BREAKING: Trump's Escape Plot, Truth Social Meltdown, Pentagon Cashes In for Trump Jr.
Good morning, this is Really American. It is Tuesday, August 11, 2026. We have some major news to bring you this morning.
Trump was secretly smuggled off Air Force One in a catering truck after Iran threatened his life, while staffers and reporters on the plane had no idea they’d become decoys. He followed that up with a Truth Social meltdown, naming dozens of major corporations as enemies for funding a think tank that dared to question his National Guard deployments. Pete Hegseth just stacked a key Pentagon advisory board with people tied to the venture fund where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner. And Jared Kushner’s development group paid $120 million for Albanian land tied to an accused international drug trafficker, months before his arrest was sought. Let’s get into it.
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TRUMP SMUGGLED OFF AIR FORCE ONE IN A CATERING TRUCK AFTER IRAN THREAT
White House staffers and journalists remained aboard Air Force One as unwitting decoys, unaware Trump had already been moved to a smaller military plane before it ever took off from Ankara. The press corps was asked to pull down their window blinds during the switch. Trump later reboarded the primary Air Force One at a UK airbase to complete the trip home, creating the appearance he’d been on it the whole time.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the operation “unprecedented” and “downright scary,” demanding a congressional inquiry. Asked directly about the threat, Trump brushed it off: “I have a threat all the time. I’m number one on their list before you.”
This is what it looks like when a president’s own security team doesn’t trust the situation he’s put the country in. The threat was real enough to deceive his own staff and the press. That should worry everyone.
TRUMP MELTS DOWN ON TRUTH SOCIAL, NAMES DOZENS OF COMPANIES AS ENEMIES
Trump spent Monday raging on Truth Social at Apple, Google, Walmart, Toyota, NBC, and a long list of other companies for funding a think tank that published an unfavorable report on his crime crackdowns.
The report, from the Center for American Progress, found Trump’s $1.7 billion National Guard deployments had “NO impact on Crime,” according to the researcher Trump was responding to. Trump called the organization “the foolish Center for American Lack of Progress” and threatened a lawsuit, while floating going after individual donors.
“I am also strongly considering adding some of the contributors to this Fake Organization,” Trump wrote, naming George Soros, Bill and Melinda Gates, and major banks among his targets. CAP has not published a donor list, meaning Trump was guessing at who funds it.
A president threatening lawsuits against companies for funding research he doesn’t like isn’t law and order. It’s an attempt to punish anyone who checks his claims with facts.
HEGSETH STACKS PENTAGON BOARD WITH TRUMP FAMILY BUSINESS TIES
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appointed two men to a key Pentagon advisory board who have direct financial ties to the venture fund where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner.
Marc Andreessen’s firm, Andreessen Horowitz, co-invests alongside Trump Jr.’s fund, 1789 Capital, in at least three defense contractors, including autonomous weapons maker Anduril Industries. Anduril has already pulled in about $1.25 billion in federal money during Trump’s first 500 days back in office, up sharply from the comparable stretch under Biden. Fellow appointee Blake Masters sits on the boards of three separate ventures tied to 1789 Capital.
Both men now sit on the board that advises the Pentagon on the exact sector their financial ties run through. A government watchdog noted such boards are frequently stacked with people “seeking government business” from the agency they’re supposed to be advising.
This isn’t hidden influence. It’s the president’s family profiting from defense contracts, with the people advising the Pentagon coming straight from the same investment fund.
KUSHNER’S ALBANIA DEAL LINKED TO ACCUSED DRUG TRAFFICKER
Jared Kushner’s development group paid more than $120 million for Albanian coastal land tied to a man Albanian prosecutors later accused of running an international cocaine-smuggling operation.
Villagers in Zvernec warned Kushner’s venture in writing back in September 2024 that the land had been stolen by Artur Shehu, a suspected gangster who fled to Miami after a 1999 bar shootout. Two months after the sale closed, Albanian prosecutors sought Shehu’s arrest, accusing him of laundering drug proceeds through Albanian real estate using forged Ottoman-era land records.
Kushner’s group says it believes the land acquisition was lawful and that Albania’s courts are the proper venue to sort out ownership. The $5 billion project has triggered more than two months of daily protests in Tirana after video surfaced showing the development’s private security punching a villager and dragging him across a beach.
Villagers just want their land back. Kushner’s company got a warning in writing and bought the land anyway.
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— The Really American Team
See you soon.





We all need to prepare for who's waiting to take over once Trump passes. There's still some scary actors out there
Typical of Trump, he will put himself before anyone else .