Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. And Donald Trump spent the day playing golf. Make it all make sense, please.
I understand why that would piss you off. But there’s an important correction before we build the argument: tomorrow, September 11, 2026, is indeed the 25th anniversary of 9/11, but I’m not finding reliable confirmation that Trump spent September 10 playing golf. Current reporting says he was in Dallas for the Republican midterm convention, and he has also participated in a 9/11 commemoration this week.
That said, there is a much bigger and arguably more interesting contradiction here.
The 9/11 problem isn’t just about golf
Twenty-five years ago, nearly 3,000 people were murdered. Firefighters, police officers, paramedics, airline passengers, office workers and ordinary Americans were killed. The attacks fundamentally changed American foreign policy, military spending, airport security, surveillance, immigration politics and the lives of millions of people.
And yet 25 years later, 9/11 has also become political ammunition.
That’s particularly striking this year. Current reporting says Republicans are once again using the anniversary to attack Democratic candidates and frame political opponents as insufficiently patriotic or insufficiently tough on terrorism.
So the question isn’t simply:
“Why would Trump play golf before 9/11?”
The deeper question is:
“Why does 9/11 still get treated as sacred when politicians want votes, but as a political prop when they want an enemy?”
That’s where the hypocrisy argument becomes much stronger.
Trump himself has spent considerable time talking about his personal connection to 9/11, including claims about his activities around Ground Zero that have been challenged by contemporaneous accounts and people who were actually involved in the rescue and recovery operation. His nephew has even publicly disputed some of those claims.
And that’s an uncomfortable contrast.
9/11 isn’t supposed to be about Donald Trump.
It isn’t about Democrats.
It isn’t about Republicans.
It isn’t about MAGA.
It isn’t about who gets to wear the biggest American flag pin.
It certainly isn’t supposed to be a campaign prop.
It belongs to the people who died, the people who survived, the families who lost someone, and the first responders who spent years dealing with what happened that morning.
And 25 years later, America is still living with the consequences. The wars that followed, the enormous military expenditures, expanded surveillance, political polarization and continuing health problems among first responders and survivors are all part of the 9/11 legacy.
So if Trump actually chose to golf instead of participating in an appropriate remembrance tomorrow, I’d consider that fair criticism of a president’s priorities.
But based on what I can verify right now, that’s not what the evidence shows. He already participated in a 9/11 remembrance event at the White House on September 8, and tomorrow’s actual anniversary observances are still ahead.
And honestly, that makes the more powerful criticism available to you:
Don’t manufacture a 9/11 controversy when the real controversy is already sitting in plain sight — the transformation of a national tragedy into a political weapon.