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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWorst Responder: Trump tells 9/11 First Responders "I was down there, I spent a lot of time"
President Donald Trump on Monday got called out for making a delusional statement to a group of first responders during a signing ceremony to commemorate legislation that will permanently authorize the September 11th victim compensation fund.
During the ceremony, Trump claimed that he was at the site of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks nearly 18 years ago assisting the police and fire fighters who were helping to rescue people.
Many of those affected were fire fighters, police officers, and other first responders, the president said. And I was down there also, but Im not considering myself a first responder, but I was down there, I spent a lot of time down there with you.
There is no evidence that Trump helped search for survivors at Ground Zero, and retired New York City Fire Department Deputy Chief Richard Alles told Snopes last year that he never heard of a group of rescuers hired by Trump to help out. Additionally, Alles said that additional help from private responders was not necessary.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/07/more-and-more-delusional-trump-trashed-after-telling-9-11-first-responders-that-he-too-went-to-ground-zero/
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)@MSNBC
President Trump to 9/11 first responders: "I was down there also, but I'm not considering myself a first responder. But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you."
Link to tweet
SWBTATTReg
(22,143 posts)anything to prove it. Where are the pictures? Being such a publicity hog, you should have tons of pictures already.
Brainstormy
(2,380 posts)I mean, he's an asshole, but I believe his delusions are neurological.
unblock
(52,253 posts)Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)I don't doubt that he's coming down with dementia, but at the end of the day he's a just a chronic liar. And that's true whether he has dementia or not.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Caliman73
(11,738 posts)Typically the delusions experienced by people with dementia are not associated with longer term memories but come out of disorientation or confusion in the short term. Not to say that they cannot happen with regards to longer term memories, but that is usually in the late stages of the disorder where the disorientation is more pronounced.
Given Trump's long record of self serving lies (dating back to at least 30+ years) it is more likely a result of his underlying personality disorder and the influence of the stress of the job, stimulants that he is reportedly taking, and lack of sleep.
Brainstormy
(2,380 posts)I have a friend with Altzheimer's right now who claims to have been places he's never been, been married to women he's never known, and almost daily relates very weird versions of past events. Some of these have elements of truth in them and bits of actual events and real people but many are completely inexplicable. Almost all of his stories are self-aggrandizing. But his first symptoms didn't even show themselves until about a year ago.
yardwork
(61,650 posts)SayItLoud
(1,702 posts)tRUMP ripping off the 9/11 rebuild fund by claiming he was a small businessman.
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)September 9, 2016 7:02PM ET
Some have raised objections to Trump applying for federal recovery funds, lobbied for by then Sen. Hillary Clinton
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/how-donald-trump-cashed-in-on-9-11-105833/
In January 2002, four months after the attacks, Clinton and Schumer stood in the White House Rose Garden, where George W. Bush thanked them for their work as he signed into law a budget containing some $20 billion in dedicated funding for New Yorks recovery.
A not-insignificant chunk of that federal funding, $2 billion, was earmarked for distribution by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Empire State Development Corporation. About a quarter of that some $500 million was explicitly set aside for helping small businesses in the area recover. Among the 8,214 early recipients was 40 Wall Street LLC, the most valuable building in Donald Trumps portfolio of properties, a skyscraper that sits less than a mile from Ground Zero. (An additional $350 million was later allocated to the same cause, bringing the total number of businesses impacted to more than 14,000.)
Trump applied for and accepted the money, despite the fact that as he acknowledged in an interview with a German news show immediately after the attacks the property wasnt, fortunately, affected by what happened to the World Trade Center.
Technically, 40 Wall Street LLC (if not its parent company, the Trump Organization) did meet the criteria for the funds: It had fewer than 500 employees, and was located south of 14th Street. And, as the agency that administered the funds said, eligibility wasnt necessarily determined based on damage incurred; rather, the goal was to keep businesses and jobs from deserting the city and moving to other States or overseas.
Collimator
(1,639 posts)But it was there, and he took it.
Those folks on food stamps, though--they need to stop being so dependent on handouts.
Some days I feel that my distaste for the man is so strong, I could choke.
unblock
(52,253 posts)Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)Didn't he try to collect a chunk of dough, even though he didn't have damages?
Maybe I'm all wet and just ASSUMED he tried to collect, since he's done it so many times.
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)At least with Trump, you could lay a bet that he collected on any claim possible. That's his modus operandi, so you are probably right. What a reputation he has built.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)gratuitous
(82,849 posts)You think I'm kidding?
underpants
(182,830 posts)And thats saying something for that scumbag
SCantiGOP
(13,871 posts)I am shocked, shocked I tell you.