President Donald Trump ordered his motorcade north from Texas to Oklahoma on Thursday after severe weather grounded his planned flight to a Republican campaign rally, rejecting advisers’ recommendation to postpone the appearance.
🚨 BREAKING: The Secret Service and US military informed President Trump it's TOO DANGEROUS to fly into Oklahoma for his rally tonight due to weather…
So 47 decided to take the motorcade 100 MILES to Durant, to not let the patriots down who’re waiting at the rally. What a… pic.twitter.com/rdd4EGDokR
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 1, 2026
According to multiple reports, Trump made the roughly 80- to 100-mile drive from Denton to Durant after speaking at a Peterbilt truck factory outside Dallas. He had been scheduled to fly to Durant Regional Airport for an evening rally at the Choctaw Event Center supporting Oklahoma Republicans, including gubernatorial nominee Mike Mazzei. Severe weather prevented aircraft from landing, according to the White House press pool and local reports.
In a Truth Social post, Trump told supporters that planes and helicopters could not land and that he was coming by car. Officials had wanted to postpone the event, he wrote, but he responded, “NO WAY, I’M GOING TO OKLAHOMA!” He added that “The Beast,” the armored presidential limousine, was “going faster than it has ever gone before.”
The motorcade traveled north on U.S. 75 through the Denison area and reached the venue shortly after 7 p.m. Trump took the stage around 7:50 p.m., nearly two hours after the scheduled start, following what local outlets described as a rain-soaked wait for thousands of attendees.
Trump told the crowd that the trip had been difficult and that he had been advised flying was out of the question. The rally was part of his push to support Republican candidates ahead of the November midterm elections. He returned to the White House later that night.
