Remember what a big hero Donald Trump was on 9/11/01? How he rushed over to the Ground Zero site to do whatever he could to assist? How he personally sent hundreds of workers to help in the first responders' effort?
Nope. I don’t remember that, and I’ll bet you don’t, either. But somehow our president does. In his retelling on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the day that will live in infamy, no one was more instrumental in the rescue effort than he was, even risking getting some falling ash on his pressed suit while putting himself in harm’s way.
How is it that there’s no actual evidence of his claims? Could it be that he’s just making the whole thing up to create the impression that he personally helped save New York City from even further destruction? Gosh, that would mean he’s just a big fat self-aggrandizing liar.
Yes indeed. That’s pretty much the size of it.
Shocking, huh?
Let’s back up to examine a few facts as closely as they can accurately be reconstructed — within reason.
Where was Trump when the attacks occurred? He appears to have been at Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan, roughly four miles from the World Trade Center whose twin towers were attacked with planes and destroyed. He was interviewed by telephone that morning on WWOR-TV.
There is no evidence that he rushed downtown during the attacks or participated in rescue operations on 9/11 itself, an act that would have been entirely out of character for a man who has not a thimbleful of courage in his body.
One striking moment from that WWOR interview came after both towers had collapsed. Trump discussed damage to his own property at 40 Wall Street and remarked that it had consequently become the tallest building in downtown Manhattan. In fact, it wasn’t true — 70 Pine Street was taller — but it was entirely on brand for a man who thought in that moment to place himself above the growing catastrophe.
Trump did go downtown afterward. But the video establishing him blocks away from Ground Zero was shot on September 13, two days after the attack. In the video, he’s wearing an immaculate black suit with a crisp white shirt. He tells a German news reporter, “I have about 100 men working down there…and we have another 100 coming in a little while…I went down the following day, and we worked long and hard.”
There is no independent substantiation that Trump spent a single second helping out at Ground Zero himself, nor any verification that he paid hundreds of employees (or even a single employee) to conduct search-and-rescue work. A retired FDNY deputy chief who coordinated personnel at Ground Zero said he had no knowledge of Trump or any organized workforce under his name playing a meaningful role in the cleanup.
Why? Because it’s just another gigantic lie, that’s why. Duh.
And every few years, the bull gets bigger and grander. In 2016, he said he had personally been clearing rubble. That same year, Trump said he lost “hundreds of friends” on September 11. When asked to name these supposed friends, he could only name a Catholic priest who served as chaplain to the city’s fire department.
In 2019, he told actual 9/11 first responders that he had spent “a lot of time” down there with them. "But I’m not considering myself a first responder,” he clarified.
In fact, his only “response” was not lifting a finger to assist his fellow New Yorkers.
Then in 2021, on the 20th anniversary, Trump concocted yet another tall tale. He claimed to have heard creaking in a building near Ground Zero and told the gathering of first responders, “That building is coming down” just before being grabbed and saved by “two big firemen.”
Huh? This was news to everybody. In point of fact, the event did not occur. Fact-checkers found zero evidence of this or anything else Trump has claimed about his 9/11 heroism over the past quarter-century.
Every year, Trump grows more inextricably linked to the event. He was there, he rescued, he risked life and limb. It all, you see, has to be about him. He hasn’t the first clue about how to approach a subject, an event, a piece of history that doesn’t center on his participation and/or exploits.
This is naturally why Trump is using the occasion of the 25th anniversary on Friday to make the rounds and create still more fiction surrounding his purported heroism. He wasn’t going to be allowed to speak at the Ground Zero event that’s being attended by every living former president, so he’s making the interview rounds in advance and planning to bloviate at the Pentagon on the big day instead.
If he were telling the truth — something the man is utterly incapable of — Trump might talk about the brave firefighters who lost their lives. About the families devastated and forever changed by losing a loved one on a day when nearly 3,000 souls were slaughtered. About the construction workers who spent months laboring in toxic dust and coming down with sickness and disease for years afterward.
Instead, in an interview with Trey Gowdy that was posted on Fox News on Labor Day, he spoke about his memories, himself, how the day impacted him.
One way it did was his having applied for money from a fund that the federal government created to help businesses in Lower Manhattan recover from the devastating economic impact of the attacks. Trump personally received $150,000, even though he told the German TV reporter that his 40 Wall Street property wasn’t personally affected.
He also pledged that he would donate $10,000 to the Twin Towers Fund, but the New York City Comptroller’s office subsequently reviewed the donor records and found no record of a Trump contribution.
It remains astounding how a human being could be so loathsome as to financially profit off the misery of so many. But that’s just how this president rolls.
(Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.)