No helipad spectacle for you ... "A helicopter landing at Masada in 1997 generated enough wind to damage the ruins, according to The Jerusalem Post. Masada is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that sits upon a mountain in the Judean Desert." Trump preferred to cancel the visit altogether. Israeli press refer to him as "Mr Balagan" (think USA's TV series "Monk" only in Canada)
Trump’s jonesing for Masada goes back to his desire to have part of the Miss Universe pageant held there. We know about his flair for deal-driven diplomacy but not getting to make a big entrance with the helicopter seems to be a bigger deal than doing diplomacy.
Now he’s about to embark on a high-profile mission to solve what may be the world’s most notoriously unsolvable conflict, and it’s a mission that combines these two passions.
In this scenario, too, he is an underdog, as an inexperienced statesman tackling a problem that’s stumped some of the most skilled diplomats for decades.
But he’s a confident underdog, one who believes he canand willmake a historic deal. So why not throw some spectacle into the mix?
He actually may have gotten turned down for a speech at Masada during his trip because of his giving the Russians classified code-word intelligence sourced by Israel.
Darn that Israeli air force and their flight rules for those who don’t want to struggle to get to the top.
It’s all about President Snowflake coming down the pageant runway with his specialness because if he can’t use his helicopter, he’d have to walk or take the cable car like those losers Clinton and Bush.
Masada, whose last Jewish inhabitants in 73 C.E. committed mass suicide to avoid surrender, is best known today as a tourist destination... Climbing its jagged desert slope at sunrise is de rigueur for Jewish tour groups like Birthright, though a cable car is also available for the less intrepid... Once they’ve climbed to the top of the hill, teenagers are often treated to a tour guide’s speech valorizing the heroic Jewish stalwarts who refused to give up their beliefs when faced with mortal enemies. The implication is that contemporary Jews should take inspiration from these forebears when facing their own modern enemies.
TRUMP WILL NO LONGER VISIT MASADA ON MONDAY AFTER AUTHORITIES TOLD HIM THAT HE COULD NOT LAND HIS HELICOPTER THERE, NEWSWEEK REPORTED, CITING ISRAEL’S CHANNEL 2.
Trump reportedly declined to land the helicopter at the base of the historic site and then take the cable car up, as former PresidentsBill Clintonand George W. Bush did on previous visits.
Darn those little guys, Clinton and Bush. Aside from never making a speech from Masada, they understood that such a speech would signify a bias for Israel. Trump on the other hand, seems now to be on the run from his enemies, but what is he really dreading about the trip that he wants to shorten from nine to five days.
… in 2011, Trump wanted to host the Miss Universe Pageant there, according to Eran Sidis, the Knesset speaker’s chief of staff…
Trump, who owned the pageant until 2015, saw the location as good PR, though it’s unclear whether he meant good PR for Israel or the pageant. But had the pageant been held there, weather might have gotten in the way. The pageant is usually held in December, near the peak of Israel’s rainy, windy and chilly winter. Not the best place for a swimsuit contest, perhaps…
Sigal Samuel, who wrote the Atlantic article, suggests why Trump has an affinity for Masada. Trump, Samuel writes, “loves an underdog. Throughout the presidential campaign, he repeatedly depicted himself as one. Cultivating an image as a man spurned by the political establishment, the media, and liberal elites, he endeared himself to voters who likewise saw themselves as ‘the little guys.’”
Then again media villains aways have problems with cable cars and mountains.
But it's also possible that he has acrophobia in some form or another, and doesn't like the idea of swinging in the air from a cable for three minutes.
I don't suppose Trump would ever admit to such a weakness, so we'll never know unless someone leaks about it. And what are the odds of that in this buttoned-down administration?
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