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.
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.
Todd Beamer's words "Let's roll." We must use those words again. "LET'S ROLL" for what that means now with this administration - voting like we never have before so votes can not be overturned or resisting in any way we can - "LET'S ROLL" needs to be our mantra come November.
Thanks Heather for your insightful perspective and helping us remember and honor the heroism of that day. I am truly saddened by the current maladministration and especially the one who “speaks for us” - although only for himself.
I am also grateful that there are still many of us, like Condoleezza, who rise above the mistake that is currently staining the office that should be held by the likes of the four who honored the day at Ground Zero.
I appreciate you as always speaking the truth, and still hope for the day that congress or even one individual congress person finds a tiny bit of the courage that so many showed twenty-five years ago and gives us back the America we can be proud of.
A moving essay on a very sad time when heroism and grief mingled.
We could dwell on what lessons have been learned and whether the world is a better place but again, sadly, humans are killing humans are killing a paradise. 😢😢
I pray that next year on this day we can see the end of our national shame in sight. I want us to be the good guys again!! I feel like we can't live up to the sacrifice of passengers on flight 93-- whose last act was to vote!--until our country is restored!
Here in the world outside America we remember exactly where we were, who we were with, what we said on that awful day, just like every American does .
We were shocked and saddened , confused, pitying and praying for an end to the horror and for the safety of all those involved.
We stand with you still and feel all those same emotions now because of what a group of men , another group of men , are doing but this time those men are American and creating the danger and dread inside America to their fellow Americans.
We don't hate America, we fear for it and pity it and blame the Americans who voted for this group of men, because the awfulness that they have inflicted has hit us all hard but not, ever, the American people .
We hate the men who are doing what those planes failed to do, to their own people. to their own Americans, They are doing it through greed and corruption.
We have enormous affection and hope for America and the American people, we stand with you , still and always.
Heather, while every word of this post is powerful, I was stopped by this sentence: "Maybe the pain isn’t as jarring as it was then, but even all these years later, it is still there." I paused over "isn't as jarring" because certainly not as tragic as that day, but with all of Trump's rhetoric and behavior on the memorial day and all days that came before, every minute he has been in office, but especially lately, his behavior has been more than jarring and lands on horrific. As always, I blame the cowardly Republican party. They witness his cruelty and confusion just as we do. And yet they stay silent. Certainly not as responsible as the 9/11 murderers, but in their own way, as destructive. Republicans have at their head, a man accountable for not only murders of innocents, jailing children, starting unnecessary wars, and ruining long-held relationshps with other countries, but degrading each and every one of us. Proud American? Not since he took office and nodded off at a solemn ceremony remembering heroes.
Thank you for your beautiful words. I saw the first tower burning from a 5th floor window at the school at which I was teaching. I went back downstairs, never dreaming that the second tower would also be hit. As a New Yorker, I, like many, had connections to those whose families were directly impacted by this unspeakable tragedy: my Junior High and H.S. classmate who was the passenger murdered by the terrorists on Flt. 83 before the heroes stormed the cockpit; a dear friend who escaped from the 74th floor of the first tower who still bears the emotional scars of that harrowing experience; a colleague's brother-in-law - one of the brave firefighters - who perished trying to save people. It was hard trying to explain to my young students why we weren't allowed to leave school at our normal dismissal time, but certainly not as hard as those whose family and friends were never going to come home again. After 25 years, this tragedy doesn't get any easier to bear.
It was this infamous eipstein israeli spy who introduced that balkan model girl to von trump, no? And she is still with that conman corrupt convict cheat of spolied child? No shame, no dignity. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Lol
Sadly the great sense of unity we, and much of the world, felt the days following 9/11 unravelled in the months later with President Bush's decision under false pretenses to attack Iraq. That set us on the path to the abominable mess that is the state of the present Trump administration.
You’re right. I hated Bush so much at that point, I was actually thinking about returning to the U.K. but the British prime minister at the time decided to join him in attacking Iraq, so I realised it would be a mistake.
I had a hard time trying to find the words today to express my "grief" over how we were brothers and sisters, no matter our color or background, following this tragic day - in contrast to where we are today. You did it for me. thank you for everything you do.
He can’t stay awake and he doesn’t try. The day was not about him in any way and even though he tried..he couldn’t change that fact.
I watched the entire ceremony in NYC and listened to every name read and to all the comments made by family members whose loved ones were lost.
It lasted for 3 hours…there is no way he could have sat there that long…his body is failing him..his ankles are doubling in size as he sits slumped in a chair. He nodded off numerous times.
Joe Biden was able to sit for 3 hours outside in changing weather even though his body is in a continual fight against cancer spreading through it.
He’s in pain..you could see it on his face..he’s older than trump. But he CARES..he’s willing to suffer the discomfort and stay present in the moments.
He’s honoring people who lost or gave
their lives that day for no other reason than they happened to BE in those buildings in NY and DC..on that plane over PA ..that day..at those times.
That’s the real meaning ..example ..of a true leader…a man who will sacrifice his own comfort to pay respect to another who deserves it. Not for any other reason.
Trump is not capable of that …he is an empty ill fitting suit bent on conquering and controlling the country and later the world for his own gains.
He shows us that every time we see him..everywhere he goes..with every word he mumbles…we KNOW who and what he is.
We cannot forget who he is ..what he’s doing..in November…we must disable him by voting against all who share his dreams of continued power. We must end their march towards the destruction of our Republic.
What comes to mind while I read this article is from another time and another place of equal horror and desperate times, “ uncommon valor was a common virtue”.
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.
Todd Beamer
Mark Bingham
Tom Burrnett Jr.
Jeremy Glick
"Let's roll"
Rest in honor
Gives me chills to think of the level of bravery that took.
Todd Beamer's words "Let's roll." We must use those words again. "LET'S ROLL" for what that means now with this administration - voting like we never have before so votes can not be overturned or resisting in any way we can - "LET'S ROLL" needs to be our mantra come November.
Brought tears to my eyes.
Me too
Thanks Heather for your insightful perspective and helping us remember and honor the heroism of that day. I am truly saddened by the current maladministration and especially the one who “speaks for us” - although only for himself.
I am also grateful that there are still many of us, like Condoleezza, who rise above the mistake that is currently staining the office that should be held by the likes of the four who honored the day at Ground Zero.
I appreciate you as always speaking the truth, and still hope for the day that congress or even one individual congress person finds a tiny bit of the courage that so many showed twenty-five years ago and gives us back the America we can be proud of.
A moving essay on a very sad time when heroism and grief mingled.
We could dwell on what lessons have been learned and whether the world is a better place but again, sadly, humans are killing humans are killing a paradise. 😢😢
I pray that next year on this day we can see the end of our national shame in sight. I want us to be the good guys again!! I feel like we can't live up to the sacrifice of passengers on flight 93-- whose last act was to vote!--until our country is restored!
Here in the world outside America we remember exactly where we were, who we were with, what we said on that awful day, just like every American does .
We were shocked and saddened , confused, pitying and praying for an end to the horror and for the safety of all those involved.
We stand with you still and feel all those same emotions now because of what a group of men , another group of men , are doing but this time those men are American and creating the danger and dread inside America to their fellow Americans.
We don't hate America, we fear for it and pity it and blame the Americans who voted for this group of men, because the awfulness that they have inflicted has hit us all hard but not, ever, the American people .
We hate the men who are doing what those planes failed to do, to their own people. to their own Americans, They are doing it through greed and corruption.
We have enormous affection and hope for America and the American people, we stand with you , still and always.
Heather, while every word of this post is powerful, I was stopped by this sentence: "Maybe the pain isn’t as jarring as it was then, but even all these years later, it is still there." I paused over "isn't as jarring" because certainly not as tragic as that day, but with all of Trump's rhetoric and behavior on the memorial day and all days that came before, every minute he has been in office, but especially lately, his behavior has been more than jarring and lands on horrific. As always, I blame the cowardly Republican party. They witness his cruelty and confusion just as we do. And yet they stay silent. Certainly not as responsible as the 9/11 murderers, but in their own way, as destructive. Republicans have at their head, a man accountable for not only murders of innocents, jailing children, starting unnecessary wars, and ruining long-held relationshps with other countries, but degrading each and every one of us. Proud American? Not since he took office and nodded off at a solemn ceremony remembering heroes.
Thank you for your beautiful words. I saw the first tower burning from a 5th floor window at the school at which I was teaching. I went back downstairs, never dreaming that the second tower would also be hit. As a New Yorker, I, like many, had connections to those whose families were directly impacted by this unspeakable tragedy: my Junior High and H.S. classmate who was the passenger murdered by the terrorists on Flt. 83 before the heroes stormed the cockpit; a dear friend who escaped from the 74th floor of the first tower who still bears the emotional scars of that harrowing experience; a colleague's brother-in-law - one of the brave firefighters - who perished trying to save people. It was hard trying to explain to my young students why we weren't allowed to leave school at our normal dismissal time, but certainly not as hard as those whose family and friends were never going to come home again. After 25 years, this tragedy doesn't get any easier to bear.
It was this infamous eipstein israeli spy who introduced that balkan model girl to von trump, no? And she is still with that conman corrupt convict cheat of spolied child? No shame, no dignity. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Lol
You wrote, "Donald Trump forgot what today was really about."
Oh, Heather... He never knew.
A beautifully written and deeply touching piece. Thank you.
And more importantly..he really doesn’t care because he can’t make it about him no matter how hard he tries.
Sadly the great sense of unity we, and much of the world, felt the days following 9/11 unravelled in the months later with President Bush's decision under false pretenses to attack Iraq. That set us on the path to the abominable mess that is the state of the present Trump administration.
You’re right. I hated Bush so much at that point, I was actually thinking about returning to the U.K. but the British prime minister at the time decided to join him in attacking Iraq, so I realised it would be a mistake.
Thank you for your inspiring reflection on that saddest day.
I had a hard time trying to find the words today to express my "grief" over how we were brothers and sisters, no matter our color or background, following this tragic day - in contrast to where we are today. You did it for me. thank you for everything you do.
He can’t stay awake and he doesn’t try. The day was not about him in any way and even though he tried..he couldn’t change that fact.
I watched the entire ceremony in NYC and listened to every name read and to all the comments made by family members whose loved ones were lost.
It lasted for 3 hours…there is no way he could have sat there that long…his body is failing him..his ankles are doubling in size as he sits slumped in a chair. He nodded off numerous times.
Joe Biden was able to sit for 3 hours outside in changing weather even though his body is in a continual fight against cancer spreading through it.
He’s in pain..you could see it on his face..he’s older than trump. But he CARES..he’s willing to suffer the discomfort and stay present in the moments.
He’s honoring people who lost or gave
their lives that day for no other reason than they happened to BE in those buildings in NY and DC..on that plane over PA ..that day..at those times.
That’s the real meaning ..example ..of a true leader…a man who will sacrifice his own comfort to pay respect to another who deserves it. Not for any other reason.
Trump is not capable of that …he is an empty ill fitting suit bent on conquering and controlling the country and later the world for his own gains.
He shows us that every time we see him..everywhere he goes..with every word he mumbles…we KNOW who and what he is.
We cannot forget who he is ..what he’s doing..in November…we must disable him by voting against all who share his dreams of continued power. We must end their march towards the destruction of our Republic.
V O T E.
What comes to mind while I read this article is from another time and another place of equal horror and desperate times, “ uncommon valor was a common virtue”.