At 9:02 this morning, September 11, 2026, the President of the United States of America walked down the outside stairs of the Pentagon gripping the First Lady’s hand while “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band played “Hail to the Chief.” Once on the platform stage, he slipped behind the bulletproof glass, struggling to keep his swollen eyes open even when he was seated in his armchair. For nearly the entire 1 hour and 34 minutes of the somber 9/11 Pentagon remembrance ceremony, including the reading of the names of those lost that fateful day, Donald Trump continued to nod off while his face dropped and the First Lady stared off into the distance.
Twenty-five years ago, the unthinkable happened. For so many of us, it feels like a lifetime ago and also just yesterday. The collective pain of an entire nation, and those we called friends and allies, could never be properly expressed. That is what today was supposed to be about. Honoring the gravity of what happened and remembering who and what we lost. It has now been a quarter of a century since 125 people walked into the Pentagon on that Tuesday morning and never walked out. It has been 25 years since three 11-year-olds boarded Flight 77 for a field trip to Los Angeles and never landed, leaving their loved ones with a void in their hearts that could never be filled. A bell was rung for each of the 184 souls lost that day as their names were read aloud. This ceremony was for families who have never stopped grieving, even 25 years later, and for a nation to never forget what happened. That is what the President of the United States slept through.
When he was actually awake, it wasn’t much better. Struggle as he might, to give a proper memorial address, Donald Trump simply could not do it. On a day that the president should have left everything else for another time, he decided to steal the moment and use his time at the microphone, standing in front of people who lost some of the most important people in their lives, to sell them his forever distraction war with Iran. He even slipped in the phrase “war on terror” to describe why we are even there fighting in Iran. He spent precious time telling the audience, “There can only be victory,” and “We don’t have a choice.” He said, “We’re being tested today, and we’re winning that test very handily.” And then Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, or as he likes to be called, Secretary of War, somehow made it worse. Standing before the same audience that had just heard the names of those we lost that day, he decided that was the appropriate moment to brag about what the military had accomplished in Iran, saying that American forces had killed Iranian leaders, destroyed their air force, and that their navy “rests at the bottom of the sea.”
He unsuccessfully tried to tie this deeply unpopular and failed-from-the-start war that Congress did not approve to what happened on 9/11. The problem is that many of us were alive then. We lived through those terrible days, and we know who committed those heinous atrocities, and it was not Iran. They don’t get to rewrite the history of what happened that day or use our grief to justify what they have done in Iran.
And what happened at Ground Zero in Manhattan this morning made the difference even harder to ignore. All four living former presidents stood together in New York and showed the current president what real leadership looks like. This year, for the first time, another moment of silence, the seventh observed of the day, was added for the thousands of Americans who have died from 9/11-related illnesses in the years since. That includes the people who rushed in to help, survived that day, only to be killed years later by what they breathed during the rescue and cleanup efforts. Donald Trump was the only president missing. He chose not to attend after being told that the 9/11 Memorial would keep to its policy that has barred elected officials from speaking at that ceremony since 2012, an effort to keep the day nonpartisan and focused where it belongs, on the tragedy of that day, the people we lost, and the heroes who rushed in. When Trump learned he could not speak, according to reporting from The New York Times, he chose the Pentagon instead, where, as Commander in Chief, he would have total control over what he wanted to say and do. Even his choice of where to spend this morning became about him. It was all about him.
Condoleezza Rice, who was the U.S. National Security Advisor to President Bush on 9/11, also spoke at the Pentagon this morning and said what our president should have said. “Here at the Pentagon, we feel the presence of 184 souls who were lost. Behind every name that we recite, there is a story. A life that mattered. A future unfulfilled. A void, a vast empty space, in the heart of a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, a sibling, a colleague, or a friend.” She continued, “Those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11. We did what we knew to do. But by definition, it was not enough.” And then she added, “We reflect not just on what happened here but what people in that moment of crisis did here… We responded in ways that the evil men who attacked us could never have imagined.” As she spoke, Donald Trump struggled to even stay awake.
On the same day that Condoleezza Rice acknowledged that those in power did not understand the danger in time to prevent what happened, the Trump CIA released 71 newly declassified intelligence reports showing just how many warnings about al-Qaeda had reached the highest levels of our government before 9/11. None of the documents told them exactly what would happen or when. But reading them now, 25 years later, while we know what eventually happened, is heartbreaking because we can see the pieces finally put together that clearly showed the threat growing.
I kept thinking about that as I read them today. Because we are being warned again. We are watching what is happening to this country and what this government is becoming. Except there is one terrifying difference between then and now. The people in power today are not failing to recognize the threat. They are the ones creating it.
Condoleezza Rice understood that the ceremony was about the people who were lost, the people alive carrying their memory, and the helpers who showed up that day and for months and years to come. They are who I think about when I think about September 11, not the attackers. Because the real story of September 11 started after those heinous attacks. It’s what ordinary people did during the worst moments of their lives. Firefighters ran up the stairs of those towers while everyone else was trying desperately to get down, knowing they might never come back. The passengers on Flight 93 learned what had happened to the other planes and decided together to vote on whether to fight back. The vote was a yes, and they fought back together. Police officers found extraordinary strength and carried complete strangers down dark, smoke-filled stairwells.
Ordinary people did extraordinary things because someone else needed them. The massive response by captains of boats of all shapes and sizes who answered the call to rescue and take stranded people to safety. The amount of heroism that day and the days that followed was unlike anything we had seen in modern history. And it didn’t end within our borders. The real story of 9/11 also included our allies choosing to invoke NATO Article 5, where an attack on one is an attack on all, for the first and only time in history. They showed up because that is what allies do. That unity we remember from those days was real. But we can’t forget what else happened after 9/11, because we need to remember another part of those days, too. While so much of the country was coming together, Muslim, Arab, and Sikh Americans were being targeted, threatened, and sometimes killed.
Four days after the attacks, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh man, was murdered at his gas station in Mesa, Arizona, because a man saw his turban and decided he was the enemy. Mosques were vandalized, and families were terrified. Children were afraid to go to school. Even while we were grieving together, some Americans took that grief and turned it against millions of our own neighbors. We cannot tell the story of how we came together without remembering the people we failed to stand beside too.
What I saw that day is something I have never forgotten, and that I will carry with me forever. I saw the best of humanity reach across oceans. At the time, I was working for a company that helped place historical documents in private collections. Still in shock from what was happening, I remember holding my oldest in my arms, waiting for my husband Pete to come home early from the gym when I noticed the inbox on my computer suddenly filled with emails. I remember slowly reading an endless stream of messages from my international clients in the days that followed. People from all over the world, some who knew and others who didn’t know where San Diego was or how far we were from what happened, writing to ask if we were okay. Offering prayers and words of encouragement to remind me in this terrible moment that America always gets back up. They told me they loved our country, America, the land of the free. They told me America was the land of opportunity and the castle on the hill, a beacon of light shining on the rest of the world. One client I had known only briefly asked for permission to send my family and me a rather large sum of money, noting they felt they had to do something to help and that I was to use it however I saw fit. Because when America was on its knees, the world believed it had to help us stand again, because when they had needed us, we had been there for them. I told him his words were enough, but his pain was palpable as he said everyone he knew felt helpless, watching a great nation like ours suffer so terribly. I declined his offer, but I have never forgotten the weight of his pain, felt from thousands of miles away, for a country that was not even his.
I sat at my computer today, watching these 25th anniversary ceremonies and remembering those emails. I remember looking down at my one-year-old in my arms and feeling a fear I have never felt before. Not just for me and my child, but for the world, knowing deep in my soul that the life we had lived just the day before was gone forever. I remember in those emails America being called the “good guys” over and over again. But what I remembered the most was the way we came together. Not just with my fellow Americans, but with so much of the world, too.
A year ago tonight, on the 24th anniversary of 9/11, I also wrote about that day. I wrote about the heroes. I wrote about the Canadians who opened their doors to thousands of stranded travelers and about how tiny towns doubled in size overnight. I wrote about strangers who led each other through the smoke to safety. I ended my post last year asking a question that would end up carrying more weight than I could have ever imagined. Are we still the good guys?
That was before the Iran war, the loyalty pledges, and so much of the corruption we would soon see. That was before he threatened more of our allies and economically punished them after being there for us during one of our greatest times of need.
I have my answer now. We are not the good guys and haven’t been since Trump took back office. That is not because of who we are; it is because of who is speaking for us. It is who now represents this country on the world stage. It is because Donald Trump craves camaraderie with the worst leaders on the planet. It’s because he doesn’t just turn his back on our allies; he punishes them and anyone he deems unworthy with cruelty. That is who stood at the Pentagon this morning, nodding off as they read through the names of those we lost.
Today I have been rewatching the news coverage from that day 25 years ago, and it reminded me of how even months later, our television programs were superseded by updates on who committed these horrible crimes, who was found alive, and families searching high and low for any sign of the people they loved. I remember the bravery that came from the passengers on Flight 93. How they never pledged loyalty to any president. None of them slept through the crisis or tried to profit from it. They were ordinary people in the worst moment of their lives, who decided to do something unimaginably brave for people they would never know. I think about the lives they saved. They were the best of us. Even in such a dark time, everyone we lost became a shining example of people showing extraordinary courage and selflessness. None of them was a man behind bulletproof glass sleeping at a memorial ceremony. They were people choosing each other and their country who decided, together, that something was worth more than their own survival.
That country, the one filled with heroes, is still here. Right now it is being buried under the cruelty of the Trump regime, but it is still here. And soon enough a new type of bravery is going to emerge. One that votes to end the cruelty happening to our country and that fills our hearts and minds with courage and decency. Not just for each other, but for our country too, and the allies we have always stood beside. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.
I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather
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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.
Picture of the day: Today was a very sad day. I remember 25 years ago thinking to myself that someday the pain I felt that day wouldn’t always hurt as badly as it did right then. It was almost unbearable to see our country hurt so terribly and to know people who were mourning unimaginable losses. Maybe the pain isn’t as jarring as it was then, but even all these years later, it is still there. My thoughts are with everyone remembering a loved one and mourning all that was lost that September day.
Sources used in the writing of this post:
9/11 25th Anniversary: Ground Zero Ceremony: YouTube Video
LIVE: Trump attends Pentagon commemoration of 9/11 attacks: YouTube
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/september-11-terrorist-attacks-25-years-memorial-2026-09-11/
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-09-11/9-11-commemoration-new-york-pentagon-22821057.html
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6084687-trump-hegseth-iran-war-september-11/
https://www.newsweek.com/september-11-memorial-event-donald-trump-speech-live-12428593
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/how-to-watch-9-11-memorial-events-as-u-s-marks-25th-anniversary
https://www.fbi.gov/history/cases-and-criminals/911-investigation
Every day your Columns are great. Today, your Column was extraordinary💙 thank you for insightful words every day and most importantly, thank you for today.
Thank you for all you do, Heather. You have written a fitting, heartfelt tribute here, and made clear the contrast between Trump and those who serve others with love and humility. I hope you find time to take a break from your work. I can only imagine what it's like to examine the actions of Trump and his followers as closely as you do.