Twenty-five years ago, America came to a standstill.
No matter where you were or what you were doing, your life came to a screeching halt as we watched in horror at the scene in New York City, Arlington, and Pennsylvania.
2,977 people lost their lives on September 11, 2001, and the world changed forever.
In those first moments, Americans had no idea who was behind it, whether we were safe, or whether there’d be a world to wake up to on September 12th.
As America grappled with the horror of what had happened, something else was happening, too.
The world was running to our defense.
Nations around the world, friend and foe alike, lowered their flags in remembrance. Our allies opened their airspace, shared intelligence, offered military support, and stood beside us as we reeled from the deadliest terror attack in world history.
None did more for us than Canada.
When airspace across North America closed, thousands of Americans were stranded wherever their plane happened to be flying over. In Gander, Canada, more than 6,500 passengers landed, unsure of where they were or how they’d get home.
Not only did Canada allow planes to land that day, but Gander — a town of just 10,000 — opened its doors, homes, and hearts to all of them.
They housed pregnant mothers, vulnerable seniors, pets, anyone who needed a home and had nowhere to go.
Without a moment of hesitation, they clothed, fed, and cared for them for more than 5 days before they were able to travel home.
In the midst of so much tragedy, bloodshed, and violence, the world witnessed the very best of humanity in Gander. America did, too.
Canada wasn’t alone, either. In London, the Queen ordered the Star Spangled Banner be played at Buckingham Palace. In France, the next day’s front page simply read, “We are all Americans now.” NATO planes flew over American skies, protecting a land thousands of miles from their own.
And when we were ready to strike back, our allies followed us into war. For the first and only time in its history, NATO invoked Article 5 – saying an attack on one is an attack on all.
Thousands of troops from our NATO allies joined in our war in Afghanistan, dislodging the Taliban and taking the fight right to Al-Qaeda’s front porch.
How have we repaid that kindness 25 years later?
We’ve gone after the very same allies who opened their doors to thousands of stranded Americans and who sacrificed their own sons and daughters in our defense.
In Canada, Donald Trump has launched a full-scale trade war, imposing 50% tariffs on more than $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. Trump has demanded total control over Canadian minerals, threatened Canadian sovereignty, and destroyed America’s relationship with one of our closest partners.
In Greenland, Trump threatened military action against a fellow NATO member because they wouldn’t let us annex their territory. Just this month, Trump posted a map portraying the United States stretching across Canada, Greenland, and Iceland, prompting condemnation from the very same allies who once dropped everything to come to our defense.
In Ukraine, Trump has walked back American support for President Zelenskyy’s government, berated him in the Oval Office, and refused any further support even when Ukraine is on the cusp of victory against Russia, something that seemed impossible just a few years ago. This despite the fact that Ukraine, too, came to America’s aid in the wake of 9/11 even though they weren’t in NATO, weren’t protected by the American defense umbrella, and had no obligation to do so. For no reason other than to defend American freedom and security, they showed up in our hour of need. In theirs, Trump has undermined Ukraine at just about every turn. That’s not just betrayal – it’s sickening depravity.
In Europe, Trump has sought to boost far-right parties and destabilize ally governments to advance his own personal agenda. He’s demanded repayment of aid we gave to Europe in the wake of Putin’s senseless assault on Ukraine and threatened to let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies. When our allies refused to join Trump’s disastrous war of choice in Iran, he openly threatened to pull the United States out of NATO altogether.
In other words, we’ve shit on every ally who rallied behind us when we needed it most. Because of Trump, the world thinks Americans have entirely forgotten who was there for us in our darkest hour.
While our president has, we assure you we haven’t.
As hard as it may be for those on the outside looking in to understand, there remains a vast majority of Americans who know that our security, our prosperity, and our future rests in the strength and resilience of our alliances around the world as much as it does on our own military.
Donald Trump has spent years saying we don’t need allies. That NATO is a money-sucking pit that has never brought anything good back home to America.
All we need to do is look back to September 11th to see just how wrong he is.
NATO proved its worth to America. We just seem to have forgotten.
25 years on from the darkest chapter of the 21st century, it is incumbent upon each of us to do all we can to build an America worthy of the values we saw the world stand for that day.
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