Unlike VP Mike Pence at the Capitol loading dock on 6 January 2021, Beta Trump claimed that “It’s only up to the Secret Service”. Only a narcissist would claim that the plane he’s on has the greater risk. It is what we’ve come to accept for POTUS? Three-plane monte? The current report is that someone was in a tall building with a MANPAD, but we haven’t seen any evidence of grassy knolls. Only Wonder Woman has a plane with transparency, and Secretaries Bessent and Rubio were human shields with only Hegseth accompanying Trump in the cart. Does it add insult to injury by attempting to prosecute the five NY Times reporters reporting on the security issues?
The President of the United States has two airplanes. The terrorist sees him enter the golden airplane. The president sneaks out of the golden airplane in a food trolley to be safe on his other airplane. On which airplane does the terrorist think the president is flying?
— Candice Morey (@candicemorey.bsky.social) 2026-08-12T07:20:46.334Z
Mr. Trump boarded the older plane from the left-side door in view of cameras, and news organizations, including The New York Times, reported that he had traveled on it to Britain, where he switched back to the newer plane. The Times reported at the time that the decision was driven in part by concern about the security of the new plane donated by Qatar, which had not been equipped with all of the defensive capabilities of older versions.
But instead of flying out aboard that older, powder blue, modified 747, Mr. Trump was whisked off that plane via a catering container that had been lifted to the opposite side of the plane from where the journalists traveling with him boarded, one of the U.S. officials said. The president was then taken to a third plane, which he flew in secret to Britain, the official with knowledge of the matter said.
Reporters on the older plane were not told that Mr. Trump had not flown with them from Turkey to an air base in Britain, making them unwitting participants in the ruse and leaving them, along with some White House staff members, to serve as unknowing decoys.
After Mr. Trump arrived in Britain, he was secretly moved back to the older version of Air Force One. He then disembarked in view of reporters and walked across the tarmac to the plane donated by Qatar, which he flew to Washington.
The elaborate plan appears to have been developed in a matter of hours after officials determined that a threat against Mr. Trump from Iran was credible. It came after years of threats against Mr. Trump from Iran and amid the war he launched against that country. And it was an unusual instance of the public being deceived about a president’s whereabouts.
President Trump boarded Air Force One on July 8 as a ruse. He waved to the cameras and disappeared inside. Then he secretly exited the aircraft, hidden inside a catering container. It was an extraordinary subterfuge, aimed at protecting a president who has been in Iran’s cross hairs for years.
— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2026-08-12T11:25:06.896868Z
The @washingtonpost.com published an annotated video of the boarding that day, but you can watch the entire process here (starting at 1:51). Note that the food cart (parked on the right side of the aircraft) start to pull away at about 8:20, reaching the C-32A at 11:15 (and backing away at 14:56).
— Stephen Schwartz (@atomicanalyst.bsky.social) 2026-08-11T03:42:37.481Z
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