Emergency slide deploys on new Air Force One, delaying Trump's Texas departure

On a Wednesday afternoon at Joint Base Andrews, the machinery of presidential travel revealed its human fragility when an emergency slide accidentally unfurled from the new Air Force One before President Trump could board. The incident — caused by an accidental trigger from an Air Force crew member — delayed his departure to Dallas and briefly required the older aircraft to stand in as backup. It is a small but telling moment in the longer story of a nation navigating the complexities of trust, transition, and the weight of symbols: a gifted plane, still being made ready, still earning its pla