A temporary truce in the political wars as Harris, Trump and Biden mark 9/11
NEW YORK — Barely 10 hours earlier, they had been at each other’s throats, calling one another a “disgrace,” “horrible” and “grossly incompetent.” Then they put down their political swords on Wednesday morning and stood just a few feet apart to mark one of the most solemn moments on the modern American calendar.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump joined President Joe Biden and other dignitaries in a daylong journey to sites of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — traveling separately but collectively paying homage to the nearly 3,000 people killed on that day of devastation 23 years ago in a remarkable display of shared grief.
Harris and Trump shook hands politely at ground zero in New York the morning after their fiery debate, in what was only the second time they had met in their lives. They then stood together in a tent as the names of those who died at the World Trade Center were somberly read by sometimes teary-eyed family members. Standing between them were Biden and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. On Trump’s other side was Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, his vice presidential running mate.
The picture of unity after a night of gladiatorial combat was, of course, just a surface-level show for the cameras. There is no love lost between Harris and Trump, nor between Biden and Trump. Just the night before, Trump referred to Biden as a “weak, pathetic man” who is so decrepit that he “doesn’t know he’s alive” and had disappeared from public view so much since dropping out of the race that “we don’t even know if he’s a president.”
But it is a mark of the singular nature of 9/11 as a traumatic national touchstone that the combatants in today’s scathing political wars would feel compelled to share a tent even for an hour. Both sides knew that whoever did not show would pay a political price, so they swallowed any reservations and made the appearance. No speeches were given during the ceremonies, averting the risk of an impolitic statement.
The gridlock of motorcades of current, former and would-be presidents and vice presidents in Manhattan soon gave way to separate trips to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 crashed after passengers and crew rose up against the hijackers who had seized the plane. This time, Biden and Harris appeared first without Trump, laying wreaths in a wordless ceremony at a national memorial, then visited a nearby firehouse, bringing pizza and beer for lunch with relatives of those who died and local firefighters.
Biden was so willing to put aside partisan politics for the day that he donned a red Trump 2024 baseball cap during his visit at the fire station. Reporters were not allowed in the station, but after a picture surfaced on social media, Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson, confirmed Biden’s momentary nod to his opponent.
The president was speaking about “the country’s bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that,” Bates wrote on the social platform X. “As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap,” Bates added, using the acronym for president of the United States. “He briefly wore it.”
Trump, who stopped with Vance at the Engine 4/Ladder 15 firehouse in the Financial District after leaving the World Trade Center site, landed in Pennsylvania a little while after the president and the vice president. Joined by his son Eric Trump, among others, the former president arrived at the same memorial after Biden and Harris had left. Trump was heard thanking his hosts as he departed, declaring it an incredible place. He pumped his fist several times and headed to the same fire station in Shanksville.
By that point, Biden and Harris were on their way back to Washington for a final wreath-laying stop at the Pentagon. Once they arrived at the Defense Department headquarters, the two stood respectfully as a bugler played taps in another brief event with no speeches. Trump did not continue on to the site.
The ceremony at ground zero in New York came on a day that felt eerily similar to that tragic Tuesday morning nearly a quarter-century ago — sunny, clear and crisp, a touch of coming autumn in the air. For a time, at least, minds turned back to where people were when they saw or learned of the two majestic towers collapsing in a cloud of debris and dust, the deadliest foreign attack on American soil and a moment that transformed the nation.
The handshake between Harris and Trump appeared to be facilitated by Bloomberg. The two were standing a few feet apart before the ceremony got underway and the former mayor made a point of tapping the vice president, who was facing the other direction, to draw her over to greet the former president.
Harris gamely reached out to shake Trump’s hand, just as she had done on her own initiative at the beginning of the debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. The two said some words to each other that were not audible to reporters and a smiling Trump used his other hand to pat hers twice in a seemingly friendly gesture.
The break from politics will be brief. On Thursday, Harris is scheduled to hold rallies in North Carolina while her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, visits Michigan, both swing states. Trump is set to hold a fundraiser in Los Angeles while Vance does the same in New York City.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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