Donald Trump’s gleaming “flying palace” was meant to symbolize dominance: a $400 million Boeing 747, reborn as Air Force One, gifted by a wealthy Gulf monarchy and rushed into service for a triumphant July 1 trip to North Dakota. Trump reveled in the optics, calling it “maybe the greatest commercial plane ever built,” turning the tarmac into a stage and the jet into a character in his own political drama. But within weeks, the narrative twisted.