۹/۱۱ families to gather at World Trade Center and Pentagon to remember victims on ۲۵th anniversary – US politics live

It’s been ۲۵ years since the terrorist attacks of September ۱۱, and during this time Muslim Americans have learned how to live in that dangerous space between other Americans’ fears and their ignorance.

The fear was clear from the beginning. Immediately following ۹/۱۱, Muslim Americans faced what Human Rights Watch called “a severe wave of backlash violence”.

A tide of hate rose up against ordinary Muslims and those who appeared to be Muslim, including at least three murders in the immediate backlash after the attacks.

The federal government, for its part, began targeting Muslim immigrants in a massive surge of repression that legal experts soon compared with the Palmer Raids of the ۱۹۲۰s.

The ignorance was just as evident. Even Oprah Winfrey did her part to allay it, dedicating an episode of her show in October ۲۰۰۱ to “Islam ۱۰۱”. The Qur’an leapt on to the New York Times bestseller list that fall.

Yet despite these early efforts at education, most Americans still learned little about Islam and Muslims.

One ۲۰۰۶ study found that only a third of those polled realized that Muslims worship the same God as Christians and Jews do. Close to ۱۰% of respondents thought Muslims worship a “moon god”.

President Donald Trump is set to observe today’s ۲۵th anniversary of the ۹/۱۱ attacks by attending a ceremony at the Pentagon.

It’s the second year in a row for Trump to mark the day at the Pentagon. The president, who is originally from New York, last attended the ground zero ceremony there in ۲۰۲۴.

During last year’s commemoration at the Pentagon , Trump delivered remarks recounting moments from the day of the attacks, including snippets of conversations from passengers who were aboard the hijacked airplanes.

At a Tuesday event at the Ellipse just outside the White House, Trump vowed to “never forget” victims, noting that the attacks were one of few moments in history that “divide time into really what came before” and after.

For the first time, this year’s ceremony will add a silent moment to honor people who were exposed to the clouds of toxic dust released by the twin towers’ collapse and have since died of cancer and other illnesses.

Questions remain about how many people developed health problems linked to the dust.

It’s a reminder of how the attacks’ long shadow has reached into many corners of life in the US and beyond.

Police officer Casey Kloepfer plans to spend time today at the Brooklyn station house where his father, officer Ronald Kloepfer, reported to work that day before being called to the World Trade Center. He didn’t make it home.

Casey Kloepfer was only four, but he grew up hearing about his father’s affinity for helping people and for a job that enabled him to do so. He became an officer this past June, AP reported

“It’s big footsteps to fill, but it’s definitely something that I take very seriously and want to continue to honor him and be the best police officer I can,” he said by phone this week.

The ۲۹-year-old wears his father’s badge number and even has joined the New York Police Department lacrosse team, which his dad founded.

David Smith

As clear as that cloudless September morning, Jenna Jacobs McPartland remembers the moment everything changed. “I was cleaning the bathroom and watching the Today show in the background and nine months pregnant,” the ۵۲-year-old recalls by phone. “I think they were showing ‘Today throws a wedding’ when the news broke in.”

A plane had hit the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York. McPartland did not know that her husband, Ariel Jacobs, was attending a conference at its Windows on the World restaurant. “I called his office to say, ‘Hey, turn on the TV. Do you guys know what’s going on?’ His assistant said, ‘Oh my God, Jenna, he’s there.’ The whole world disappeared and there was this sort of hollow collapsing feeling.”

Ariel Jacobs did not live to see his son, Gabriel, born six days after September ۱۱, ۲۰۰۱. McPartland, then living in Briarcliff Manor, New York, would marry twice more, set up a grief support charity, and become a chef and restaurateur. Each ۹/۱۱ anniversary, she has a picnic at the cemetery where a few pieces of bone from her late husband are buried.

Speaking from Fairfield, Connecticut, McPartland says: “Ari was an incredibly joyful person who cherished his life. I made a conscious choice to honour him by living as joyfully as I can. It’s not always easy. I still cry pretty frequently. If there’s a movie with a building getting blown up, or if I’m reading a book and they casually mention ‘post ۹-۱۱ this’ or whatever, it catches me off guard. The grief finds a place to live in the heart, and you visit it.”

McPartland and other victims’ families have learned to live with that grief over the past ۲۵ years. But America writ large has struggled to carry the weight of the worst terrorist attack in its history. The world’s most powerful nation responded by inflicting terror of its own, betraying its history as a safe harbour for immigrants, and pitting Americans against one another. The initial heroism, goodwill and unity of ۹/۱۱ gave way to discord at home and diminished moral authority abroad.

McPartland adds: “It makes me incredibly sad and bordering on angry that the death of my husband has been invoked to cause more violence. It is the othering of people that got him killed in the first place and, when we Americans fail to learn that lesson and choose collectively as a nation to other people, whether it’s immigrants or other nations, that is a deepening of that tragedy that is sickening and unfathomable to me.”

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

It is the ۲۵th anniversary of ۹/۱۱, as Americans come together to remember and commemorate the devastating effects of the attacks, which claimed the lives of ۲,۹۷۷ victims.

Today’s milestone anniversary will bring memorial rituals – wreath-laying, flag-flying, moments of silence, vigils and readings of victims’ names – and volunteer projects in tribute to the day.

“In the course of history, there are a few moments that divide time into, really, what came before” and after, president Donald Trump said at a ۹/۱۱ remembrance in Washington this week.

The Republican, who was in New York on ۱۱ September ۲۰۰۱, has often recounted his memories and said he plans to attend the Pentagon’s anniversary ceremony later today.

Vice-president JD Vance is expected to attend the observance at the National September ۱۱ Memorial in New York, while other administration officials are headed to the Flight ۹۳ National Memorial in Pennsylvania.

Planned remembrances extend far beyond the attack sites, from beams of light projecting from New Hampshire’s Mount Washington to a stair climb at Mississippi State University’s football stadium to a ceremony at Honolulu’s ۹/۱۱ memorial.

In other developments elsewhere today:

• Donald Trump doubled down on his pledge to pay all US adults $۵,۰۰۰ if Republicans hold on to control of Congress in the midterm elections. He’s one of the few people to actually mention the pledge tonight, as many lawmakers and officials – including his vice-president, JD Vance – avoided mentioning the so-called “dividend” altogether. Trump defended his plan: “We can do that because our country has never done better. We’re taking in trillions, trillions of dollars.”

• In a shorter address to voters than his nearly two-hour speech on Wednesday, Trump again pleaded with voters to “pretend I’m on the ticket” in November. In an improvised pledge of allegiance to himself, Trump directed the audience to commit to voting in the midterm elections at all costs. The president asked Republicans in the arena to repeat: “I don’t care if I’m registered or not. I’m going to try. And cheat like hell like they do.” Trump also told those gathered in Dallas that they would “go to hell” if they didn’t vote.

• Earlier, JD Vance urged Republicans who may oppose parts of the Trump administration’s agenda not to abandon the party in November’s congressional races. The vice-president pointed to Charlie Kirk – the conservative activist killed a year ago today – to argue that voters shouldn’t “throw the baby out with the bathwater” over “a policy issue here or there”, an apparent nod to dissent over the Iran war that he avoided naming.

• Vance’s speech, in many ways, was an audition for a possible ۲۰۲۸ presidential run. He spent much of his time on stage setting out the threats of the so-called “far left”, listing the administration’s greatest hits and slamming Joe Biden’s tenure in office.

• Meanwhile, dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the arena to protest Trump’s policy agenda. Dallas police said that two people were taken into custody after an alleged assault involving a counter-protester and for blocking a roadway.