After a weekend getaway in balmy West Palm Beach, Florida, President Donald Trump was feeling chatty.
Aboard Air Force One — After a weekend getaway in balmy West Palm Beach, Florida, President Donald Trump was feeling chatty.
“Hello everybody!” an enthusiastic Trump said as he walked into the press den of Air Force One Sunday evening, greeting a scrambling scrum of White House reporters thrilled at the prospect of interviewing the 45th and 47th president of the United States in the air. “That’s a lot of people. Any questions?”
Gaming out whether a president will take questions on the tarmac or mid-flight is always tricky. But experienced poolers say that chances for an impromptu presidential gaggle are much higher now with Trump than they ever were with his inaccessible predecessor, Joe Biden, who spent all four years in office avoiding unscripted interactions with the press aboard Air Force One, eschewing lengthy news conferences, and even keeping high-profile members of his own party at arm’s length.
This weekend’s press pool lucked out after a long weekend of suspense. Near the end of Sunday’s flight, the president gaggled with reporters for roughly ten minutes, fielding questions on a wide range of topics, ranging from tariffs and government funding negotiations to the war in Ukraine. National Review was along for the ride, filling the White House Press Pool’s new media seat and pressing the president about whether he is concerned about Beijing’s escalatory rhetoric in response to the U.S. tariff increase on China.
“No, they took that rhetoric back,” Trump said. “They were very tough, and I said, ‘Whoa, what’s that all about?’ And that rhetoric was taken back.”
While the president did not elaborate on what comments were retracted or in what setting, he weighed in after tough statements from Chinese officials, who had warned the United States they would fight “a tariff war, a trade war, or any other type of war” until the very end. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had accused Trump of being “two-faced” and the U.S. of “meeting good with evil.” Beijing lashed out after the Trump administration doubled tariffs on Chinese imports to 20 percent, imposing up to an additional 15 percent tariff on certain American goods in response.
But Trump voiced confidence in his handling of the trade war and said he planned to meet “at some point” with Chinese President Xi Jinping as well. “I have a very good relationship with President Xi, very good. And at some point I’ll meet with him,” Trump said, when asked about the possibility by NR.
The president’s quick trip to Mar-a-Lago followed a news-heavy week in Washington, with major administration developments on trade policy, continuing Ukraine war negotiations, and a pressure campaign on Iran to commit to a nuclear deal under threat of U.S. military action.
The president left Washington on Friday for a weekend of golf on his West Palm Beach course, where he defeated Gary Player’s grandson in one round, according to his press secretary. Midday Saturday, Trump endorsed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R., La.) government funding plan to avert a shutdown ahead of the March 14 funding deadline.
Pressed aboard Air Force One whether there will be a government shutdown, Trump said: “Could happen.”
“I mean the Democrats want that,” he continued. “They want to destroy the country. So I can’t tell you. But it could happen. It shouldn’t have happened. And, it probably won’t. I think the CR is going to get passed. We’ll see. But, it could happen. You never know. The Democrats are out of control.”
Also on the plane Sunday evening, the president told reporters the U.S.’s pause on intelligence-sharing with Ukraine is “just about” lifted, and that he thinks this week’s talks between his White House national security team and Ukrainian officials could be fruitful.
“I think some very big things could happen this week,” Trump said.
Reporters board and deplane Air Force One from a separate set of stairs near the back of the aircraft, walking past the luggage compartment as they make their way to the press den. Inside the reporter compartment, journalists have assigned seating and can pick and choose between snacks – which ranged on Friday from Starburst and Tic Tacs- to bananas and Fig Newtons — as they settle their belongings before departure.
Flight staff get a kick out the exhilaration even experienced journalists and aides feel when boarding the presidential aircraft: First-time poolers receive a packet of souvenir Air Force One matchbooks to commemorate the trip along with instructions on how to receive an Air Force One flight certificate by mail.
Reporters are also treated to a mid-flight meal with all the fixings of a White House press pool dinner, complete with mini salt and pepper shakers and drinking glasses with the presidential seal. During Friday evening’s trip to West Palm Beach, reporters, TV producers, and photographers dined on steak over alfredo pasta with a side of arugula parmesan salad and a cheesecake dessert. The trip home Sunday evening featured another tasty meal — Lobster tacos, corn salad, and Lindt chocolate – which reporters enjoyed as a muted Fox News broadcast played on two screens at the front of the cabin.
Participating in the 13-member traveling White House Press pool – also known as the protective pool – is very much a hurry-up-and-wait gig. The privilege of traveling with the president and his motorcade often requires long days and infrequent bathroom breaks while on the road until the White House calls a lid. Curmudgeonly photographers warn rookie poolers against chugging too much coffee ahead of 6:30 AM call time here in West Palm Beach, after which reporters often hold court in press vans with press wranglers gin anticipation of the president’s morning moves.
On Sunday afternoon, a chipper and golf-attire clad White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt paid pool reporters an unannounced visit inside the Palm Beach County Library, where she talked shop off the record and confirmed publicly that Trump dined at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend with Elon Musk and Marco Rubio (newly engaged Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt also stopped by the table, Leavitt said).
Missing from the motorcade this weekend was the Associated Press, recently booted from Air Force One and the Oval Office over refusing to adopt the White House’s decision to rename the “Gulf of Mexico” the “Gulf of America.” Eager to maintain goodwill with the rest of the press corps, the AP trekked over to the media hangout location to drop off goodies for their former pool colleagues both mornings: Donuts on Saturday and cake on Sunday.
The sugar high from Sunday morning’s sweets helped reporters get through a long, hot, and humid day in West Palm Beach before the grand finale aboard the president’s plane.
“We’re just about ready to land!” Trump said before taking one final question from the gaggle about whether he’s worried about a recession. “No,” he said, before the reporter pressed him on the hesitation he displayed when asked a similar question on Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo’s show Sunday Morning Futures.
“I’ll tell you what, of course you hesitate, who knows?” he continued, brushing aside recessionary fears and worries about the strategy behind his administration’s whipsawing trade policy. “All I know is this: We’re going to take in hundreds of millions of dollars in tariffs, and we’re going to become so rich, you’re not going to know where to spend all that money! I’m telling you – you just watch. We’re going to have jobs, we’re going to have open factories, it’s going to be great. And the plane is landing! And thank you for a lot of good questions!”