There are some moments when a president is allowed to be human.
A long meeting. A campaign rally. A diplomatic summit. Even a speech that runs too late into the evening.
September 11 is different.
Twenty-five years after nearly 3,000 Americans were killed in the terrorist attacks of 2001, President Donald Trump stood beside First Lady Melania Trump at a solemn ceremony at the Pentagon to remember the victims.
And then the cameras caught him with his eyes closed.
The photograph, taken by Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst, quickly became the kind of image that needs almost no caption. Trump appears to be nodding off beside Melania during an observance marking the anniversary of the attack on the Pentagon.
Was he actually asleep? A photograph cannot tell us that with certainty.
But on a day when America is supposed to stop, remember and mourn, the image is difficult to ignore.
This Was Not Just Another Political Event
That distinction matters.
There are plenty of occasions when politicians are photographed looking tired, distracted or uncomfortable. Politics is full of awkward photographs.
But a 9/11 memorial ceremony is different.
The ceremony was held at the Pentagon, the very place where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed on September 11, 2001, killing 184 people.
The names of those victims were read aloud.
A giant American flag was unfurled against the Pentagon.
Families were remembering people they lost a quarter-century ago.
First responders were remembering colleagues who never came home.
Survivors were remembering the day that permanently changed their lives.
This was not a campaign stop.
It was not a television interview.
It was not another partisan rally.
It was a memorial.
And That Is Why the Photograph Is So Striking
Presidents are supposed to understand the symbolism of moments like this.
They know the cameras are watching.
They know millions of Americans are watching.
They know that the families of the victims are watching.
They know that every gesture can become part of the historical record.
So when the president appears to close his eyes during the ceremony, people are going to notice.
They should.
Not because Americans should demand that their president never blink or never look tired.
But because leadership is partly about understanding the gravity of a moment.
And there are few moments in American public life more solemn than September 11.
Twenty-Five Years Later, The Loss Is Still Not Abstract
It is easy for younger Americans to think of September 11 as history.
For millions of families, it is not.
It is a missing father.
A mother who never came home.
A brother whose children grew up without him.
A friend whose name is still spoken every September.
It is the firefighter whose family waited for a phone call that never came.
It is the police officer who ran toward the danger while everyone else was trying to escape.
It is the survivor who still remembers the smell, the smoke and the sound.
It is also the thousands of first responders and others who became sick in the years that followed after being exposed to toxic dust and debris.
Reuters reported Friday that more than 600 New York City firefighters have died from 9/11-related illnesses since the attacks, including 26 this year alone.
That is the scale of the loss America is remembering today.
This Is Why “He Looked Tired” Is Not the Whole Story
Trump’s defenders will undoubtedly say the obvious.
He is an older man.
It was a long ceremony.
He may simply have been resting his eyes.
And they may be right.
That is precisely why nobody should claim that a photograph proves Trump was literally asleep.
But that does not mean the image has no meaning.
Politics is about symbolism as much as policy.
Presidents understand that better than anyone.
When a president stands at the Pentagon on the 25th anniversary of an attack that killed 184 people inside that building, his every expression becomes part of the moment.
The image of him appearing disengaged is therefore uncomfortable, whether or not he actually fell asleep.
Trump Has Always Understood the Power of an Image
This is perhaps the most ironic part.
Donald Trump has spent decades understanding the importance of television, photographs and spectacle.
He built a political movement around memorable images.
The red tie.
The raised fist.
The rally stage.
The carefully chosen backdrop.
The dramatic entrance.
He understands better than most politicians that Americans do not experience politics only through policy papers.
They experience it through images.
And this is not the image anyone would want from a president at a 9/11 memorial.
The Day Was Supposed to Be Bigger Than Trump
That may be the most important point of all.
September 11 should not belong to Donald Trump.
It should not belong to Joe Biden.
It should not belong to Republicans.
It should not belong to Democrats.
It belongs to the people who died.
It belongs to their families.
It belongs to the firefighters, police officers, paramedics and ordinary Americans who ran toward danger.
It belongs to the survivors.
And it belongs to a country that, for one day, should be capable of remembering without turning everything into a political performance.
That is why the photograph feels so jarring.
For a few seconds, the president appears almost disconnected from the significance of the moment happening around him.
America Came Together After September 11
There is another part of the September 11 story worth remembering.
Immediately after the attacks, Americans experienced an extraordinary sense of solidarity.
People lined up to donate blood.
Neighbors helped neighbors.
Strangers embraced strangers.
Flags appeared everywhere.
Political differences, at least temporarily, seemed smaller than the national tragedy everyone had witnessed.
That unity did not last.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq followed.
America’s approach to national security changed.
Muslim Americans faced increased discrimination and hate crimes.
The country entered decades of political arguments about terrorism, war, surveillance, immigration and national identity.
September 11 shaped modern America.
That is why remembering it requires more than showing up for a photograph.
Presidents Are Measured by Moments Like This
Being president is not only about signing legislation.
It is also about representing the country during its most painful moments.
George W. Bush stood at Ground Zero after the attacks and spoke to a devastated nation.
Barack Obama returned to the memorial sites to remember the dead.
Joe Biden repeatedly spoke about the victims and the families who continued to carry the pain.
Donald Trump has also participated in 9/11 commemorations, including Friday’s ceremony at the Pentagon.
The office requires a certain solemnity.
It requires knowing when the political personality has to disappear behind the responsibility of the presidency.
That is what makes the photograph so uncomfortable.
The President Does Not Have to Perform Grief
There is an important caveat here.
Americans should not demand that politicians manufacture emotions for the cameras.
Grief looks different from person to person.
Not everyone cries.
Not everyone shows emotion in the same way.
And nobody should be condemned simply because a photograph captures an awkward expression.
But there is a difference between not performing grief and appearing completely disconnected from the solemnity of the occasion.
That distinction is ultimately why the photograph has resonated.
The Victims Deserved Better Than a Political Spectacle
The names being read at the Pentagon were not statistics.
They were people.
People who had families.
People who had plans.
People who woke up on September 11 expecting to come home that evening.
They never did.
Twenty-five years later, their families are still carrying that loss.
So perhaps the best thing a president can do on September 11 is simple.
Listen.
Remember.
Stand with the families.
Honor the first responders.
And let the day belong to the people whose lives were stolen.
The Photograph Will Be Forgotten. The Day Should Not Be.
In a few days, the debate over whether Donald Trump actually fell asleep will probably disappear from the news cycle.
Another controversy will replace it.
Another political fight will dominate social media.
Another photograph will go viral.
But September 11 deserves better than that.
The point of the anniversary is not to catch a president looking tired.
The point is to remember what happened when 19 terrorists hijacked four airplanes and killed nearly 3,000 people.
The point is to remember the people who ran into burning buildings.
The point is to remember the families who have spent 25 years living with an absence that never goes away.
And the point is to remember that America was once capable of putting politics aside long enough to mourn together.
Whether Trump was actually asleep is ultimately impossible to know from one photograph.
But the fact that the image feels so jarring tells us something.
On September 11, Americans should not be watching the president.
They should be remembering the people who never got to come home.