Donald Trump has offered a new explanation for his decision to secretly leave the plane everyone thought he was flying on during his recent trip out of Turkey.
And social media users were not impressed.
Trump was questioned Tuesday night about why he secretly switched from Air Force One to a military aircraft while reporters and members of his administration remained aboard the original plane.
The initial aircraft continued on its scheduled journey with the press corps and some administration officials aboard. Because everyone had seen Trump board that plane, it effectively became a decoy, without the people aboard necessarily knowing it.
So a reporter asked Trump the obvious question:
“Why was it too dangerous for you to fly on Air Force One but not too dangerous for the press?”
Trump’s answer was, to put it mildly, unusual.
“I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk,” Trump said. “I think it was at greater risk, because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for.”
In other words, Trump’s argument is that he took the more dangerous plane so the reporters and other passengers could be safer.
There’s just one glaring problem. Everyone believed Trump was on the first plane.
Reporters saw him board it. His staff were aboard. Anyone trying to track the president’s movements would have had every reason to believe that was the aircraft carrying Trump.
Then Trump secretly switched planes.
That creates an awkward question: If the first plane was dangerous enough for Trump to quietly escape, why was it safe enough for the reporters to remain aboard?
And if the threat was based on the assumption that Trump was on the first plane, how exactly did secretly switching aircraft make the people left behind safer?
That apparent contradiction quickly became the focus of online criticism, with social media users accusing Trump of being a “coward and liar” over the explanation.
Check Trump’s remarks and some of the reactions below:
Trump lies out his ass:
Q: Why was it too dangerous for you to fly on Air Force One, but not for the press?
TRUMP: Well, I don't know, I think actually the plane I that I flew on was at greater risk
Q: Why do you say that?
TRUMP: Because that would be the plane they would be… pic.twitter.com/cuSjK1qnRG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 12, 2026
