US President Joe Biden was seen wearing a 'Trump 2024' cap on Wednesday as a show of "bipartisan unity" on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
According to AFP, Biden was dared to put on the cap as he attended commemorative events with Vice-President Kamala Harris at the Pennsylvania site where Flight 93 crashed. He spoke about the country's “bipartisan unity after 9/11”, and said “we needed to get back to that”.
"At the Shanksville Fire Station, President Joe Biden spoke about the country's bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates posted on X. "As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, (Biden) should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it," Bates added.
Biden, 81, was replaced by Harris as the Democrats' nominee for the upcoming presidential election after he withdrew from the race in July. He has repeatedly characterised Trump as an existential threat to US democracy.
Images of Biden in the red cap quickly went viral. Several commentators observed that this episode occurred just a day after the prime-time-televised presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. During the debate, Trump told his opponent: “Biden hates you.”
The social media account 'Trump’s War Room' quipped that Biden had put on the cap because Kamala did badly during the presidential debate.
As per AFP, Trump is considered to have had a bad night at the debate, coming off as defensive, unprepared and obsessed with the past and personal grievances. Following the debate, an average of 57% of viewers said Harris turned in a better debate performance, while only 34% said Trump came out on top.
On Wednesday, wearing commemorative blue ribbons, Harris and Trump joined others, including Biden and the Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance, at an event in New York to remember the nearly 3,000 victims of the attacks on the Twin Towers. CNN reported that Harris and Trump were seen shaking hands at the event.