The White House’s rapid response account omitted Donald Trump’s animated interaction with Marine One pilots—and his failure to salute Marines—in its video of the president disembarking the helicopter.
Trump, 80, was captured speaking with and making aggressive gestures toward the cockpit on Monday upon arrival at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey, following his Labor Day weekend at his Bedminster golf club. Trump at times moved his hand rapidly up and down, resembling a sign for turbulence, but what he was saying remains unclear, since the White House did not respond to an earlier request for comment. The exchange—assuming it was not all one-sided—lasted at least half a minute.
When it was over, Trump appeared to nod and then went down the steps, using both handrails. He did not salute the two Marines at the base of the steps, as is customary. Instead, he adjusted his suit jacket.
None of this was included in a video that the White House’s rapid response X account, with its 2.2 million followers, posted shortly afterward. That clip picks up as Trump is walking across the tarmac toward Air Force One. He then boards the plane while saluting the two service members at the base of the staircase.
The White House’s rapid response account has previously shown Trump saluting Marines while disembarking from Marine One, suggesting that its post on Monday may be a deliberate omission.
At least one X user noticed it.
“Why’d ya edit out him screaming at the pilot and failing to salute the service members when he left Marine Force One?” they asked.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
Later Monday, Trump appeared to realize his faux pas when he posted on Truth Social a collection of clips of other world leaders slipping up.
In 2014, many conservatives freaked out at then-President Barack Obama’s salute to Marines after he stepped off Marine One while holding a coffee cup in the same hand. Unsurprisingly, Trump’s non-salute doesn’t appear to have generated outrage from the same figures.
