Alongside other remarks, former President Donald Trump put out a laughably bonkers public statement on Saturday (the anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks), offering “congratulations” to his longtime ally and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for “doing such an incredible job” around the time of the September 11 attacks. (Giuliani was mayor at the time.) In what universe does it make sense for a former U.S. president to issue a statement “congratulating” a former local leader on the occasion of an anniversary of a devastating terrorist attack that affected their jurisdiction? Is anything not a game to Donald?
Trump’s statement on Giuliani read as follows:
‘Congratulations to Rudy Giuliani (for the 20th time!), the greatest Mayor in the history of New York City, for having shown such leadership and doing such an incredible job during and after the attack on our Nation!’
How is there no one within Trump’s circles who was able to intervene and stop this utterly preposterous message from going out? Also, how is Trump so consistently bad at basic communication? Prominent right-wingers underwent predictable freak-outs when Vice President Kamala Harris wished Americans an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend, so where’s the outrage at Trump using the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks to send “congratulations” to Giuliani? Check out Trump’s statement below:
Trump, on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, puts out a statement congratulating Rudy Giuliani as “the greatest Mayor in the history of New York City.” pic.twitter.com/e4Rannq8VU
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) September 11, 2021
Trump did issue a statement on Saturday morning that more directly addressed the actual substance of what happened on September 11, but that statement contained a brazen falsehood. While discussing the Afghanistan withdrawal, Trump claimed that Americans “had $85 billion of the finest and most sophisticated military equipment taken from us without even a shot being fired,” which is false. For starters, the value of the military equipment at issue does not equal $85 million. In reality, Trump apparently drew the $85 million number from the roughly $83 million that was the total cost to the U.S. of “training and sustaining the Afghan military over 20 years,” The Washington Post explains. Not all of that money went to equipment purchases, but even for the U.S.-funded equipment that was left in Afghanistan, much of it may turn out to be unusable by the Taliban should the group fail to obtain the necessary parts and maintenance/ repair expertise.
Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/0VNGFZNrbR
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) September 11, 2021
