Illinois Governor JB Pritzker went on CNN to talk about Trump using his own staff and White House reporters as human decoys while he slinked out the back into a waiting catering cart. Needless to say, Pritzker was not impressed with Trump’s cowardice and disloyalty:
Pritzker said that putting people in harm’s way is normal for Trump and brought up the troops in the Middle East, fighting Trump’s illegal and unnecessary war with Iran.
Then he got to the heart of the matter:
He did not need to put his staff and those reporters in harm’s way. He literally could have warned them and taken them off the flight. There were other ways to handle this, but instead he was OK with the idea that maybe that plane would be shot down or maybe there was some other security threat to that aircraft. That’s clearly what all of this indicates.
He really doesn’t give a darn about the people on that plane.
Unfortunately, it’s not really surprising that Trump would do something as cowardly as that, despite his wont to stage-act like he’s tough and fierce. What is surprising is that after all these years, he keeps sinking lower and lower into depravity. As Trump would say, if he were ever coherent and lucid enough, he’s sunk lower than any other president ever has.
In 2000, an AF1 switch included briefing the press about the decoy. In 2026, Trump made them the decoy.
Nothing says “America First” like sending your cabinet and journalists into the sky as human shields while you flee in a catering truck with Natalie “human printer” Harp and… pic.twitter.com/qqWStcPEUo
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) August 13, 2026