U.S. President Donald Trump at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., August 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
One of the week's bombshell stories is U.S. President Donald Trump dodging —according to the New York Times and the Washington Post — an Iranian assassination plot by using a decoy plane that he was wasn't actually flying on. The Times described it as an "elaborate ruse." But conservative journalist Tom Nichols seriously takes issue with the way the decoy was handled in a biting piece for The Atlantic.
"When the Secret Service got wind of a plan last month to kill Trump — apparently by taking out Air Force One — it engaged in a clever bit of misdirection: Trump boarded the usual Air Force One 747 in full view of the cameras, and then everyone shut the window shades as Trump surreptitiously climbed into one of the large containers that delivers food to an airplane galley," the Never Trump conservative explains in The Atlantic. "That container was then trucked over to a smaller C-32A aircraft, where Trump exited the container and boarded the plane — which, because of the president's presence, instantly became the real Air Force One. The C-32A and the 747 then both flew to the United Kingdom, with the 747 continuing the ruse by identifying itself as 'Air Force One.'"
Nichols continues, "Trump got off the smaller plane in Britain, snuck back on to the 747, and then exited from it as if he'd been on board the whole time. He then got on another 747, the lavish new Air Force One 2.0 given to Trump by the Qatari government, to fly home. We learned about the plane swap in Turkey in a scoop from the Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe and his colleagues, but more reporting now suggests that this whole escapade went from a Beatles movie to a Marx Brothers comedy."
But unlike the Beatles, Nichols emphasizes, Trump and his allies put people in danger with what the Times described as an "elaborate ruse."
"Trump, as it turns out, was not alone on the food truck," the conservative writer notes. "While the press and some others on the plane were told nothing about a threat, Trump reportedly climbed into the catering container with three of his White House footmen: Dan Scavino (his former caddie) and Walt Nauta (his former butler), both of whom are now White House aides, and Natalie Harp, his executive assistant. Meanwhile, military officers, enlisted staff, and several American civilians were left on a plane that was deemed too dangerous for the president."
Nichols stresses that while the Secret Service must do everything possible to protect the U.S. president, some daunting questions need to be answered.
"The commander in chief is the most important person on any American aircraft, and his safety must take precedence over all other concerns or interests," Nichols argues. "If the Secret Service wanted Trump spirited out of Turkey for his security, then no one should second-guess that decision ... One immediate question: If the situation was that dangerous, why send up the first 747 at all — and with two men fairly senior in the line of presidential succession aboard? Perhaps the threat wasn't quite so dire, or its parameters were not well-enough defined, and the Secret Service acted out of a superabundance of caution. Or perhaps the president thinks it's acceptable to send up an airplane full of innocent Americans as a decoy to draw fire so that he can evade enemy action ... Not only was it morally appalling to keep so many people in the dark about the threat; it was politically inept, on two levels."
Nichols adds, "First, imagine if something had actually happened to the decoy And second, Trump missed a major opportunity. Had he brought a few reporters with him, they could have told the story of a clever evasion. The 747, meanwhile, could have been temporarily held and its passengers delayed until Trump emerged in Britain, when the Iranians would find out they'd been had. That's not how this White House works."
