Video: Watch Trump's Moving Presentation to Rebuild WTC 'Stronger... Taller'
President Donald Trump’s ability to lead and inspire might have been what won him an upset victory in the election of 2016, but it was on public display many years before that.
His “can-do” attitude is seen in Trump’s actions after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. In one of the darkest times in American history, Trump looked forward to a future in which the country could overcome its troubles.
Despite being shaken and somber, in the days following the attack Trump said he didn’t lose his faith in Americans’ power to rebuild.
“I cannot believe the sight of Lower Manhattan without the World Trade Center and therefore we have to rebuild,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News on Sept. 13, 2001.
“Not necessarily in that form, but we have to rebuild at least as good and maybe better,” he continued.
In defiance of the tragedy, Trump said, “You can’t give up hope.”
The new Twin Towers were never built, of course. The 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower was built instead, a project that, as Business Insider documented this week, posed numerous construction complications before finally opening in 2014.
But the attitude Trump evinced then is the attitude that helped him win the presidency: A stated belief in this country’s ability to rise out of the ashes and rebuild.
He’s always shown great faith in the resiliency of the American spirit.
His 2016 campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” emphasized that.
But 15 years earlier, in the face of the calamity, Trump was cheerleading the country already.
This is shown in this video, in which Trump says, “What I want to see built is the World Trade Center stronger and maybe a story taller. And that’s what everybody wants … we should have the World Trade Center bigger and better.”
And Trump took this bigger and better approach to the White House.
As he said on Tuesday, at the memorial for those aboard Flight 93: “This memorial is now a message to the world. America will never, ever submit to tyranny.”
For the 2016 election, Trump built a successful political campaign by communicating a profound belief in the worth of this country is what is needed to unify the U.S and propel Americans to greatness.
But it was on display long before.
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