Tuesday was the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and it’s customary for whoever’s president to appear at one of the memorial sites. This year there was a break in tradition. Joe Biden, coming back from a whirlwind trip of Asia for the G20 summit, stopped in Alaska to refuel the presidential jet. There, he delivered a speech about the attacks at a military base, in front of service members. Not good enough, Fox News hosts spent the day screaming.
"Where is the president going to be today? Every president since 9/11 has been at one of these sites, but President Biden instead is heading to Alaska to commemorate 9/11 from a military base in Anchorage in a break from tradition." pic.twitter.com/kZkv9xNHB2
— The Recount (@therecount) September 11, 2023
It began on Fox & Friends, where the hosts noted the “break from tradition.” It continued throughout the day, with the news network dwelling on angry news headlines and bringing on outraged guests to fume.
Fox's outrage du jour is that Biden is spending 9/11 in Alaska (with service members! because he's on his way back from the G20 in Asia, though you wouldn't know that from watching) instead of at one of the attack sites pic.twitter.com/VoIUDRjhkW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 11, 2023
Sen. Roger Marshall on Fox Business says Biden being in Alaska "is not the way to celebrate nine one one" pic.twitter.com/UlLT911xYW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 11, 2023
Few were as angry as Harris Faulkner. After talking about losing a loved one who was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, she turned to raging against Biden having his vice president attend the memorial at Ground Zero.
“So, I look at this and I think, the president can’t be here but puts the woman that he often calls the president by mistake in gaffes, he says, and the woman who suddenly says that she’s ready for his job,” Faulkner said. She wasn’t done.
“The point isn’t the zip code of where he marks it, it’s the fact that Ground Zero; Shanksville, Pennsylvania; and the Pentagon — those sites are unlike anything else in American history in terms of national security. You’d think the commander-in-chief could be at one of the sites,” Faulkner said. “And we love our troops up in Alaska, we support them, too, but…he made a choice today.”
(At least Fox News didn’t bring on former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had to settle for Newsmax. How the mighty keep falling.)
Again, Biden was heading back from a major trip, and he flew back to D.C. after. While in Alaska, he made sure to address the occasion at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
“On this day 22 years ago from this base, we were scrambling on high alert to escort planes through the airspace,” Biden said. “Alaskan communities opened their doors to stranded passengers.”
Biden also addressed the dangers of being partisan on a day of unity.
“We must not succumb to the poisonous politics of difference and division,” Biden explained. “We must never allow ourselves to be pulled apart by petty manufactured grievances. We must continue to stand united.”