1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

Facing a credible Iranian assassination threat leaving Turkey last month, Trump boarded the old Air Force One in front of the cameras, snuck out the other side into an airport catering truck, and took it to a small unmarked military jet. Air Force One then took off as a decoy, carrying reporters and White House staff oblivious to the danger they faced. The backlash has been fierce, and the new details keep making it worse. CBS News reported that the only people in the catering truck with Trump were three of his most loyal personal aides, and that the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, flew out on the secret plane with him. The Secretary of State and the Treasury Secretary rode the decoy, but unlike the reporters sitting near them, they knew exactly which plane the President was on. MAGA world came roaring back with one talking point: Bill Clinton did the same thing flying into Pakistan in 2000. And yes, a decoy was involved. But guess what? The Post ended up digging in and found a key difference. Clinton’s team briefed the press ahead of time. His press secretary, Joe Lockhart, put it this way: “There was no attempt to hide anything, much less lie about it later.” And when reporters finally asked Trump why it was too dangerous for him to fly on Air Force One but fine for them, here’s what he came up with. The plane he escaped on was actually at greater risk, “because that would be the plane they would be more likely to go for.” Nobody on earth believes that, and I doubt he does either. Of course, presidents need protection, because the stability of this country depends on it, but we’ve seen presidents do this before without duping and endangering their staff. Doing that is plain dishonesty. He told everyone that he wanted the military to see the old plane, and that was why he was supposedly flying it back. In reality, he was just sending the White House Press Corps and some of his own staff out as human shields for him.