(Politico)
ANITA KUMAR 12/01/2019 12:12 PM EST
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Donald Trump started his day like so many others at his South Florida resort: a relaxing round of golf, a few sharp tweets and then a White House announcement that he’d be staying in for the evening.
But this particular Wednesday — the night before Thanksgiving — ended with Trump escaping Mar-a-Lago without the usual presidential motorcade spectacle, boarding a military transport to Washington and then embarking on a 13-hour Air Force One flight into the heart of America’s longest war.
It was a journey shrouded in more secrecy than usual even for a presidential trip into a war zone. And it merged the made-for-TV drama Trump savors with a military display he loves: the U.S. commander-in-chief on Thanksgiving, less than a year from the next election, surrounded by cheering troops in Afghanistan.
For a president who at times seems to be at war with his military leaders, it was a celebration of America’s troops that a small circle of aides planned carefully for weeks to prevent leaks that could scuttle the dangerous trip.
“It’s a long flight,” Trump joked after serving turkey in a cafeteria in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving night. “But we love it.”
Trump’s surprise 3½-hour stop marked his second visit to a combat zone and his first trip to Afghanistan, dropping into a region that cultivated the leaders of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Last year, after facing criticism for being in office nearly two years without visiting troops overseas, Trump had hinted for weeks that he would take a trip soon — “I’m going to a war zone,” he bristled when asked whether he was afraid to visit. No one was particularly surprised when an amateur British aircraft watcher tracked a Boeing VC-25A, one of the modified Boeing 747s serve as Air Force One, flying over Europe.
This year, Trump said nothing publicly before leaving his family, including first lady Melania Trump, at Mar-a-Lago for his secret visit to Afghanistan.
Cellphones, hot spots and any other devices emitting a signal were confiscated from everyone on Air Force One — yes, even from the president himself. But his staff ensured tweets would be sent from Trump’s Twitter account so Trump-watchers wouldn’t get suspicious because the Twitter-obsessed president wasn’t tweeting — as they did last year.