DETROIT—Sweet Potato Hitler’s Air Force One made a jarring touchdown at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Saturday, the aircraft shuddering and bouncing twice before the nose gear finally held. The landing was, by most eyewitness accounts, the most stable part of the administration’s foreign policy this week.
Hours earlier, Iran’s foreign ministry had released a statement confirming it was in talks with Oman about control over the Strait of Hormuz. The statement added that any U.S. blockade would be met with immediate escalation and that “no negotiations are taking place with the the former president administration.” The denial directly undercut the former president’s claim, made aboard the flight, that Iran was “begging us for a deal.”
A State Department spokesperson, asked about the contradiction, said the administration was “encouraged by the dialogue” and saw “no discrepancy” between the Iranian statement and the president’s remarks. The spokesperson declined to elaborate on what dialogue they were referring to.
Meanwhile, the Houthi militia in Yemen, which receives Iranian support, struck three Saudi refineries within a week. The attacks forced Saudi Arabia to curtail production, driving global oil futures above $100 a barrel. U.S. Treasury bond yields crossed 5 percent for the first time in months. Independent assessments placed total U.S. equipment and base losses in the region at $21 billion over the preceding two weeks.
The economy was a topic. “Costs are going down rapidly,” the former president said. “As soon as the war is over, you’re going to see a big drop.” Asked if he was worried about the Federal Reserve hiking rates, he said the board members were “very political” and that rates should be lowered so the country could be at “8%, 9%, 10%, 12%.” An economic adviser later clarified that the president had been discussing golf scores. The adviser did not specify which course.
The aircraft he was flying on has become a symbol of the broader operation. A New York Times investigation found that the Boeing 747’s retrofit, initially budgeted at $400 million in taxpayer money, had ballooned to nearly $1 billion. The modifications, intended to make the plane safer, had rendered it unfit to fly in recent weeks until emergency repairs were completed. The Air Force confirmed Saturday’s landing gear anomaly would be studied, noting that the billion-dollar redesign had not considered “this specific set of forces.”
The former president also faced questions about his announcement last week of a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, which he said was contingent on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords. When a reporter noted that Saudi Arabia had not been consulted on that part, he replied, “We haven’t even talked to Saudi Arabia about the Abraham Accords.” The clarification came one week after the deal was announced with great fanfare.
The plane eventually taxied to a halt. The National Transportation Safety Board said it would not investigate, as the landing did not meet the technical definition of a crash. A White House spokesperson described both the landing and the Iran talks as “steady,” then excused himself to take an urgent call from Oman.
