On a Turkish tarmac in July, the machinery of presidential protection moved in silence — Donald Trump slipped from Air Force One into a cargo container and onto a smaller jet, while journalists and senior officials flew on without him, unknowingly absorbing a risk that intelligence officials believed was real. The episode, confirmed by Trump himself with characteristic indifference, surfaces an ancient tension between the secrecy that power requires and the accountability that democracy demands. When the shield around a leader is built from the unwitting exposure of others, the question of who
Trump confirms secret plane switch after Iran threat revealed
Journalists and senior officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio were exposed to an alleged Iranian missile threat without their knowledge or consent.