this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2026
88 points (100.0% liked)

politics

30727 readers
2500 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Elaborate ruse was used to transport president to military flight from Air Force One to return from NATO meet

Prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, Donald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkey last month when the White House said he was flying aboard ⁠Air Force One, in an extraordinary ruse that involved hiding the president in an airport catering cart, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times.

The operation took place when Trump was in Ankara for a Nato summit with world leaders, according to the Post. The president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight, a US official told the Post.

An official also confirmed the operation to the New York Times.

top 21 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old

I wonder how often so-called "normal" world leaders pull Keystone Cops bullshit like this. Seems like the kind of thing you only resort to if things are already going very poorly / stupidly, but it has to happen from time to time. I'm sure the secret service has done some truly wacky capers that have never seen the light of day.

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 20 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

So that means they must have thought Iran would shoot his plane down. I guess they considered the poor suckers flying on the Air Force One expendable. I wonder if anyone told them about it.

edit: Oh, per the article the answer is No, of course they didn't:

On this occasion, the journalists who thought they were traveling with Trump on the older Air Force One reported being advised to keep their window shades in the press cabin closed. The Post said aside from ‌reporters, some White House staff also believed the president was on board.

When asked later by reporters why they had to keep their shades shut during the flight, Trump said it was because they were “probably on ​a dangerous flight”. He went onto say: “But if I go, you go. Right?”

[–] ExtremeDullard@piefed.social 43 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (5 children)

I'm not buying this. There's no way in hell this fat orange pile of blubber fits in this.

Catering cart

[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 1 points 8 minutes ago

Might need to use more than one.

[–] betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 45 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

It's something more like this:

These aren't the actual ones used but the photo in the article only shows one from the back.

[–] fonix232@fedia.io 4 points 2 hours ago

I mean... we could make him fit...

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 10 points 4 hours ago

I thought the same thing, but it was an airport catering cart, not an airplane catering cart. I assume that means the big thing those little things are loaded onto.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah this fat ass ain't a contortionist

[–] Goun@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 hours ago

I'm imagining this was a prank they played on him, like yo they gonna kill you hide in this thing right here go go go

[–] Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 hours ago

Clever if true, but this trick only works once, and now it's out in the open.

All nations contemplating assassinations now:

Noted. If attempting to take out a leader-in-transit, don't just target the Presidential/Royal plane, target the support aircraft and any others that might exchange 'catering carts' on the tarmac as well, in case Dear Leader is stowing away on one of those.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Man, I bet that cart smelled baaaaaaaad.

[–] Widdershins@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago

~~fart~~ shart cart

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 3 points 3 hours ago

Meanwhile at home he has army avenger (AA) vehicles on his golf greens just in case.

You'd think someone so near the end would just accept it.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 3 hours ago

I love that for him.

[–] betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 10 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Hope they cleaned it out really well afterward. That's the type of smell that transfers and lingers.

[–] zd9@lemmy.world 6 points 4 hours ago

If you read the article they had to burn the cargo hold after because smell of spray-on bronzer and shit was so strong.

[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 7 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)
[–] giantripdrop@piefed.social 2 points 3 hours ago
[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 5 hours ago

How did his fat ass even fit?

[–] bunnybunny@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 hours ago

Why the fuck did they let that pussy out.