The past few years have had enough chaos and political nonsense included to leave much of the nation feeling like there is little that could surprise them with the current cycle. But Americans were still shocked to see President Joe Biden rocking a Donald Trump ball cap this week.
Both politicians made joint visits to sites on Wednesday September 11, to remember the nearly 3,000 citizens who died in the country’s most deadly terrorist attacks in 2001. At a Shanksville, Pennsylvania fire station—near the spot where the fourth hijacked plane went down—the Democratic president was spotted (and caught on camera) wearing a red hat with the words “Trump 2024” written on it.
The sitting president reportedly gave one of his own hats to a Trump supporter who was in attendance at the memorial gathering. The conservative apparently asked the Democrat to sport a Trump hat, to which the president responded by wearing the hat for a short time. Although the look was short-lived, a picture of Biden wearing the cap for the GOP nominee—and a photo he took with a group of kids—went viral on social media and sparked comments from Republicans.
Chris LaCivita, a top advisor for the Trump campaign, shared the photo online and asked, “What’s happening?” An X account called TrumpWarRoom, which is connected to his campaign, joked that Biden wore his party’s rival’s apparel because the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, “did so badly” during her debate with Trump.
But as conservatives jumped at the opportunity to point out the irony of Biden wearing Trump gear, the White House quickly clarified the context surrounding the photo. Andrew Bates, the Oval Office’s senior deputy press secretary, took to social media to explain that the viral photo followed Biden’s comments about “bipartisan unity after 9/11.”
The president reportedly emphasized that the United States must “get back to that” unity which brought everyone together in the midst of such tragedy 23 years ago. To drive his point, Biden offered one of his hats to a supporter of Trump, who “then suggested” that the president “wear the Trump cap” in “the same spirit.”
The gesture was made at the Shanksville Fire Station, which is near where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into rural Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. The impact killed everyone on board, including the four terrorists who hijacked the plane, but spared lives thanks to the heroic actions of the crew and passengers, who tried to overtake the plane’s controls before crashing.
Biden, Harris, and Trump were already making headlines for their joint visits to 9/11 memorial sites. In addition to the Pennsylvania trip, the three public figures had traveled to Manhattan to recall the victims of the first two hijacked planes which collided into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, and Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, were also present at the memorial ceremony. A handshake was initiated between Harris and Trump, just one day after their first (and possibly only) presidential debate. Biden’s team also visited Arlington, Virginia, where another hijacked flight crashed into the Pentagon.
