Trump: ‘I’m Not Considering Myself A First Responder — But I Was Down There’

US President Donald Trump lays a wreath at the Pentagon's 9/11 Memorial in Washington, DC, on September 11, 2017, during the 16th anniversary of 9/11. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read... US President Donald Trump lays a wreath at the Pentagon's 9/11 Memorial in Washington, DC, on September 11, 2017, during the 16th anniversary of 9/11. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Before signing a bill granting compensation to 9/11 first responders, President Donald Trump informed those assembled in the Rose Garden that though he doesn’t consider himself a first responder, he was “down there.”

“I spent a lot of time down there with you,” he added.

It’s not the first time Trump has done this pseudo-valor stealing, claiming that he was on the scene, helping, just after the towers were hit.

During a 2016 campaign stop, he struck a similar note:

“Everyone who helped clear the rubble — and I was there, and I watched, and I helped a little bit — but I want to tell you: Those people were amazing,” Trump said, per the Washington Post. “Clearing the rubble. Trying to find additional lives. You didn’t know what was going to come down on all of us — and they handled it.”

Here’s a good roundup of the New York native’s odd tendency to use the city’s greatest tragedy for personal aggrandizement and/or demonization of other groups.

Latest News
265
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Big, fat liar.

  2. Shut the fuck up, vermin…

  3. First-Exploiter?

  4. Shame he didn’t inhale the poison. It might explain the source of the poison he exhales.

  5. Oh, good God. What a contemptible pile of human garbage.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

259 more replies

Participants

Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for george_spiggott Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for left_in_washington_state Avatar for ignoreland Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for generalsternwood Avatar for darrtown Avatar for chezzer14 Avatar for tena Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for maricaibo Avatar for bodie1 Avatar for rickjones Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for maximus Avatar for erik_t Avatar for drtv Avatar for zakster17 Avatar for c_stedman Avatar for paul_lukasiak Avatar for Akimbo

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: