The Plot to Kill the President. Should We Beware of Qataris Bearing Gifts? Accused Assassin Tyler Robinson’s ‘Trans’ Lover Not Doing Him Any Good in Court. Mamdani Official’s Canceled Iran Meeting. The Oysterman & More
Mystery Solved: We now know why President Trump abruptly ditched plans to take his brand-new Qatari-gifted Air Force One out of Ankara, flying to London, where he switched planes, to the old Air Force One.
Seems Iran had hatched a plot to kill the president and the new Air Force One lacks defensive countermeasures of the old jet:
The new Air Force One, which President Trump flew on earlier this week to Turkey, lacks the same defensive countermeasures that were security features of the old model, including its advanced antimissile capabilities, according to multiple officials who have been briefed on how the jet was retrofitted.
Experts say the absence of those capabilities on the Boeing 747-8 aircraft, which was donated by Qatar, creates potential risk in using the jet abroad, a dynamic underscored by the abrupt decision on Wednesday for Mr. Trump to leave Turkey on the old Air Force One at the urging of the Secret Service.
The episode is intensifying the focus on Mr. Trump’s demands to rapidly retrofit the donated 747 to replace an aging fleet that had served as the official presidential planes.
Israeli intelligence revealed the plot to kill the president, whose response was curious: “They want to take out the US leader — me. I’m on whatever list. I saw this morning I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a bit lucky, but maybe that doesn’t last very long.” Query: Should we beware of Qataris bearing gifts?
Iran finally buried its late Supreme Leader, as the war roared back to life. We now have photos of the late ayatollah’s bombed-out headquarters. Ayatollah Junior has yet to put in an appearance. A deal to remove Syria from the U.S. terror list might lead ultimately to a way to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. This could thwart Iran’s strategy to strangle the world’s oil supply. Victoria Coates writes that Iran’s plan for the strait could derail Gulf nations.
The New York Post’s cover is a picture of an eerily hooded Tyler Robinson. The headline shouts: “Trans Lover of Charlie Kirk’s ‘killer’ reveals in Courtroom: Tyler confessed to me.” A video interview with Lance Twiggs, former roommate and sexual partner of the accused, was played during a hearing into Kirk’s assassination in the Provo, Utah courtroom:
The former lover of Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin told Utah prosecutors that the suspected killer “wishes he hadn’t done it,” according to a video played in court Thursday.
“I just asked him in person if what he said was true the night before, and he said it was, started crying a little bit and said he wishes he hadn’t done it,” Lance Twiggs told investigators in a video interview.
The night before, according to text messages prosecutors displayed later, Robinson allegedly took credit for Kirk’s shooting in a conversation with Twiggs. …
“I am still ok my love, but am stuck in orem for a little while longer yet,” Robinson replied — allegedly. “Shouldn’t be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still. To be honest I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age. I am sorry to involve you.”
More on Twiggs’ testimony. Everything you need to know about the Charlie Kirk murder: The Federalist provides helpful sketches of the personnel and what the judge said when he denied grieving widow Erika Kirk’s request that more of the Lance Twiggs interview be shown in court.
You Knew This Was Going to Happen. The New York Times blames Donald Trump for the Graham Platner debacle. Don’t miss—or maybe do miss: “‘There’s No Graham Platner Without Donald Trump’: 3 Writers on the Fiasco in Maine.” In “What we really learned from Graham Platner’s dropout video,” Monica Hesse of the Washington Post writes:
The through-line of Platner’s nearly year-long campaign was authenticity. The fact that he was a back-deck and graphic-tee kind of candidate, the polar opposite of Collins, who is prim and decorous and always concerned and who has maybe never swung a kettlebell on a lawn in her whole life. “The difference between Susan Collins and Ted Cruz is, at least Ted Cruz is honest,” he’d said in his announcement video. Platner vowed to always be honest.
Did Graham Platner ever seem “authentic” to you? No, he didn’t to me either. The lesson of the Platner campaign is that the elites have a hard time spotting a genuine member of the white male working class. No, hard as it is for elites to believe, not all of them have Nazi tattoos and mistreat women.
Meanwhile, Democrat Party elites were understandably eager to rid themselves of Graham Platner, but Examiner Chief Political Correspondent Byron York asks about the Maine voters who gave him a stunning win in “Giving Platner the Bum’s Rush.” Dropping candidates is getting to be a habit, and it’s not a sign of strength, according to Michael Barone:
There are lessons here aplenty. It’s risky to support little-known candidates. Nostalgia for a working-class politics that hasn’t existed for two generations can produce bad strategy. It’s off-putting when those who claim to be preserving “democracy” overturn the choices of voters. Going off the deep end may not be a profitable response to the otherwise going off the deep end.
“‘Bet on Democrats’ Midterm Enthusiasm” is the headline on Matthew Continetti’s Friday piece. Continetti writes:
The problem for Republicans is that energetic voters can overwhelm structural barriers. Democrats are fired up to vote. They have been voting in primaries in greater numbers than Republicans. They’re more likely to say that they’re “absolutely certain” to vote and that voting is “much more important” this year than in the past. They have led the generic congressional ballot since March 2025. And they have been overperforming in special elections, flipping 30 state legislative seats. No seat has flipped from Democrat to Republican….
Enthusiasm can’t be manufactured; it’s organic. And it’s the difference between winning and losing….
Is “Useful Idiot” too harsh? Yep, the New York Times again. Ira Stoll explains at the Washington Free Beacon why the NYT headline “How Economic Anxiety Is Driving the Democratic Socialists’ Surge” is so dumb.
But I Thought We Were at War with Iran? “A Top Mamdani Official Tried to Meet with Iran” is an alarming City Journal headline. The scheduled meeting was called off but:
The development is a continuation of Commissioner Archila and the Mamdani administration’s ongoing use of public resources to advance an agenda that extends well beyond New York City. On April 16, a message seen by City Journal was sent to staff within the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs asking them to prioritize diplomatic engagement in part based on whether foreign officials “are . . . in political alignment/leftist.” The message confirms previous reporting by El País, noting that Archila has “focused . . . on deepening relations with foreign leaders who share Mamdani’s worldview.”
That Archila’s meeting was even contemplated raises questions about her judgment and the administration’s priorities.
“How worried should Democrats be about the Democratic Socialists of America?” Jake Altman asks in the lead to a City Journal story. Headline: “I Watched the DSA Go Crazy. The Democrats May Be Next.” Altman explores the strategy and tactics of the anti-democratic Left. Ms. Must’s Question: What percentage of the party is sympathetic to the far Left?
Former Chicago Mayor and Obama administration figure Rahm Emmanuel, who harbors 2028 aspirations, is clearly attempting to position himself as a moderate Democrat. Emmanuel delivered a speech in Israel on “the US-Israel relationship: where it stands today and the road ahead.” I haven’t read it and so hope my skepticism is ill-placed.
We’re sorry to learn that Senator Mitch McConnell is still in the hospital. The Left is in a frenzy of unsubstantiated rumors that the condition of McConnell, who will go down in history as a master of the Senate, is being concealed so that a special election can be avoided.
Some of McConnell’s colleagues are beginning to sound like the Dems on Joe Biden, but I can’t imagine McConnell is that bad off. Nevertheless, Nicole Russell of USA TODAY urges more transparency. We wish the Senator a speedy and full recovery.
