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Less than 12 hours after she quite clearly got under Donald Trump’s skin on a Philadelphia debate stage, Vice President Kamala Harris shook hands with her Republican rival at a 9/11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City.
Trump, who immediately complained at the conclusion of Tuesday night’s matchup about the proceedings being “rigged” and “unfair,” showed up Wednesday morning at the site of the September 11, 2001 terror attack with running mate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, who aped his boss’s style in a matching blue suit and red tie.
Harris arrived at the site about 10 minutes after Trump, and beamed as she was warmly welcomed by the crowd. President Joe Biden stood by Harris’s side for the event marking the 23rd anniversary of the deadliest-ever terrorist strike on US soil; Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, whose firm lost 658 of its 960 employees on 9/11, was next to Trump, with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — who called Trump a “carnival barking clown” in 2020 in response to the then-president’s childish slurs over his height — positioned between them.
Once photographers snapped a raft of pictures of Harris, the VP and Oval Office hopeful chatted with Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat, then walked over to Trump and greeted him with a handshake. Last night, Harris also made the first move to be civil to her opponent, who spent much of the 90-minute debate red-faced and yelling into the mic about nonsensical conspiracy theories involving, among other things, Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating people’s household pets.
Moments after the debate ended, pop star Taylor Swift publicly endorsed Harris. Trump’s performance opposite the VP was “devastating” to his campaign, CNN host Jake Tapper said. Former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, now with CNN, echoed Tapper’s analysis, saying Harris “pitched a shutout” against the former president and convicted felon. A flash poll conducted by CNN found Harris to be the debate’s decisive winner.
Still, Trump showed up in the post-debate “spin room,” spinning the decidely contrarian view that he had in fact won the debate against Harris. At the same time, he did not seem eager to take part in a second contest, telling Fox News, “I don’t know that I want to do another debate.”
“When two fighters fight and one loses, the first thing they do is ask for a debate,” Trump said. “Or they ask for a fight. So in this case a debate,” Trump said. “When a fighter loses, he says: ‘I want a rematch. I want a rematch.’ Always the losing person, the fighter, the debater, they always ask for a rematch.”
Biden on Wednesday said a brief hello to Trump, who has been vicious in his attacks on the sitting president.
In a statement issued prior to the event, Biden said, “On this day 23 years ago, terrorists believed they could break our will and bring us to our knees. They were wrong. They will always be wrong. In the darkest of hours, we found light. And in the face of fear, we came together — to defend our country, and to help one another. That is why terrorists targeted us in the first place: our freedom, our democracy, our unity.”
Striking an optimistic tone running directly counter to Trump’s consistent drumbeat of a “failing nation” walking headlong into World War III, Biden’s statement portrayed the United States as a nation of boundless promise.
”[W]e are the United States of America,” the statement said. “We endure. We overcome. And there is nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.”
Disgraced ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was also on hand for the Wednesday morning ceremony. He joined Trump and notorious conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who once handcuffed herself to the front door of Twitter’s Manhattan offices to protest her suspension from the platform, at a nearby firehouse following the Ground Zero event. Loomer flew to last night’s debate on Trump’s plane, according to pool reports.
Harris and Biden headed to Shanksville, Pennsylvania later on Wednesday for a ceremony memorializing United Flight 93, which went down during 2001’s coordinated attack, killing 40 passengers and crew.
Shortly after 12:30 p.m., the two laid a white and red wreath at the Flight 93 memorial, then walked out to the crash site itself.
There were about 200 people there, some of them family members of victims, the on-scene press pooler reported. The low turnout suggested that “people are forgetting,” according to one attendee. A man at the event was spotted wearing a red shirt reading, “#Kommy_Kamala SUCKS at all her jobs. Willie Brown said #Hawktuah_Harris also swallows.” The back of the shirt said, “Abort Hawktuah Harris.” He told the pooler he was there to honor the victims of Flight 93. The event was largely “apolitical,” according to the pool reporter, but four Trump hats were seen on heads in the audience for the Biden-Harris appearance.
Trump is expected in Shanksville this afternoon for a private wreath-laying ceremony.
Biden and Harris — who did not shake Trump’s hand when she departed the Ground Zero event — will also take part in a 9/11 ceremony this afternoon at the Pentagon.
