Thanks Joe!
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden made headlines by briefly donning a red Trump hat during a visit to the Shanksville Fire Station in Pennsylvania. The stop was part of his commemoration of the 23rd anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, where he engaged with first responders and paid his respects at the Flight 93 memorial.
The moment, captured on video, quickly circulated online, with the Trump-Vance campaign highlighting the footage. The White House later confirmed that Biden’s gesture was intended to reflect a spirit of bipartisanship. According to Andrew Bates, the White House senior deputy press secretary, Biden’s hat-wearing was prompted by a Trump supporter at the fire station who suggested he try on the hat as a symbol of national unity. Biden complied briefly, underscoring his message of coming together as a country.
However, this gesture did not sit well with many Trump supporters. The Trump War Room account on X (formerly Twitter) critiqued Biden’s actions with a post suggesting that the hat incident was a desperate attempt to distract from Kamala Harris’s poor performance in a recent debate. The footage shared was even altered to misleadingly show Biden putting on the hat, rather than removing it.
Earlier in the day, Biden had made a more conventional gesture of goodwill by bringing beer and pizza to the firehouse. This visit followed his participation in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Flight 93 memorial, honoring the heroism of passengers who fought back against the terrorists on that fateful day.
Shanksville, located in Somerset County, is known for its strong Republican leanings, with over 77% of its voters having supported Trump in the 2020 election. This local political climate adds a layer of irony to the situation, especially considering Trump’s remarks about sending one of his iconic ‘Make America Great Again’ hats to Kamala Harris, poking fun at her apparent shift towards his political philosophy.
It’s worth noting that Biden, who exited the 2024 presidential race in July, has consistently criticized Trump and his MAGA supporters as a threat to democratic norms. In September 2022, Biden described the Trump-led movement as a form of extremism jeopardizing the nation’s foundations. The hat incident, therefore, highlights the ongoing polarization and complex dynamics at play in American politics.
WATCH:
🔥🚨BREAKING: A firefighter tricked Joe Biden into wearing a Trump hat. This has to be one of the greatest trolls in political history.
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) September 11, 2024
No joke. pic.twitter.com/gGLRSKEybI
