years, we have been providing news, information and advice for frequent flyers. Our goal has always been to provide frequent travelers with the information needed to make the most of their travel.” I can’t see how this would fit in with that goal.
Being aware of how one is perceived in the world makes for a better traveler. You’re not going to find state media conformity here. I say and write what I want.
Thought provoking pieces about a world turned on its head are more interesting than only reading about credit card offers. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. I’m not mad.
It‘s the first post of you I was reading and I absolutely like it. It’s a shame that there a so many supporters of trump who instead of joining a discussion just attack you personally. It’s important that everyone has the right to share his or her own opinion if he wants to. Nobody has to read this but if they decide to comment on your opinion they at least should be fair.
I don’t like trump and believe that he’s an idiot. Just look at the stuff he told after his meeting with Putin. He said that the CIA/FBI… where lying about the Russian involvement on the election. Is a guy who believes Putin instead of the American agencies an American?
Please don’t start a discussion on this folks, first check the facts.
Yes! Lost a reader, hopefully gained another. Thank you. I appreciate your insight.
It’s mind-blowing that someone can support him at this point. I’m not the most liberal among us (can be pretty liberal here and there, but not always), but he is just so far beyond what should ever be acceptable. What’s truly worse than him as president is how cowardly the rest of the republicans in Washington are. On the bright side we as a country have enjoyed too much power and influence in the world. Now that the world realizes they can’t trust Americans as much as they once did, things will hopefully find more balance.
“…in Washington are behaving.”
Everyone is terrified. I write about a plane and I get chased down. Those on the Hill are too weak to stand up for what is objectively right. American intelligence good, KGB bad. Craziness.
Waste of money, we need to be fighting opiate addiction! And if he so proud of our flag, why has he NEVER gone anywhere to see our troops. All he likes to do is appear onstage with them. My brother came home from Iraq with PTSD. Would have been nice to get some help- use that money on Americans, not the vanity of one man!
No argument from me!
Getting past the Trump hatred in the writing, I agree with the premise. I don’t agree because I think Air Force One’s paint is unassuming or because it is traditional. It is simply that it would look horrible to have a 747 painted to look like a bad Fourth of July costume from Colonial Williamsburg.
Because TRUMP is a narcissist, racist, xenophobic, bigot, con-man. He is trying to feed red meat to his base supporters who are also like him..
Funny how people would click on a link that is OBVIOUSLY going to be anti-Trump and then are shocked, SHOCKED, that it is anti-Trump. Oh wait, these are the same dumb@$$ people that click on (and believe) pizzagate links or links that say Hillary Clinton was personally having people murdered. It’s truly funny when these snowflakes get riled up, although nothing will ever change their mind. But hey, at least your traffic stats will increase in the meantime as they frantically click “refresh” from their mom’s basement to see your responses.
Right!
I think it’s totally appropriate to repaint the plane. After all it should match the colors that Donald J. Trump’s master flies on: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Rossiya_Special_Flight_Unit%2C_RA-96021%2C_Ilyushin_IL-96-300PU_%2817456349202%29.jpg
lol
I’m not here to hate on you at all… I just want to say politely that… with so many media posts always bombing people with Trump news, I really have been treasuring this blog for keeping politics away for a long time…
Fair point. I respect that and will limit the Trump talk.
Great article regarding this issue: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/air-force-one-trump-design-history/index.html
Here’s the quote from the Air Force One Historian: “I hope they will pull something off that’s pleasing and acceptable to everyone. I just hope it doesn’t become some ugly debate.”