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This week marks the 25th anniversary of arguably the greatest tragedy in modern American history.
More than 3,000 civilians lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and countless more would die in the lengthy military campaigns that followed.
The memory of those events should be enough to unify Americans in shared grief — but it’s 2026, and these days, we’re all incapable of being normal about anything.
In addition to young people who are attempting to downplay the severity of the events of 9/11 on social media, today saw President Trump repeating a widely disputed story about his whereabouts during the attacks.
Trump began by repeating a claim he first made in 2016, explaining that he was near Ground Zero with “a big group of people” when the first plane hit.
“I’ll be honest, it was raw and nobody’s seen anything like it ever,” the president said (via Newsweek).
“I was there when we actually thought the U.S. Steel building was coming down, and I’ll never forget that I was standing next to these two massive wonderful firemen, and we heard a screech … and everybody thought that the U.S. Steel building was coming down and it was not so far from us,” he continued, adding:
“And I’ll never forget two firemen. We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big, strong guys — and I’m not the smallest guy in the world — they grabbed me under the arm, said, ‘Got to get out of here!’ And they literally lifted me up.
“And these two guys there were massive guys, two really big — because I’m a big guy and they grabbed me. I must tell you honestly, I never knew I could run that fast,” Trump continued.
“This is not easy to do. I’m big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said, ‘Fellas, I can run myself,’ but they were amazing. But they thought it was coming down. It didn’t come down.”
It’s certainly a compelling story. But is it true?
Across social media, commenters have been quick to point out the apparent inaccuracies in Trump’s account.
As Barstool Sports journalist Kevin Clancy points out, Trump gave several interviews in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
And at no time did he claim that he was close to Ground Zero or that he had been rescued by firefighters.
“I saw the whole thing,” Trump told Howard Stern the day after the attacks, explaining that he had windows from which he could see the World Trade Center.
“I mean, specifically, I have two windows that are focused on the building.”
We know that Trump enjoys making grandiose statements regardless of whether or not there’s any truth to them.
But lying about 9/11 seems a bit extreme even by his standards.
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