If you listen closely, you can hear the angry journalist pounding his keyboard between sips of his Frappuccino.

Ok, I don’t know the beverage preferences of Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times. But his story yesterday about Air Force One exudes bitterness that he and other Leftmedia reporters weren’t apprised of the security details of President Donald Trump’s July 8 flight change in Turkey.

“The threat to Air Force One was seen as so dire that they sneaked President Trump off the jet in a catering container to keep him safe,” Baker’s story begins. “But the same dire threat did not stop them from then sending Air Force One into the skies anyway with a planeful of senior officials, government employees, reporters and military personnel serving as decoys, some unwittingly.”

He continued, “If the Iranians were trying to shoot down the presidential plane last month, as U.S. officials concluded at the time, then the subterfuge in Ankara, Turkey, that protected the president also may have made targets of dozens of others who flew aboard the jet, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the senior aides Stephen Miller and Steven Cheung.”

TMZ’s Harvey Levin channeled the same outrage, posting atop a video on X, “If the threat was serious enough that President Trump wouldn’t fly on the original Air Force One, why was the plane allowed to take off with reporters, White House staff, and crew onboard?”

🚨🎥 If the threat was serious enough that President Trump wouldn’t fly on the original Air Force One, why was the plane allowed to take off with reporters, White House staff, and crew onboard? pic.twitter.com/Evkf8cMFX7

— TMZ (@TMZ) August 11, 2026

Levin finds it utterly “remarkable” that everyone didn’t know Trump’s security plan. His hysterics are so preposterous that it’s hard to believe he’s serious.

The Washington Post broke the story on Monday, and it too was nonplussed by the ruse, huffing, “The clandestine mission, which has not been reported previously, was carried out unbeknownst to journalists and some White House staff members who believed they were on the same plane as the president.”

Reporters weren’t the only ones incensed. “There has to be a congressional briefing,” insisted Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal. You may recall that Blumenthal had a ruse of his own once — lying about serving in Vietnam. Maybe sit this one out, pal.

I could go on, but those examples suffice.

Do these people even hear themselves? I know they detest Donald Trump with the heat of a thousand suns, but the Secret Service’s job isn’t to protect reporters or even necessarily other administration officials. It’s not to weigh in on the dignity of every life. It’s to protect the president of the United States.

The Secret Service wouldn’t be doing its job if it made every aspect of it, well, not secret.

Have Peter Baker, Harvey Levin, or any other pretentious Leftmedia reporters survived an assassination attempt with a bloody ear to show for it? Have they had numerous other threats on their lives, including from the Iranian regime working to take out Trump in this episode?

The Post, the Times, and others made the obvious comparison with Bill Clinton’s 2000 trip to Pakistan, in which he, too, switched planes as part of a security gambit. From the Times:

“They just didn’t seem to give a second thought to anybody but the president and the few people who were with him,” said Joe Lockhart, who served as White House press secretary to Mr. Clinton during his 2000 trip to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. “We went out of our way to make sure the maximum number of people, especially civilians, were protected and not human shields. They didn’t even think about it. And to me, that’s the big difference.”

Is it? What’s Lockhart’s proof that no measures were taken to protect anyone else this time? And why do Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers act as though the only conceivable options were endangering their lives or telling everyone what Trump was doing?

Pointing to Clinton’s story doesn’t help, either. The Post has a follow-up story about Susan Page, a White House reporter who was briefed on Clinton’s change of plans but who kept it quiet for 26 years.

The Post seems to think this is proof that journalists can be trusted. That’s far from the truth. The Leftmedia loved Bill Clinton. They loathe Donald Trump. That alone is reason to change protocol. We all know the story would have been leaked in five minutes, not kept secret for 26 years. That’s not a mark against Trump’s team; it’s a damning indictment of the media.

Nevertheless, the Post “reports,” “The incident could further degrade the already-fraught rapport between the Trump White House and the press corps, a relationship marked by name-calling, threats, legal restrictions and lawsuits from Trump.”

I’m not going to defend Trump’s often sophomoric behavior, but it’s also true that he gives the Leftmedia what they deserve.

If my life were jeopardized by someone else, I’d be a little miffed. But I’m also self-aware enough to know that I’m not the president of the United States, and that when it comes to America’s national security, his life matters more than mine.

When will Leftmedia reporters clue in?

As for the plan, “It’s really just up to Secret Service. I just follow what they like to do,” President Trump said. “They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, equal safety. … I do what they say.”

“If I go, you go. Right?” he also suggested to reporters. “Perhaps someday you want to change professions.”

Indeed, I’ll wager that fewer journalists want a ride on the next Middle East trip aboard Air Force One.

Follow Nate Jackson on X.