Nearly a decade into his on-and-off presidency, Donald Trump rarely manages to shock anymore, but a new report detailing how he secretly swapped planes en route from last month's NATO summit has done exactly that, according to a political columnist.
The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence had received credible threats last month that Iran-linked groups might attempt to shoot down Air Force One amid heightened tensions following Trump's war with Iran. Political editor James Ball published a column for The i Paper showing how the new reporting revealed troubling aspects of his psyche.
"The Trump show has been going on for many seasons now, and most of its plot lines feel familiar – but now and then, something comes along to show that he hasn't entirely lost his ability to shock," wrote Ball, a columnist for The New World.
Trump had already announced he'd fly on the older, more heavily fortified Air Force One rather than the new jet gifted to him by Qatar, citing security concerns. In fact, he did neither. After boarding Air Force One on camera, Trump was secretly transferred via catering truck to a different military aircraft, which flew under the callsign "Reach 18" instead of the traditional "Air Force One."
The ruse meant the traveling press pool — unaware of the swap — unwittingly flew believing they were aboard the president's plane, effectively using the journalists as decoys. It also meant the White House misled the public about Trump's location, a break from precedent even set in the hours after 9/11, when officials declined to disclose George Bush's whereabouts but never issued false information.
The plan carried real risk because if attackers had targeted the accompanying aircraft rather than Air Force One itself, they might have hit the plane actually carrying Trump.
The episode captures broader contradictions of Trump's second term — engaged in a war he claims to have already won, reliant on a $400 million jet from Qatar he can't actually use, and willing to deceive the public and endanger reporters to manage his own fear, Ball wrote.
"Whether the operation was the brainchild of Trump's Secret Service protection detail, or that of an increasingly paranoid Trump, it was not without grave risk to the president – as well as the journalists and White House staff it used as decoys," Ball wrote.
The 80-year--old president survived a 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and has faced subsequent threats at his Florida golf club and the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
"Trump's fear of assassination might be well-grounded – but it is leading him into some very strange places indeed," Ball wrote.
