President Donald Trump has a new fixation occupying his time that has Washington, D.C., locals terrified, and it is one that The Daily Beast likened to his own personal “Make-a-Wish” gift.
On Thursday, Trump ordered a flyover of the White House of his new Qatari-gifted Air Force One, as part of a Halloween event where the children of his top officials were present. The administration’s social media presence touted the flyover as an “epic” stunt “for the trick-or-treaters” in attendance, while a Washington Post report noted that “In a city that still vividly remembers the deadly 2025 crash near Reagan National Airport and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the flyover caused some concern.”
In the latest episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, host Joanna Coles and executive editor Hugh Dougherty discussed the incident and its fallout, with Dougherty noting that no one in the administration had given the government of the District of Columbia advance warning about the “Grift Force One” flyover.
“The Council and the District of Columbia, the legislature, has put out a statement saying, ‘What on Earth is going on?'” Dougherty said. “There was a ground stop [at Reagan International Airport] for half an hour… Nobody knew. United and Delta and American [Airlines], that fly from there, had no idea. And they said, ‘Oh, sorry. We’ve got a ground stop for what’s described as an executive move or maneuver, and that usually means Marine One is on its way to Andrews Air Force Base. No, it was the biggest plane that Boeing has ever produced flying at maybe 500 feet over the White House, because it was Halloween and the Miller and Hegseth children were getting their candy.”
In response, Coles called the flyover another example of how the country is dealing with “an administration of one man who wants to do what he wants to do, and the hell with the rest of us.” Dougherty further explained how Trump has become “obsessed” with flyovers since his return to office.
“We all remember July the 4th, where he basically took over the airspace in D.C. and… people are like, ‘Oh, I enjoy it. Who doesn’t enjoy a fly-past?,” Dougherty continued. “And [then] they’re like, ‘Oh, there’s another one, another one, another one.’ Their dogs were howling, their children were crying…. He has become obsessed by the idea that he can get Air Force One — particularly, he loves showing off this gold plane — to do a fly-past. He goes to stadium, they do a fly-past over the stadium. We saw that on some of his tours down to college football. He sits in the White House and he says, ‘I’m going to have some people around. know I’ll get Air Force One to fly over.’ It’s an obsession. It’s like a Make-a-Wish president.”
Coles added in response: “I’m not sure how much people have connected this. Maybe they think, ‘Oh, it’s just military budget, military spending.’ It’s actually taxpayers dollars going into keeping Donald Trump entertained, because as he gets older, it takes more to keep him entertained.”