U.S. President Donald Trump walks to board Air Force One, en route to Geneva, Ohio, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., August 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
President Donald Trump's use of a decoy plane in Turkey and escape via a catering truck, with journalists none the wiser, was detailed in a new analysis for Slate by Ian Prasad Philbrick.
The plan, intended to avert an assassination threat, was basically "something out of a spy movie," Philbrick wrote.
"The catering truck, which typically loads in-flight meals, parked on the right side of Air Force One, partially shielded from media cameras," he wrote. As part of the ruse, Trump "crossed to the other side of the presidential plane after boarding and stepped into the truck’s elevated container," after which the catering truck lowered the container, drove to a military jet, and offloaded its human cargo to be routed home through the United Kingdom — without journalists or even some White House officials any the wiser.
One of the most shocking aspects of the whole affair, wrote Philbrick, is that the Trump administration was essentially using all the journalists who thought they were flying with the president "as bait" for any would-be assassination plot without letting them know.
Furthermore, he noted, after the flight, "asked why reporters had had to close their window shades when leaving Turkey, Trump failed to mention that he had switched flights. 'I’m No. 1 on their list,' he said, referring to Iran. 'But if I go, you go. Right?' As it turns out, maybe not."
Decoy flights are not completely unheard of for the president, Philbrick wrote — but it's still extremely uncommon.
"Officials were vague about George W. Bush’s whereabouts immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, and Bill Clinton took an unmarked plane from India to Pakistan in 2000," wrote Philbrick. However, in these cases, "even Bush had reporters with him, and Clinton’s staff told at least one journalist about the switch beforehand."
Philbrick also took the ruse as a sign that Trump's war against Iran is not going well.
"In short, lasting peace seems further away than ever," he wrote.