Trump Celebrates Halloween by Dressing Air Force One as a Low-Flying Jump Scare; Washington Gets 15 Minutes to Find Its Costume

Most families celebrate Halloween by putting a plastic skeleton on the porch. The White House put a Boeing 747 over the porch, at an altitude normally reserved for pigeons with ambition.

On Thursday evening, the military jet that becomes Air Force One whenever the president climbs aboard flew low over Washington for the annual White House Halloween party. Flight tracking data cited by The Washington Post put it between about 400 and 1,000 feet. That is not a flyover. That is a plane checking whether you locked your car.

It passed over the White House twice, because one jump scare is a prank and two is a franchise.

The D.C. Council said people downtown, at the Pentagon and at Reagan National Airport got 15 minutes' notice. Fifteen minutes is enough time to microwave popcorn, not enough time to explain to a Pentagon that the big thing in the sky is festive.

Down on the South Lawn, 6,000 guests collected commemorative full-sized chocolate bars, the only item in Washington this week that was larger than advertised. Founding fathers mingled with dinosaurs. Soldiers mingled with bananas. A boy dressed as a founding father asked the president to sign a historic document, which is the most realistic costume ever worn in that zip code.

The president pointed the plane out to the children like a dad showing off a new grill. A video from the White House Rapid Response account showed Donald and Melania Trump waving at it while a cheesy version of "Thriller" played. Somewhere a speechwriter realized the soundtrack for a plane diving at buildings had been chosen by committee and approved by no one.

Later, the president did a little shimmy to the "Ghostbusters" theme, which answered the question "Who you gonna call?" with "Not the D.C. Council, apparently."

Meanwhile, construction on the new ballroom continued, sparks flying from squealing metal saws. Nothing says "relax, it's a party" like a jumbo jet overhead, power tools underneath and a Treasury Department handing out coloring books.

Residents of the capital reviewed the show in real time. "It was Trump, Trumping," one wrote, which is the shortest and most complete review of anything since "Cats" closed. Another reported "a mini heart attack along with everyone else on the street," making it the first fully bipartisan cardiac event of the midterm season. A third, after learning what it was, offered the city's official slogan: "Glad it was just a flyby!"

Washington has the most restricted airspace in America. Usually that means drones get arrested and birds file paperwork. On Thursday it meant one plane had a hall pass and a dramatic streak.

Fiscal hawks will ask what it costs to fly a 747 at roof height for a costume party. The answer is: less than the ballroom, more than a bag of candy corn, and exactly one Pentagon's composure.

Next year, the White House promises nothing, which is the scariest thing it has said all week. Kids, keep your full-sized chocolate bars close. In this town, something big is always coming in low, with 15 minutes' notice.