Trump Hosts Weird 9/11 Tribute After Backing Out of National Ceremony

President Donald Trump hosted his own early-bird 9/11 tribute after deciding to skip the official ceremony in New York City where politicians aren’t allowed to speak. His speech Tuesday demonstrated why that kind of rule is necessary.

The president hosted first responders and officials at the White House for a deeply unserious speech intended to commemorate those lost in the deadly attacks on September 11, but mostly focused on boosting his own disastrous agenda.

Trump began by ranting about his shameful militarization and beautification efforts in Washington, D.C., which have cost taxpayers nearly two billion dollars.

He then tied the deadly terrorist attacks on 9/11 to his ongoing military campaign in Iran. “A certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it,” Trump said, claiming Iran had been “punished greatly.”

After giving some shout-outs to various Cabinet members and Republican lawmakers in the audience, Trump briefly recounted his experience of watching the Twin Towers fall before veering into observations about something else entirely: The U.S. Steel Building, known as One Liberty Plaza, also “creaked a lot,” according to the president.

“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, and they said, ‘Gotta get out of here,’ and they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do. I’m big, they lifted me up and started running with me,” Trump said.

Of course, One Liberty Plaza did not fall down, and Trump’s anecdote only served to make light of the experience of New Yorkers who didn’t have their own skyscrapers from which to survey the damage and chaos of 9/11.

Trump also took a moment to thank law enforcement, before turning it into a political jab.

“Our law enforcement holds our country together in light of some threats, we have some very real threats right now. We have people that want to go a different way. They want to go a communistic way, well that’s not gonna work,” Trump said. “Number one we’re not gonna let it happen, but that’s not gonna work.”

Trump reportedly decided to ditch the official memorial at Ground Zero on Friday after organizers told him he would not be invited to speak at the event. While Trump is not known for giving solemn speeches, and regularly detours into the political and absurd, in this case the organizers’ decision was merely a matter of precedent.

As part of its “Steel Across America” tour, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation will display a 21-foot, 16,9000-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center on the White House Ellipse, which has been closed to the public.

It’s well known that Donald Trump has made a pretty penny off of taxpayers by spending his downtime at his various Trump-branded properties and golf clubs. But the buck doesn’t stop there, as Trump has reportedly been milking his Secret Service agents for cash as well.

America’s billionaire president has a particular affinity for the hot dogs served near the eleventh hole at Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, D.C.

“He has this weird, very odd pride about how good the hot dogs are,” a former club employee told Forbes.

“That’s his thing,” they continued, adding that Trump personally ensures everyone in his orbit enjoys a club glizzy. “The chef has to be out there. And he’s like, ‘Chef, get everyone a hot dog—all these guys.’”

That could include as many as 30 golf carts full of Secret Service agents that need to escort the president around the course, according to Forbes.

At times, the hot dog stand has as many as 50 dogs prepared for the entourage—though none of them is on the house.

“There, in one all-beef transaction, is the Trump presidency in miniature,” reported Forbes. “Trump owns the club. Trump controls the chef. Trump doles out the hot dogs. Trump watches everyone eat them. Then Trump’s business sends the government the bill.”

It was not immediately clear how much each dog costs, but prices vary across his various clubs. At Mar-a-Lago, a wiener can run as much as $25. Trump National Doral Miami serves a $45 “Trump Dog,” which features a footlong wagyu sausage. Prices—and menu items—are more modest at Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia, where a traditional hot dog costs about $10.

Trump’s golf obsession is no secret. He has thus far spent at least 135 of the 596 days of his second term on the links—a little under a quarter of his term. He has totaled more than 1,400 hours playing golf, much of which has happened on his own properties.

Before entering politics, Republican Senator Roger Marshall, an obstetrician-gynecologist, routinely sued his patients for medical debts, charging exorbitant interest. 

The New York Times reports that Marshall, who is facing reelection in Kansas in November, sued over 700 patients for failure to pay medical bills, with 81 of them getting arrested as a result. In some cases, Marshall had bank accounts garnished, and regularly charged patients 18 percent interest annually. 

Marshall reportedly took legal action over debts as little as $101. Half of his lawsuits were filed under his name, while the rest were filed under his practice, Heartland Regional OBGYN, which he owned by himself from 1998 to 2012 before splitting ownership with another doctor from 2013 to 2019. Marshall stopped practicing medicine in 2016 after he was elected to Congress, but continued trying to collect some of the debts after that between 2017 and 2021. 

Many of the patients he sued were new mothers in Barton County, Kansas, a rural area where many lived in poverty and didn’t have health insurance or had policies that didn’t fully cover their medical bills. One woman was sued when her baby was nine months old over a $129 bill from a postpartum visit, and eventually had her wages garnished. 

“I was recently divorced, trying to do everything on my own,” Kellie Clutts told the Times. “I told them I could make partial payments, but it seemed like no matter what I said, they wanted the full amount at once.”

A spokeswoman for Marshall said that he spent decades treating patients regardless of income level, adding, “Judges issue warrants when people repeatedly miss court dates, not doctors.”  

The Times, however, cited court documents showing that Marshall regularly sought arrest warrants for unpaid bills. In 2007, Joe Vasquez and his wife were arrested in front of their grandchildren over an unpaid $4,561 bill for an emergency hysterectomy three years before. The Times interviewed eight people who were sued by Marshall between 2003 and 2015, and many of them were living paycheck to paycheck. Two of them were being sued over bills for late miscarriages requiring surgery. 

Despite his medical background, Marshall fought for the Affordable Care Act to be repealed, claiming in 2017 that “there is a group of people that just don’t want health care and aren’t going to take care of themselves.” He’s also tried to downplay the impact of higher fuel prices on struggling Americans, saying that paying more for gas is a good thing. 

Marshall should perhaps change his tone, because the latest polls in his reelection fight have him either neck-and-neck or behind his Democratic challenger, Adam Hamilton, a pastor. Voters in Kansas might decide they want a senator with some compassion instead of a doctor shaking down his patients for cash. 

President Trump spent his Labor Day weekend posting a bunch of artificial intelligence slop from his private New Jersey golf course—while Canada on Tuesday imposed tariffs on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods. 

On Sunday, Trump posted an AI image of himself and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney playing hockey in their respective country’s jerseys, while Trump stands over the prime minister—presumably after checking him. A speech bubble from Trump reads, “Get up, Governor,” an insult Trump has used in the past to attack Canada’s sovereignty. 

Then on Monday, Trump posted a map depicting the entirety of North America as part of the United States. 

And on that same day, he posted an ad for Fannie Mae using an AI-generated monologue for his own voice, instead of just talking. 

While that all happened, Canada struck back in the trade war that Trump started, imposing taxes on American products that will further erode relations, drive up costs, and hurt Canadians and Americans alike. The tariffs will hit aluminum, automotive parts, Kentucky bourbon, and steel, and will be as high as 50 percent.

The automotive industry will be hit particularly hard, as Canada is the largest foreign market for American vehicles. This all comes as Trump has consistently disregarded perhaps our closest ally. He disparages Carney, insists that Canada should be a U.S. state, and now has entered this cycle of retaliatory tariffs that has no real end in sight. It’s as if he’s asleep at the wheel, stirring awake every so often only to post incendiary AI content while Americans suffer the consequences of his actions.  

The White House celebrated a workerless Labor Day on Monday by posting a slew of artificial intelligence slop videos.

Donald Trump’s team posted Monday to celebrate the “workers and products that are proudly MADE IN AMERICA,” but the video they included didn’t feature a single American worker.

Instead, the apparently AI-generated video depicted a fully automated production line making a marker emblazoned with Trump’s name. In March, Trump sidetracked a Cabinet meeting with a rant claiming to have replaced the White House’s $1,000 ballpoint pens with Sharpies he paid $5 a pop for.

The White House also posted an AI-generated video depicting Trump using a Green Lantern ring, which has the power to create anything a person can imagine. Of course, the president used it to prevent illegal border crossings, conjure “American manufacturing,” and summon a fleet of military planes. The video credited Trump with powers of limitless creation, while yet again removing any trace of American workers.

The White House then posted an AI-generated video showing the shoes of different kinds of American workers as they walk through fields, offices, and busy streets. But again, the video featured no real American workers, just computer-generated feet.

The White House’s official Labor Day video was somehow even worse. The 90-second campaign-style advertisement managed to celebrate Trump rather than actual American workers.

“After so many years of politicians who sold out the working men and women of our country, we finally have a president who puts American workers first,” Trump said, congratulating himself in the video’s voiceover.

The video never said what Trump actually did, but emphasized his supposedly incredible support for autoworkers, ranchers, and farmers. In reality, autoworkers have rejected Trump’s escalating trade war with Canada, and farmers and ranchers have condemned his decisions to increase imports of foreign beef and undermine FDA-inspected processing sites.