Trump Challenged on Weird Decision to Ditch New Plane

President Donald Trump made an eyebrow-raising call about his trip back to the U.S. from the NATO summit in Turkey.

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Trump, 80, abruptly announced in a Truth Social post on Wednesday that he would use an older Air Force One aircraft to fly home from Ankara, swiftly prompting questions about why he wouldn’t use the newer plane gifted by Qatar that he has made a point of showing off.

“To honor our brave men and women of the Military, we are sending the brand new, and truly spectacular, Air Force One to Mildenhall Air Force Base, in the United Kingdom, to give them a chance to tour the Aircraft,” he said on Truth Social.

Trump framed the unusual aircraft swap as a patriotic gesture, but nevertheless prompted speculation that the switch may instead have been driven by security concerns.

Some have suggested the former Qatari aircraft does not yet have the defensive capabilities of the current VC-25 presidential aircraft for a flight from Turkey while tensions with Iran remain elevated.

Asked whether the regional threat environment or the aircraft’s defensive capabilities played any role in the decision, the White House referred the Daily Beast to Trump’s Truth Social post announcing the plan and did not otherwise address the questions.

The current Air Force One is equipped with a suite of classified defensive systems—including missile warning sensors, electronic countermeasures, hardened communications, and protections against electromagnetic pulse attacks—that have been developed over decades to protect the president in hostile environments. By contrast, the former Qatari royal jet, while lavishly outfitted as a VIP aircraft, has not been publicly shown to possess the same military-grade defensive capabilities.

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Trump appears to be concerned for his safety, repeatedly telling reporters at the NATO summit that he was “number one on the kill list for Iran,” without disclosing further information.

“Everything’s gone, their leaders are gone. They had leaders, they’re gone, and they had another set of leaders, they’re gone, now they have another set of leaders, they may be gone, who knows?” he said.

“I may be gone too, because I’m their number one target, it’s out all over the place,” he went on. “I’m their number one, because they’re scum, that’s the way they act, and that’s the way they’ve done it for 47 years. But I’m doing what’s right for the country, I’m doing really what’s right for the world.”

When asked whether these security concerns affected his decision to use an older Air Force One aircraft, Trump evaded the question.

“The life of a president is very dangerous,” he said. “It’s a very dangerous profession. I’m number one on the kill list for Iran. They’re lovely people. I’m number one. So I don’t know. I can’t tell you that, but I don’t really care because I’m doing my job and I’m doing it, I hope, better than anybody’s ever done it because we have a country that’s hot and really, really successful.”

Pressed once more about why he’s using an older aircraft, Trump seemed to run out of answers and reverted to the statement he made on Truth Social.