How Trump And His Supporters Dragged 9/11 Into Political Mud

“Such a lovely day to go flying

The sky's so clear, the sun is shining

Fate has given me wings

Such a terrible, funny thing”

- Living Colour, “Flying”

For all of Trump's whining about the 2020 election being stolen from him, it is Al Gore who arguably has the more legitimate right to that claim. With the 2000 presidential election too close to call, the Supreme Court effectively put its finger on the scale, anointing W as President. Gore could have either accepted the questionable ruling or plunged the country into a constitutional crisis. To preserve the union, Gore was forced to concede a defeat that didn't necessarily exist.

Given the questionable legitimacy of his presidency, W’s best move would have been to strike a course toward reconciliation at the beginning of his term. Instead, aided by Vice President Dick Cheney, W leaned into the partisanship already gripping the country. He had lost the popular vote yet governed as if he had a mandate.

The unimaginable tragedy of September 11, 2001, did the work for him. Although W did nothing more than encourage Americans to maintain normal economic activity, they did what is expected after an attack and rallied around their country. And their president.

Before the terrorist attack on 9/11, Bush’s approval rating stood at an anemic 51%, but in the immediate aftermath it jumped to 86%. It eventually climbed to a high of 92% in a poll by ABC News/Washington Post, a record‑breaking achievement.

Twenty-five years later, one has to wonder if that same cohesion would occur in a Trump presidency. It used to be that natural disasters would bring us together, but Trump has politicized that process, basing relief on the level of support victims had given him at the ballot box. The start of a war was usually a reason to rally around the flag, but if Trump's hostilities with Iran have resulted in any bipartisanship, it has been in opposition to his actions. Before Trump, government agencies were trusted to protect public health through vaccine programs, but a takeover by “Make America Healthy Again” forces set the stage for measles outbreaks unseen since a vaccine was developed.

Those responsible for holding the annual memorials at the World Trade Center site have prioritized keeping partisan politics out of the solemn events. Their efforts have included barring politicians from making speeches.

While the White House initially indicated that Trump would attend the events at the World Trade Center site to mark the 25ᵗʰ anniversary, it later announced that the vice president would attend in his place. This made him the only living president not to mark the anniversary in New York City.

Reputable news outlets quoted multiple sources in reporting that Trump wanted to speak at the memorial, but organizers would not reverse the long-standing prohibition on political speeches. Instead, he attended the memorial at the Pentagon, where he was given the opportunity to speak. 

Despite the veracity of this reporting, the White House has disputed these accounts. They have belatedly claimed that Trump always knew he would not be able to speak and have stated that he understands the solemnity of these proceedings. It is hard to think of any other president for whom that statement would not have been assumed. But no other president has boycotted the inauguration ceremonies for the new administration, traditions meant to emphasize the peaceful transfer of power to their successors. They also did not leave this trail of posts on social media:

With the president having unleashed politics onto this sacred day in American history, his followers have followed suit. Their target: New York City’s first Muslim mayor, pulled into the partisan crossfire on a day meant to transcend politics.

The majority of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, a country that Trump has agreed to export nuclear materials to in support of the development of a nuclear program. Two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt, and another from Lebanon. None were from Uganda.

The record also shows that none of the people involved in planning the attack were eight years old in 2001.

Despite these facts, there is a segment of the population, which heavily intersects with the MAGA movement, who feel that Zohran Mamdani, who was an eight‑year‑old Ugandan immigrant on September 11, 2001, somehow shares responsibility for the 9/11 attacks and are offended that the mayor of New York City attended the memorial. They base their attacks on the religion that Mamdani shares with 1.6 billion other people.

While the terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people in the name of Allah, they did not speak for all Muslims. Adherents to this religion are no more responsible for this death and destruction than Christians are for those killed by Eric Rudolph when he bombed the Atlanta Olympics as part of his adherence to the Christian Identity movement.

As an atheist, I could make a case that all religions create the conditions that allow for zealotry and extremists who commit these types of horrific acts. But this would ignore the many positive things that are done in the name of religion. The Catholic Church may be responsible for deaths during the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, but it also feeds the poor and provides shelter for the homeless.

I was born in New York City, and my mother watched one of the towers fall from her office window. Visiting for the first time after the attacks, I remember the dread of preparing to land at Newark Airport and not seeing the towers across the river. My lasting memory is of armed National Guard members patrolling the terminal as we headed to baggage claim.

At funerals, I avoid views of an open casket, preferring instead to remember the person alive. In the same way, it was years before I could bring myself to visit the World Trade Center site in person.

Instead, I held onto the memory of my last visit in 1999. My family had a bite to eat next to the Sphere in the plaza and shared a special moment with my two young children. We walked up to one of the towers, tilted our heads back, and looked up to admire the immensity of the building.

My daughter asked to go up to the top, but time was short and tickets were expensive (for the time). “Next time, I promise.”

As we watched the towers fall on television, my daughter reminded me of that promise. I thought of the line from Star Wars when Alderaan is destroyed by the Death Star:

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."

The voices silenced on 9/11 deserve so much more than to be dragged into the swamp of politics. We should not sully their memories by forgetting that innocent Muslims were among the victims. Partisanship should not get in the way of ensuring that the security lapses that occurred leading to that day are never repeated. Most of all, we owe it to ourselves to work toward a world where conditions that create future terrorists are not allowed to exist.