Why Did Trump Go To Bedminster Friday Night?

I've been intriged by Trump's Bedminster, NJ golf facility ever since it surfaced in the "wiretap" kerfuffle during the 2016 transition, which I discussed here in a 2024 post (the full links are at that post).

The original story, which appears to have been assiduously scrubbed, was that National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers met with Trump after the election to inform him that Trump Tower wasn't secure, and as a consequence, Trump moved his transition headquarters to his Bedminster, NJ golf club. The record does reflect that a meeting between Trump and Rogers did take place in mid November, 2016. . . . And Trump did in fact move his transition headquarters from Trump Tower to Bedminster on November 16. . . . There was no mention in any of the reports about what Rogers discussed with Trump in the meeting, nor why the move to Bedminster took place. Exactly what kind of surveillance was involved, on whom, and who ordered it has never been clear[.]

Not much, in fact, is ever said about Bedminster. A few weeks ago, Sean Spicer, who was part of the first Trump administration, remarked on Mark Halperin's Morning Meeting 2WAY program that even in his position, he was never high enough in the administration to rate his own room at Bedminster when Trump chose to move there; he presumably lodged off site. And that's about it. All I can surmise is that Trump, who must have highly capable corporate security staff at his disposal as well as the Secret Service, feels more confident in the electronic measures in place at Bedminster than in any other facility, including the White House.

Which brings us to the runup to the B-2 bombing raid on Fordow this past weekend:

On Friday afternoon, a day after suggesting the attack could be delayed, Trump gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth the green-light to launch the B-2 bombers.

The public, of course, knew nothing about this. Apparently after giving Hegseth the approval, Trump flew to Morristown, NJ, en route to Bedminster, where he gave an impromptu press conference:

President Trump is again questioned about Gabbard’s statements from March where she repeated an Intelligence Community assessment that Iran was not currently building a nuclear weapon. President Trump accepts the misleading question and responds by saying, “she’s wrong.”

President Trump’s admonishment of the manufactured statement is then amplified by the Israel-First group, which includes Laura Loomer and Mark Levin, both ‘influencers’ hoping to see Tulsi Gabbard removed, and replaced with a more pro-Israel, pro-war intelligence head. Watching this unfold is quite remarkable.

In hindsight, this was yet another diversion designed to further the impression that there was ongoing debate within the administration over bombing Fordow, when Trump had already approved the mission.

On Saturday afternoon, while still at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump was told the bombers were about to reach the point of no return — the moment they would go into full radio silence.

Shortly after, Trump boarded Air Force One and flew back to Washington to be in the Situation Room as the first bombs hit their targets.

Sitting in the Situation Room, the president saw that the media was still reporting he was undecided, a U.S. official said. That's when Trump grew confident the operation would be successful.

When I heard that Trump was going to Bedminster Friday afternoon, I immediately thought something was up, just based on the little I'd heard about why he goes there. In addition,

The Pentagon Pizza Report, a social media account that claimed to have accurately predicted Israel’s initial June 12 military strikes on Iran, posted that local pizza traffic near the Pentagon was "HIGH" within an hour of the U.S. launching attacks against Iranian nuclear sites Saturday night.

Less than an hour before the announcement, the account said "HIGH activity is being reported at the closest Papa Johns to the Pentagon."

Account administrators added Freddie's Beach Bar, a restaurant and bar near the Pentagon that has also been previously used as an indicator of impending military action, was reporting abnormally low activity levels for a Saturday night.

"Classic indicator for potential overtime at the Pentagon," the account wrote.

But food service at Bedminster would have been in-house, and even the internal phone lines would have been highly secure. I believe the Saturday Situation Room meeting at the White House was scheduled Friday, but that would take place after operational security was no longer important. It appears that Trump wanted his approvals leading up to the actual strike to come from Bedminster:

Rubio signaled on Sunday that Trump didn’t give his final go-ahead for the bombing campaign until the very last minutes before it was carried out.

“There are multiple points along the way in which the President has decisions to make about ‘go’ or ‘no-go,’” he said in a Fox News interview Sunday morning. “And it really comes right up to 10 minutes before the bombs are actually dropped.”

What this suggests to me is that at least for the time being, Trump's purge of the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies has been successful, at least insofar as operational security was maintained, with absolutely no leaks. But it sounds to me that Trump trusts the security at the White House only as far as it goes, and he still prefers Bedminster if he wants absolute secrecy.

I've never bought the conventional wisdom that Trump is bombastic, ego-driven, always playing to the grandstands. But he's willing to let that impression work for him if it serves his purpose. Trump may be lucky, but he's also good, and the better he gets, the better luck he seems to have.