Yeah that was my gut reaction too. Too much gild on this lily.
This is all part of the “Imperial Presidency” that has been created over the last 40 years. I think the “New Airforce 1” was heard as “the ultimate gilded lily.
Contrast the price tag of a B2, which is designed to penetrate hostile air space and precision strike targets and the USA’s new “AF1”. Hell these new AF1s cost 2/3s the price of an Aircraft carrier!
Does the President of the USA really need a flying luxury liner?
Forget “Imperial Presidency”. I recall Mark Steyn remarking about the motorcade that 0 had when he did a tour in a bus a while ago. Special Presidential Buses that were partly assembled in Canada IIRC. Anyway he described the motorcade as almost endless and was reaching pharaonic proportions. More like the Pharaonic Presidency in some aspects.