For the last quarter century, U.S. presidents had an inescapable commitment each year: the commemoration events in New York of the September 11, 2001 jihadist attacks, in which 2,977 people died directly. They attended and listened silently to tributes to the fallen or read poems and fragments of the Constitution. These were partisan events by antonomasia.
Trump broke with this tradition by not attending the events in New York because they wouldn't let him give a speech. This decision represents a break with the established practice over 25 years, in which presidents participated in the events in a discreet and respectful manner.
The September 11th commemoration events represented a moment of national unity to remember those who fell in the devastating attacks against the Twin Towers in New York and against the Pentagon in Washington. The country and its political class showed themselves united by the glue of tragedy.
