Remembering 9/11, the day that changed everything

It’s Friday. Let us hold a moment of silence for those who lost their lives 25 years ago.

Programming note : Hello! We are Steff Danielle Thomas and Colin Meyn filling in for Cate. Please send your tips, comments and story ideas to cmeyn@thehill.com or sthomas@thehill.com .

A quarter of a century after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the four living ex-presidents are looking back on the day that reshaped the nation — and the lives of the nearly 3,000 people killed in New York City, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Former President Clinton said the country can’t erase the pain of 9/11, but it can honor those who were lost by remembering what brought Americans together in the aftermath.

“We can’t erase the nightmare that so many have lived through and are still living with today,” Clinton wrote . “But we can support the people who have given and lost so much by treating one another with respect, in person and online, and recognizing that what we have in common is far more important than what divides us.”

Former President Obama echoed the sentiment while honoring those who put their lives on the line in the wars that followed.

“Today Michelle and I are remembering those we lost that day, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the wars that followed,” Obama said in a statement.

He urged Americans to remember that even “the darkest days” can be overcome “as long as we move forward as one nation and one people.”

Former President George W. Bush , who was in office when the attacks happened, gave remarks earlier this week reflecting on the day and his response as the nation’s leader.

Bush recalled the moment he learned the second World Trade Center tower had been struck while he was visiting an elementary school in Florida.

“I didn’t have much time to process that, but it was pretty clear to me that if we were under attack, that my job was to defend the child that was reading to me and her family and her country,” he said Wednesday. “And so, it was a moment of clarity.”

Clinton, Obama, Bush and former President Biden participated in the memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City on Friday. They were joined by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani , Vice President Vance and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani , among others. 📺 Watch here .

President Trump opted to stay in Washington on Friday, commemorating the day from the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth , former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and first lady Melania Trump also attended the memorial ceremony. 👁️ Check it out here .

For many Americans, 9/11 isn’t just a chapter in a history book.

A new Ipsos poll found that 47 percent of adults consider the attacks one of the five most important historic events they’ve lived through. And 75 percent said they personally remember where they were when they learned about the tragedy.

Twenty-five years later, the effects are still visible in everyday life — perhaps nowhere more than at the airport . The attacks ushered in a new era of security screenings, from removing shoes to limits on liquids and tighter restrictions on what travelers can bring through checkpoints.

Some of those rules are now being rolled back under the Trump administration. The Department of Homeland Security, created after the attacks, has eliminated the requirement to remove shoes at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints and launched a pilot program allowing non-ticketed passengers through to the gate at some airports. Officials are also considering changes to liquid restrictions for TSA PreCheck passengers.

Those updates reflect advances in screening tech, national security experts say, but also raise questions about how much security is enough.

At the same time, the threat facing the U.S. has changed. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan launched after 9/11 have ended, while concerns about lone-wolf attacks and other forms of terrorism remain. 👓 Insiders can read more from The Hill’s Bill Sammon here .

And the anniversary comes as the Trump administration has again put the U.S. at the center of conflict in the Middle East, including through the ongoing strikes against Iran.

“We salute the service members working right now to ensure the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never ever have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told the crowd at the Pentagon ceremony on Friday.

For a generation of Americans, 9/11 remains a dividing line: the moment the world they knew changed and the beginning of an era whose consequences are still being felt.

For Generation Z, 9/11 isn’t something they remember — it’s something they inherited.

They grew up with airport security, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the ever-present threat of terrorism as the backdrop to their childhoods.

That may help explain why only 16 percent of Gen Zers say the attacks permanently changed their way of life, compared with 36 percent of millennials. For younger Americans, there may not be one defining tragedy that stands apart from the rest — just a steady stream of crises that have become part of growing up.

Bonus: The Hill’s Sarah Fortinsky shares a first-person account of living near Ground Zero.

The first midterm Republican National Committee convention has wrapped, with Vance delivering the closing keynote last night.

Plenty of people in the crowd were ready to crown Vance as the 2028 presidential nominee, though there’s plenty of love for Secretary of State Marco Rubio , too.

The Hill’s Julia Mueller made the trip to Dallas. Read her Night 1 and Night 2 dispatches here.

Here are some notable moments if you weren’t tuned in:

Vance paid an extended tribute to his late friend Charlie Kirk . He noted the conservative activist “hated war,” a view that he conceded was shared by others on the right. “I’m not here to litigate the disagreements between Charlie and some of the people that he disagreed with. What I’m asking you to do is do what Charlie did. Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Don’t give the country over to a bunch of crazy people because you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here or there,” Vance said.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is drawing criticism from Democrats for a speech in which he tied together the 9/11 attacks and assassination attempts on Trump to what he called a “red-green” alliance between communists and Islamists. As Cruz called out New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani , Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and Texas Senate nominee James Talarico by name, a man in the crowd yelled, “He should be shot,” after each name. Cruz shared a clip here .

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regaled the audience with a retelling of his jump from Democratic presidential nominee to top Trump surrogate in the 2024 campaign. He criticized the rushed nominating process for former Vice President Kamala Harris and quipped, “The party of ‘No Kings’ anointed a queen!” He said that as Trump wooed him to the Republican campaign, he tried to have a conversation with Harris. “Do you think she would agree to meet with me? Did she even pick up the telephone? No.”

We won’t take it personally: Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the crowd , “It feels better speaking to a stadium full of patriots than a room full of journalists.”

Trump gave remarkably brief remarks after Vance, then enjoyed some pretty amazing opera singing before the night wrapped.

The president reiterated his pledge — announced on Night 1 — that Republicans would cut $5,000 checks to all adults if they maintain power after the midterms.

“If we win the midterms, we will, on the other hand, provide a, let’s call it Trump dividend, $5,000 for every adult citizen in our country, and we can do that because our country has never done better,” he said.

Fiscal hawks in Trump’s party really don’t like this idea.

“Maybe some of us think dependency is evil & soul-sucking in all its forms,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) wrote in a post on the social platform X, referring to Trump’s idea.

Former Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), who chaired the House Freedom Caucus, referred to Trump’s dividend as a “socialist vote-buying scheme.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who’s tried to distance herself from Trump in a tough blue-state reelection race, doesn’t seem hyped on the idea either.

“From the few details we have, it seems that the proposed $5,000 dividend would not have an income cap and would be extraordinarily costly,” Collins said in a statement .

Trump thinks he can move ahead with the proposal without Congress . We’ll find out next week what lawmakers think about that.

Fuel prices have been piling pressure on Americans for months.

Gas prices jumped 3.9 percent in August, while diesel hit a record $6.05 per gallon Friday — up 63 percent from a year ago.

The Iran war, which Trump has acknowledged likely won’t end before the midterms, has added to the pressure, with traffic through the Strait of Hormuz significantly restricted and oil prices climbing above $100 per barrel.

The squeeze goes beyond the pump: Diesel powers the trucks that move much of what Americans buy, meaning higher fuel costs can eventually show up in prices at the store.

Meanwhile, inflation remains stuck at 3.4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Those numbers leave the Federal Reserve with a tricky decision on interest rates next week.

🧑‍⚖️ Trump ally Joe diGenova resigned from the Department of Justice investigation into alleged schemes against the president, raising new questions about the probe’s direction. DiGenova later said pursuing indictments without evidence would create an “ethical problem.”

🗺️ New Mexico Democrats are pressing Apple and Google to keep the state’s name intact on their navigation apps after the president shared a map labeling it “New America,” arguing he has no authority to rename the Land of Enchantment.

🎥 Hunter Kozak , the man who debated conservative activist Charlie Kirk moments before his assassination, says he has spent the past year facing death threats and conspiracy theories accusing him of involvement in the killing. He says strangers have even confronted him outside his home.

👀 Rubio signaled he has no plans to run for president in 2028, despite speculation that he could be Trump’s GOP successor. “I’m not a candidate for anything right now,” he said.

🚨 Decision Desk HQ’s Senate forecast teetered this week, briefly giving Democrats a 51 percent chance of winning the chamber before swinging back to Republicans on Thursday.

The New York Times: How to Make Sense of Mayhem in the Bond Market

The Wall Street Journal: How the WSJ Covered 9/11 From the Ground 25 Years Ago

Axios: Vance — MAGA’s millennial messenger for the midterms

Politico : US excludes French groups from MAGA-aligned grant program

The House and Senate are out. President Trump is in Washington. (All times EDT)

2:30 p.m.: Trump participates in signing time.

3:30 p.m.: The president has policy meetings

Saturday: Trump will travel to Dublin for the Irish Open. He will also meet with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and speak to U.S. Embassy personnel and business leaders.

Sunday: Trump holds executive time, attends the Irish Open and then returns to Washington.

🛏️ Celebrate: Today is National Make Your Bed Day. It may be Friday, but like I (Steff) always say, “A made-up bed is a made-up mind to have a good day.”

I (Steff again) was in fourth fourth grade on 9/11. I remember the heartbreak, the chaos, the confusion, the unknown. We wrote letters to the victims’ families in class. It is not something I will ever forget.

🐶 Here are some of the pups who also became heroes that tragic day.