by Winston Wendell
Last month at a NATO meeting in Turkey, President Trump abruptly left his plane and used decoys to guard against a possible Iranian attack, despite safer options. He left his bodyguards, reporters, and security detail on the tarmac, secretly exiting via a catering truck, boarding a smaller plane back to England, and later reappearing on a luxury Boeing 747 donated by the Qatari royal family, which lacked the advanced missile defense system of his usual aircraft.
The presidential entourage left behind consists of heavyweights such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, executive assistant Natalie Harp, and a number of military and press personnel, possibly numbering over a hundred decoys.
The President could have chosen a much safer route.
His advisors suggested using F-35s for close protection detail, including electronic warfare pods, and utilizing other aircraft to obscure the movement. In addition, a straightforward departure with minimal fanfare, announcing his intentions after leaving danger zones, could have prevented the chaos.
Presidents do not make it a habit to vanish under the radar, it seems. History offers instances of FDR inviting reporters to accompany his staff to the front lines, Biden making surprise stops in Kyiv, and Bush bringing along the press during the Somalia operation. In any case, Trump has stirred up controversy by questioning his own conduct as commander-in-chief. If presidents are ever going to make decisions based on national security, they must understand that they will be subjected to withering criticism for any misstep.
