The day everything changed

By Eugene Daniels

Twenty years ago today, when Flight 11 hit the World Trade Center, I was a seventh grader sitting in band class with a saxophone in my hands. A voice came over the intercom and said what sounded like “a train hit the World Trade Center.” The sentence didn’t make a lot of sense, so we all moved on.

When I walked into my next class, I saw that Ms. Cody — the short, blonde ball of emotion who taught theater — had tears in her eyes. Her TV was showing the news. That’s when I saw. It wasn’t a train.

As a kid, I wasn’t especially tuned-in to the news, but I somehow knew that everything had suddenly changed. A lot of us did. This was Smith Middle School in Fort Hood, Texas. We were military brats . And we all sensed that our parents were going to be deployed somewhere and some wouldn’t come home.

When I got home from school, my dad was standing in the middle of the living room, watching the news while wearing his Army uniform. I didn’t understand why — he was a major specializing in military intelligence, had just returned from a month-long deployment to Korea and was taking a break before a six-month tour in Kosovo that was scheduled to start in a few days’ time.

He was on leave. Why was he in uniform?

He was angry. He wanted to get the bastards who did this — so much so that even on vacation, he’d gotten dressed and went into work hoping to do something, anything, only to be sent back home.

My mom was at a loss and worried about family in New York. I don’t really remember any tears, but I remember the hugs being tighter and my parents acknowledging that our lives would be different forever.

The changes came immediately, in ways big and small. My mom had to leave post to pick up both my siblings and it was almost impossible to get back on — every car, every person was being searched. The heightened security was commonplace for the rest of our time at Fort Hood: random searches, ID checks. In 2004, my dad was deployed to Iraq for more than a year. (My mom’s birthday dinner at Olive Garden was interrupted by the news of the invasion on March 19, 2003.) At my high school, almost 90 percent of students had a deployed parent. Some of them wouldn’t come home. Many of my friends and classmates enlisted and ended up in either Iraq or Afghanistan or both.

I’m 32 years old now. The Sept. 11 attacks have defined the world for my entire adult life. As a child, it forced me and millions of other millennials to grow up quickly. And now, 20 years later, we can see how 9/11 affected the trajectory of our country, our world, our politics, culture and everything in between.

— It changed how JOE BIDEN approaches his public role, as I report .

— It transformed American foreign policy and intelligence. More from Foreign Policy … Amy Zegart for POLITICO Magazine … ICYMI from Bryan Bender and Daniel Lippman

— It altered the way Americans watch the news, writes LAT’s Stephen Battaglio … and how misinformation and conspiracy theories spread, writes NYT’s Kevin Roose.

— It changed life for Muslim Americans, as the Detroit Free Press details … for millennials, writes Marin Cogan for WaPo … drove Americans to enlist in the armed forces — and some of them now lead a generation of new recruits with no memory of the attacks, as Stars and Stripes’ Corey Dickstein reports.

Good Saturday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri.

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9 THINGS WE READ THAT STUCK WITH US:

— Three days after 9/11, President GEORGE W. BUSH told U.K. Prime Minister TONY BLAIR that the U.S. would attack Iraq, according to BRUCE RIEDEL , former special assistant to President Bush, who broke that news during a Brookings panel discussion this week.

— At the time of the 9/11 attacks, roughly 43% of America’s Senate-confirmed top national security posts were vacant, reports NYT’s Elizabeth Williamson. Right now, 74% are vacant.

— “More people have likely died from 9/11-related illnesses than died on the day of the attacks,” writes Vice’s Cameron Joseph, citing new data released by the federal government’s Victim Compensation Fund.

— If current trends continue, within the next few years, two women will earn a college degree for every man, per the WSJ.

— New video evidence raises questions about the Pentagon’s claim that a recent drone strike in Afghanistan killed an ISIS member intent on bombing the Kabul airport, the NYT reports.

— Over the past week, Florida had 2,448 Covid deaths — the state’s highest weekly total since the pandemic began, reports the Tampa Bay Times.

— Of particular note: In Florida, child deaths from Covid have more than doubled since mid-August amid a return to school, as Arek Sarkissian writes.

— Unvaccinated Americans are 11 times more likely to die of Covid-19 than vaccinated people. More on that from the NYT.

— Election officials in California are on the receiving end of a campaign of surveillance mounted by conservative activists under the guise of combating voter fraud, reports the L.A. Times .

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BIDEN’S SATURDAY: The president and first lady JILL BIDEN participated in a commemoration ceremony at the National September 11th Memorial in New York City this morning.

— 10:40 a.m.: The Bidens will depart Queens, N.Y., en route to Shanksville, Pa.

— 12:30 p.m.: The president and first lady will attend a wreath laying ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville.

— 2:55 p.m.: The Bidens will depart Shanksville en route to the Pentagon, where they are scheduled to arrive at 4:30 p.m.

— 4:50 p.m.: The Bidens and VP KAMALA HARRIS and second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF will attend a wreath laying ceremony at the Pentagon.

— 5:30 p.m.: The president and first lady will depart the Pentagon en route to Wilmington, Del., where they are scheduled to arrive at 6:25 p.m.

HARRIS’ SATURDAY:

— 9:45 a.m.: The vice president and second gentleman will attend the 20th annual Sept. 11 observance at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., with Harris delivering remarks at 10:45 a.m.

— 12:30 p.m.: Harris and Emhoff will depart Pennsylvania en route to D.C.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY: A beam of light is visible over the Lincoln Memorial as part of the Towers of Light Tribute near the Pentagon on Friday, Sept. 10. | Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo

TALIBAN TAKEOVER

— Biden is unlikely to formally recognize the Taliban government, Nahal Toosi reports , but has “been dangling the prospect of recognition in hopes of shaping the new Afghan regime’s behavior.”

— Flights from Afghanistan to the U.S. have been temporarily paused after four cases of the measles were confirmed in recent arrivals to Dulles airport. NBC News reports that the administration is looking at ways to vaccinate refugees overseas or on military bases within the U.S.

— About 10,000 Afghan refugees are staying at a military base in Fort Bliss, Texas, as they get screened and vetted before beginning a new chapter in the U.S. The AP has a look at life there for the evacuees.

CONGRESS

— Could immigration reform end up in the reconciliation bill? Some Senate Dems are eager for that to happen, and on Friday, they made their case to Senate Parliamentarian ELIZABETH MACDONOUGH, as Roll Call’s Caroline Simon and Suzanne Monyak report, who will ultimately decide whether immigration provisions comply with the Byrd Rule, which limits the scope of reconciliation.

— Friday night document dump: Last night, the House Ways and Means Committee released 645 pages of new tax provisions for Democrats’ $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. Journalist Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree): “One quick headline — the monthly child tax credit advance payments which started this summer would be extended through 2025 under this plan from Democrats.” More on that from WSJ’s Richard Rubin

— Dems are proposing a big expansion of an electric-vehicle tax credit that would disproportionately benefit U.S. automakers, writes Reuters’ David Shepardson. The proposal would create a tax credit for up to $12,500 per vehicle for American-manufactured, union-made EVs, compared to the existing $7,500 incentive for most EVs.

— The identity of the man suing former Speaker DENNIS HASTERT for unpaid hush money will be revealed as the case moves forward, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. In the 1970s, Hastert was a high school teacher and wrestling coach when he allegedly sexually abused a then-14-year-old student.

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THE PANDEMIC

— GOP governors’ legal challenges against the White House’s vaccine mandate aren’t likely to succeed in court, experts tell NBC News’ Adam Edelman.

— Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS got a win on Friday, as the state’s First District Court of Appeals voted to reinstate his ban on mask mandates, reports the Miami Herald’s Ana Ceballos.

— Despite the ruling, the Biden administration announced that it is probing Florida’s mask laws. Andrew Atterbury reports that the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office is investigating whether a rule forcing schools to let parents opt their children out of wearing masks violates the rights of students with disabilities.

— For businesses already struggling to fill jobs, news of the vaccine mandate has spurred new fears “that vaccination-averse workers will quit, or job seekers won’t apply for their openings,” write AP News’ Tom Krisher and Barbara Ortutay.

— New data from the CDC suggest that among patients 75 and older, the vaccines have waning effectiveness in preventing hospitalizations as the Delta variant spreads. More on that from our own Erin Blanco.

POLITICS ROUNDUP

— California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM’s comeback in the recall election polls may be obscuring some real problems that Democrats face as we inch closer to 2022, writes Steve Shepard.

— Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis raised $5.5 million in August for his political committee — bringing his haul for the 2022 cycle to $96 million, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 17 keepers

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza:

— From the archives: “The Falling Man,” by Esquire’s Tom Junod, Sept. 2003: “Photographs lie. Even great photographs. Especially great photographs.”

— From the archives: “Steve Miller Ate a Scone, Sheila Moody Did Paperwork, Edmund Glazer Boarded a Plane: Portrait of a Day That Began in Routine and Ended in Ashes,” by WaPo’s David Maraniss, Sept. 16, 2001: “The saddest and most relentlessly horrific day in modern American existence started in the most ordinary ways.”

— From the archives: “‘We’re the Only Plane in the Sky,’” by Garrett Graff for POLITICO Magazine, Sept. 9, 2016: “Where was the president in the eight hours after the Sept. 11 attacks? The strange, harrowing journey of Air Force One, as told by the people who were on board.”

— “‘Hour After Hour After Hour On the Air’: Inside the CBS Control Room on 9/11,” by Esquire’s Jack Holmes: “For CBS News director Eric Shapiro, the only day on the job that compared to September 11 was the assassination of JFK.”

— “The great boat lift of 9/11,” by NJ.com’s Brittney Davies, Joe Atmonavage and Matthew Stanmyre: “The unsung story of how hundreds of thousands were rescued that tragic day.”

— “How Mourning Has Been Different For Each Of These 9/11 Families,” by NPR’s Tim Lambert and Scott Detrow: “Imagine losing a loved one and having to relive how they died over and over, year after year. Imagine repeatedly being asked how you feel and about your daughter, your father, your cousin, while reliving one of the worst moments of your life. And imagine having to regularly do all that in televised ceremonies, with public officials milling and reporters looming.”

— “20 years on, ‘The Falling Man’ is still you and me,” by Richard Drew for AP: “My family calls it ‘the picture that won’t go away.’ Most newspaper editors refused to print it. Those who did, on the day after the World Trade Center attacks, received hundreds of letters of complaint. The photograph was denounced as coldblooded, ghoulish and sadistic. Then it vanished. Yet 20 years later, I still get asked about it.”

— From the archives: ”Lost and Found,” by Colson Whitehead for NYT Magazine, Nov. 11, 2001: “The city you once knew is always receding and always present, and that's what makes it yours."

— “What Bobbly McIlvaine Left Behind,” by The Atlantic’s Jennifer Senior: “Grief, conspiracy theories and one family's search for meaning in the two decades since 9/11.”

HAPPENING WEDNESDAY - POLITICO TECH SUMMIT: Washington and Silicon Valley have been colliding for some time. Has the intersection of tech, innovation, regulation and politics finally reached a tipping point? Join POLITICO for our first-ever Tech Summit to explore the evolving relationship between the power corridors of Washington and the Valley. REGISTER HERE.

Margaret Brennan is back from maternity leave with a new title (chief foreign affairs correspondent) and a renamed Sunday show (“Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan”).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) … WaPo’s Ben Terris and Robin Givhan … Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo … CNN’s Barbara Starr ... Matt Johnson of the Klein/Johnson Group … Markos Moulitsas … Jon Meyersohn … Diane Tomb … POLITICO’s Joe Schatz, James Marshall, Lily Rosenfield and Eileen McKenna … RIAA’s Liz Kennedy … Lee Verstandig … Michael Hardaway … Michael Maitland … Claude Marx … Anthem’s Julie Goon … Eric Lausten … Stand Up America’s Reggie Thedford … Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies … former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson … former Solicitor General Ted Olson … former Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) … Maura Hogan … Jose Fourquet ... Sammy Yaish … Jon Downs of FP1 Strategies … Gordon Bronson … NBC’s Pete Breen … Cyrus Artz … DLA Piper’s Tom Boyd ... Emy Lesofski ... Kyle Gerron ... Leticia Reyes … Bob McNally

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