The airline's statement comes after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny crashed in the Kazakhstan city of Aktau
uae10 hours ago
An enraged Donald Trump helicopters off from the White House lawn on Wednesday for one of the last times in his presidency, leaving Americans chaos as a Christmas present.
The Republican is bound with his wife Melania for a vacation in his lavish Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
From Marine One, the first couple will get a magnificent view of the White House, decorated in chocolate box fashion with Christmas wreaths and red ribbons at every window.
But with the clock ticking to Joe Biden's January 20 inauguration, there won't be too many more occasions to enjoy the experience.
And Trump, consumed by election conspiracy theories, abandoned by allies, and determined to take opponents down with him, is not exactly in a merry mood.
Crises engulf the man supporters call "disrupter in chief" ("chaos president" to his critics.)
Most of them are of his own making:
- Trying to overturn the result of the election.
- Unexpectedly refusing to sign a massive economic relief bill for Americans struggling from coronavirus fallout, insisting at the last moment that it be rewritten.
- Choosing to say nothing, other than to play it down, about what senior officials and members of Congress describe as a devastating Russian cyber attack.
- Threatening to veto the bill funding the US military.
- Declaring war on top members of his own party because they dared to concede that Biden won.
- Diminished figure -
Yet for all his bluster, the larger-than-life showman who for four years held the media, his party and the entire country in thrall now cuts a diminished figure.
Normally, the departure on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House has been a favourite stage for Trump to act out his flamboyant press conference/performance art routine.
Boasting, ad-libbing, entertaining and insulting, Trump used to love nothing more than "chopper talk" with journalists jostling to hear the world's biggest media star against the roar of an idling military helicopter.
But since losing the November 3 election and embarking on a desperate mission to reverse the result, Trump has almost vanished from public engagements.
His last extended Q&A with journalists was a bad tempered Thanksgiving encounter on November 26.
The once epic Marine One departures have been whittled down to the perfunctory exercise of a man catching a ride to the airport. With Covid-19 restrictions, only around a dozen journalists can attend the sessions anyway, meaning that even if Trump decides to stop and talk, the old, manic energy is gone.
Officially scheduled White House meetings -- exceedingly rare since the election -- are held off camera, unlike before, when Trump routinely invited in reporters.
Even Tuesday night's bombshell threat to nix the Covid relief package was made in a pre-recorded video posted on Twitter, all out of sight of the White House press corps.
- Unhinged from 'reality?' -
Many explanations are being thrown around for Trump's extraordinary post-election behaviour.
Ardent supporters say Trump is simply exercising the legal right to pursue his claim -- however far-fetched -- that "IT WAS A RIGGED ELECTION!!!" as he tweeted Tuesday.
Ardent critics, citing talk by a Trump ally of bringing in the military to rerun the election, say he is a wannabe dictator.
A less dramatic appraisal is that Trump is just following his salesman's instincts. Determined to keep his brand alive post-January, Trump is cynically doing what he does best: hogging the limelight, outraging the establishment and delighting his passionate base.
But this week an intriguing fourth option was suggested by influential, Trump-supporting televangelist Pat Robertson:
That Trump inhabits "an alternate reality" in which he genuinely believes everything he says.
"He really does," Robertson explained Monday on the Christian Broadcasting Network.
"People say, 'Well he lies about this, that and the other.' But he isn't lying," Robertson said.
"To him, that's the truth."
The airline's statement comes after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny crashed in the Kazakhstan city of Aktau
uae10 hours ago
Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo hailed Vinicius Junior as the world's best player during the ceremony at Atlantis
sports11 hours ago
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said that it categorically rejected the 'heinous act'
uae12 hours ago
Defence Minister Giudo Crosetto said that Italy was using "high-level political and diplomatic action" to try to secure Cecilia Sala's release
europe13 hours ago
During the investigation, the suspect admitted to swallowing capsules containing narcotics
asia14 hours ago
Leonardo’s ability to manage the entire value chain in the space sector makes the company a privileged partner for new initiatives
kt network14 hours ago
The sea will be slight in the Arabian Gulf and in Oman Sea
weather14 hours ago
Residents can try a wide variety of the household staple at the Hatta Honey Festival, including a unique 'white honey'
uae15 hours ago