OPINION: 9/11 anniversary reaffirms why Trump has no moral authority to lead the country
“President George W Bush rallies firefighters and rescue workers during an impromptu speech at the site of the collapsed World Trade Center” Photo courtesy of the Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Zach Donaldson is a freshman studying political science and an opinion writer for The New Political.
Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.
Sept. 11 marked the 20th anniversary of a series of four terrorist attacks led by Al Qaeda on the United States. 9/11 was a monumental day with lasting ramifications on the culture, security and psyche of America; its remembrance is one that calls for the highest levels of empathy and vision from our leaders. Each living president, current and former, took drastically different approaches toward commemorating the day.
In his address to the nation, President Joe Biden stoically recalled that, "In the days that followed September 11, 2001, we saw heroism everywhere — in places expected and unexpected."
Former President George W. Bush solemnly, yet optimistically, declared over a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania that, “I can only tell you what I’ve seen. On America’s day of trial and grief, I saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor’s hand and rally to the cause of one another. That is the America I know.”
When promoting a pay-per-view boxing match set to take place on 9/11, former President Donald Trump said, “I think probably my easiest fight would be Joe Biden because I think he’d go down very, very quickly.”
As three former presidents stood side by side in New York City at the Sept. 11 memorial, and another gave a speech by the Flight 93 wreck-site, Trump was to be found dissing his successor at a fire and police station in New York, giving taped speeches to the Unification Church (better known as the “Moonies”) and announcing a pay-per-view boxing match. On a day where the burden of the office and of leadership is perhaps no more important, Trump’s circus ring of 9/11 visits represents his concern with perhaps the only thing he has ever been concerned about: himself.
A common criticism of politicians by the public at large is they do not “actually care about our citizenry;” that their speeches, services and policies are feigned interest – a means to getting elected. However fair these criticisms are, one thing distinguishes the 45th president from his peers; Trump cannot even pretend to care.
Via a video message posted on Sept. 11, this truth was only further reaffirmed. Trump could have utilized his platform as the de-facto leader of one of two major political parties in this country, but instead, he failed to show the slightest interest in public service or intellectual engagement. Twenty-two seconds of his one minute and forty-four second address were spent mourning the lost, and the remainder was his scathing opinion of the Afghanistan pull-out. He spoke with the police union he knew would support him and allow him to tease a 2024 campaign run. His support of the Unification Church shows his willingness to engage with fanatics and cults so long as it promotes his objectives. Trump’s appearance and announcement of an exhibition boxing match would be tolerable as a private citizen but is a questionable dereliction of duty on such a solemn day.
Are we to be surprised? Should we have expected a man who was the lone absence at the inauguration, who remarked that he now had the tallest building in New York after the World Trade Center collapsed, or who failed to quickly condemn an insurrection on the U.S. Capitol to magically discover class and empathy in the eleventh hour?
The 20th anniversary of 9/11 should serve as a reminder of a fact we have long known since he announced his bid in 2015: Donald Trump does not, and will never have, the moral authority to lead the United States.
