White House explains why Joe Biden sported a Donald Trump hat in bizarre 9/11 gesture
President Joe Biden briefly sported one of former President Donald Trump‘s red MAGA hats in a move the White House said was to show ‘bipartisan unity.’
Biden, Trump and Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris attended multiple 9/11 commemoration ceremonies Wednesday – a day after Trump and Harris first met on the debate stage.
During a chat with firefighters in Shanksville, Pennsylvania – where United Flight 93 crashed – Biden was briefly captured wearing a bright red Trump hat.
The moment sparked an eruption from Trump surrogates and MAGA social media accounts thanking the 81-year-old commander-in-chief.
Biden’s move came 24 hours after he raised eyebrows by saying he would ‘do 9/11’ as he left the White House for New York on Tuesday night.
President Joe Biden briefly sported one of former President Donald Trump ‘s red MAGA hats in a move the White House said was to show ‘bipartisan unity’
‘At the Shanksville Fire Station, President Joe Biden spoke about the country’s bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that,’ White House spokesperson Andrew Bates posted to X. ‘As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap.’
‘He briefly wore it,’ Bates added.
By the time Bates put out his message, Trump’s supporters were pushing that the 81-year-old Biden was so ‘senile’ that he didn’t realize what the hat said.
‘Attendees tell me Joe Biden appeared totally senile at the event, and he even put a Red TRUMP 2024 hat on while [Harris] was in the room,’ wrote Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist and top Trump ally. ‘One of the attendees asked Biden, “do you even know what your name is?”‘ she added, parroting an attack on the president Trump made Tuesday night on the debate stage.
The Trump War Room X Account shared video of Biden putting on the hat captioning it: ‘Kamala did so bad in last night’s debate, Joe Biden just put on a Trump hat.’
The pool of reporters who follow the president around weren’t invited into the room, as Biden and Harris were meeting with family members impacted by the September 11, 2001 terror attack.
Pennsylvania is the must-win state of the 2024 election and with the trip to Shanksville, Harris was entering Trump country.
The broader Somerset County went for Trump over Biden 78 percent to 21 percent.
Signs of support for the Republican nominee were visible from Harris’ motorcade route.
Another angle of the video shows the 81-year-old commander-in-chief donning the trademark red hat in a gesture of ‘bipartisan unity’
Biden told family members in the fire station that the U.S. needed to get back to the unity shown in the aftermath of the attacks that killed 2,977 people
Biden attends the memorial marking the 23rd anniversary of 9/11 with Vice President Kamala Harris, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, former president Donald Trump and Ohio Senator and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance
One man attending the ceremony was also sporting a vulgar anti-Harris t-shirt.
Harris is expected to return to western Pennsylvania Friday with a campaign stop in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, situated in nearby Cambria County.
Cambria County represents one of the most dramatic Democrat-to-Republican swings in the country.
It was represented for years by the late Democratic Rep. John Murtha.
In 2008, President Barack Obama won the county by a hair – 50 percent to Sen. John McCain’s 48 percent.
During the 2020 election, the county broke 68 percent for Trump to 31 percent for Biden.
Trump landed at the Johnstown airport shortly after Biden and Harris visited Shanksville.
The former president was also on hand alongside Biden and Harris in New York City at a ceremony at Ground Zero.
During the service, the widow of a chief New York firefighter killed on 9/11 slammed Biden for his ‘flippant’ remarks.
Kamala Harris looks on during the memorial ceremony at Ground Zero, with Biden in the background, the day after her debate with Trump
Joanne Barbara was referencing the president saying he would ‘do 9/11’ when reporters asked about his plans for the tribute to Americans killed in the worst terrorist attacks in the nation’s history.
Her husband FDNY Assistant Chief Gerard ‘Jerry’ Barbara, a 31-year veteran firefighter, died when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed while he was trying to rescue those trapped inside.
‘The elected officials here today show their respect and reverence to the families on Sept. 11, or – in our president’s words – ‘do 9/11,’ quite a flippant remark,’ Barbara said during remarks at a ceremony honoring her late husband.
‘Please remember that the 9/11 families live it every day,’ she continued in detailing the grief experienced by those who lost loved ones in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
She was also highly critical of the ‘outrageous’ plea deal that was almost approved for the allegedly 9/11 masterminds detained on Guantanamo Bay.