The last time President Donald Trump made a trip to Corpus Christi, he had just given the final nine-word order to his military brass to begin a sustained military campaign against Iran.
“Operation Epic Fury is approved. No aborts. Good luck,” Trump directed at 3:38 p.m. ET on February 27, as recounted later by the Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Dan Caine.
Air Force One landed in Texas twelve minutes later.
It’s not clear how heavily the political consequences of the new war were weighing on Trump at the time. He spent part of the flight chatting in his conference room with the actor Dennis Quaid about his new Ronald Reagan biopic. He would later make a pitstop at the Texas staple Whataburger, declaring to his entourage: “Hamburgers for all!”
But exactly eight months later, Trump arrives again to the Texas port city with the deeply unpopular conflict dragging down his approval rating and the fortunes of GOP candidates around the country. In turn, once-reliably red states like Texas have become freshly competitive.
He was joined on that momentous flight by Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, with whom Trump consulted about the situation. He didn’t let on, however, that he’d given the directive for the bombing to begin.
Stepping off the plane moments after giving the final go-ahead, Trump was asked how close he was to making a decision on going to war.
“I’d rather not tell you,” he said. “You would have had the greatest scoop in history, right?” And later, during a speech at the port, he repeatedly said he had a “very big decision to make,” even though the decision had at that point been made.
“I’d rather do it the peaceful way,” he said of ensuring Iran not obtain a nuclear weapon, “but they’re very difficult people.”