Trump recounts how firefighters carried him away – the internet can hardly believe it.
Two strong firefighters grab Donald Trump under the arms and carry him to safety. At first, he insists he is strong enough to run on his own, but the firefighters are determined to save the future president.
The US president told this story on September 8 at a memorial event for the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Online, his account sparked a wave of mockery and memes. But what did Trump actually claim – and what evidence supports it?
The President And His Questionable Rescue Story
Trump said he had been near Ground Zero after the attacks. The nearby One Liberty Plaza building, then also known as the U.S. Steel Building, had been making alarming creaking sounds. Fearing it might collapse, two firefighters had picked him up and run off with him. He said he told them he could walk on his own.
He told this story at a memorial event, with thousands of people who had lost loved ones, survivors and mourners listening to the American president – people who truly suffered because of the attack. Some were affected directly, others through people close to them. Some suffered physically, others emotionally. Yet Trump made himself the focus of his account. And it is an account that raises many questions.
It is documented that Trump gave interviews near Ground Zero two days after the attacks. So far, however, there has been no independent confirmation that firefighters carried him away. His repeated claim that he brought numerous construction workers to help with the cleanup has also not been substantiated.
The Internet Mocks Trump’s Story
Online, the image of the two “big, strong” firefighters became a particular source of memes. Users edited Trump into fictional rescue scenes and exaggerated his story to absurd extremes.
As so often before, Trump and his outlandish claims have inspired countless jokes online. But people have responded to the 80-year-old’s tall tales with more than humor: they have also confronted them with the cold, hard facts.
An Old Phone Interview Resurfaces
Amid the discussion, an older phone interview has also resurfaced. It was recorded on September 11, 2001, and released as a video in 2016. In it, Trump spoke about his building at 40 Wall Street: Before the World Trade Center was built, he said, it had been the tallest building in Downtown Manhattan; afterward, it was the second tallest; and now it was the tallest again. That claim was also false: The building at 70 Pine Street was taller.
The two recordings show why Trump’s accounts of 9/11 are drawing criticism again. On the day of the attacks, he spoke about the height of his building without showing any empathy; 25 years later, he placed an unverified story about his own rescue at the center of a memorial event.
The online mockery is aimed at this self-centered portrayal – while the people who died, the survivors and the first responders should be at the heart of the remembrance that day.
As absurd and bewildering as it all sounds, in the end, these are once again the ghosts the US itself has conjured up...