President Donald Trump left Turkey on July 8, 2026, by sneaking onto a catering truck at the airport. (Eric Lee / Getty Images and Patrik Stollarz / Getty Images)
By Samuel Short August 12, 2026 at 7:02am
President Donald Trump made a change to his flying plans whilst visiting Ankara, Turkey, for a NATO summit last month. An assassination plot from Iran loomed large enough to prompt the decision.
The Washington Post on Monday revealed the details of the operation that took place July 8.
That day, Trump supposedly took the old Air Force One, a Boeing 747, out of the country to fly to Great Britain. He had flown in using a newer Boeing 747-8 that was gifted from Qatar.
Cameras captured the president boarding the older plane only for a secret departure to take place right afterward. Trump exited the plane via a catering truck which was elevated to the plane’s height using a hydraulic lift.
He went in one door and out the other.
The truck then took him to a nearby Air Force C-32A. This plane had flown to Turkey along with the legacy Boeing and the Qatari Boeing. After Trump made his departure from the legacy plane, the White House Press Corps boarded the legacy Boeing, believing Trump was in the same plane they were leaving in.
The C-32A was not totally inconspicuous, as it, like the other planes, was painted blue and white, reading “United States of America.” The Washington Post noted it can be used to transport either the president or vice president.
Should Turkey be allowed membership in NATO?
The outlet also said Air Force One is actually a callsign. In this instance, the C-32A did not use it. It had the callsign “RCH18″ when flying to Britain to be nondescript. The legacy Boeing, keeping up the act, would have the “AF1” callsign going to Britain, and the Qatari jet used “SAM 33.”
GB News U.S. Correspondent Ben Leo gave remarks about the operation that were posted to social media platform X.
‘Almost like it’s from a film plot.’@Benleo reveals how President Donald Trump was smuggled off of Air Force One by secret service agents last month to avoid an assassination attempt. pic.twitter.com/pfuIQO1Vbq
— GB News (@GBNEWS) August 11, 2026
Turkey is a part of NATO. However, as the State Department notes, this is a 99 percent Muslim country and one that shares a border with another overwhelmingly Muslim country, the aforementioned Iran.
With the conflict ongoing, Iran will stop at nothing to harm Trump.
Unlike his predecessors, former President Barack Obama among them, Trump remains a defender of Western civilization, making him an actual threat.
On another note, can we really trust Turkey as our ally?
As one 2025 Op-Ed in The Hill put it, “Since Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party came to power in 2002, the gap between American and Turkish interests has widened significantly. “
“Erdoğan, who has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, has led Turkey to abandon the secular vision of its founding figure, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. He has systematically suppressed dissent and attacked civil institutions. This process accelerated after the failed 2016 coup attempt, which Erdoğan used as a pretext to purge Turkey’s military, judiciary and education system,” the Op-Ed read.
“Under Erdoğan, the Turkey that was once a stalwart ally of the United States during the Cold War has become all but an open enemy. In nearly every major global crisis involving the United States, Turkey has pursued policies at odds with American interests.”
They can claim to be an ally, but deception is woven into Islamic theology. This is the doctrine of Taqiyya. Lying to infidels and concealing one’s beliefs are permissible.
To the Christian world, this is hard to comprehend. In Matthew 5:37, Jesus said, “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”
We mistakenly believe the world embraces this teaching. They do not.
Muslim majority countries are interested in one thing — the furtherance of Islam.
Every means is to that end.
Turkey does not belong in NATO because they cannot be trusted.
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Sam Short is an Assistant Professor of History with Motlow State Community College in Smyrna, Tennessee. He holds a BA in History from Middle Tennessee State University and an MA in History from University College London. The views expressed in his articles are his own and do not reflect the views or opinions of Motlow State Community College.
