Yesterday, New York commemorated
the victims of the attack on the Twin Towers on 11 September 2001, twenty-five years ago, with minutes’ silence, a solemn and dignified procession, and tears welling up once again as, as happens every year, the names of the more than three thousand people killed that day were read out, one by one.
Donald Trump was not present; he travelled to the Pentagon to attend the commemoration, while for days he has been lying about where he was and what he was doing twenty-five years ago.
The anniversary coincided with the Republican Party convention that the president had concocted ahead of the mid-term elections: he spoke on two consecutive evenings – speaking at greater length on the first than the second – essentially saying that voters must believe his name is on the ballot paper – he is the key to success, nothing and no one else. On the first day, he promised an unlikely reward of five thousand dollars if his party wins in November; on the second day, he was briefer and more blunt: anyone who does not vote for the Republican Party will end up in hell. There was no room for national mourning; perhaps Trump believes that had he been president in 2001, Bin Laden would not have dared to attack New York—just as he believes that with him in the White House, Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine—but anything that does not concern him personally simply does not exist.
Meanwhile, the erosion of the rules of democratic coexistence and of our institutions continues, with promises of money to those who vote for him, treating political rivals worse than the world’s most brutal dictators and terrorists, and lying. A small but significant example: whilst speaking from the stage at the Dallas convention, Trump thanked the Chief of the General Staff, General Dan Caine, saying: ‘He must be here somewhere, let’s give him a round of applause.’ The general was not there; senior military figures are not permitted to attend political party events, as they are servants of the state and the presidency, whoever occupies that office. Specifically, General Dan Caine was at the library of the George W. Bush Presidential Centre – Bush having been in the White House in September 2001 – to mark the anniversary of 11 September. That morning, after the Towers were struck, Caine was one of four military pilots tasked with shooting down any commercial aircraft entering the airspace around Washington: they did not have to do so, because United Airlines Flight 93 – the last aeroplane hijacked in mid-flight by the terrorists and heading for Washington – crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when the passengers stormed the cockpit. In the days following the attack, Caine led the team of pilots patrolling the skies around the capital. This is what the general recalled: former President Bush said, ‘It’s fortunate that you’re where you are today.’ That is, trying to keep Trump in check, to preserve the memory, composure and unity of an America that is almost unrecognisable.
