For 17 years, Donald Trump has attempted to curb his narcissistic sociopathies long enough to blurt out the rough equivalent of human feelings on 9/11 and its anniversaries. For 17 years, he's failed.
For Donald Trump, 9/11 is about Donald Trump. This is true of both his first recognition of the anniversary today, a retweet of a photograph of him signing a memorial document, and the White House's more formal-ish version, a picture of himself at a White House memorial event. (Notably, though Trump implied the picture was of events today, it showed a bright sunny day and multiple White House staffers who long ago left the administration.
If anything, it is a reminder that Trump is terrible at literally every aspect of the presidency, even the parts where he is expected only to sit still and not mug for the cameras.
And he has been like this for years. There's never been a point where the man wasn't an embarrassment to himself and all those around him.
His original reaction to the Sept. 11attacks was to note that with the fall of the World Trade Center, he now owned the tallest building in New York.
He claimed personal involvement in the search for survivors.
His opportunism may be the most notable reflex when it comes to the Sept. 11 attacks. His claims that he saw footage of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the attacks on America were a vicious lie from the outset, but one that Trump put to use as part of his overtly racist, bigoted presidential campaign. He both lied about donating money to 9/11 victims and pocketed $150,000 from a fund designed to help small businesses in Manhattan recover from the attacks.
There are a lot more important things to worry about as the Russia investigation churns on, the Trump Foundation investigation churns on, anonymous administration staff members continue their efforts to curb Trump's incompetence and impulsiveness, and the world, in general, goes to hell. But Trump is also staggeringly bad at this, literally the easiest duty of the presidency: pretending to give a damn. He cannot seem to do it, and that, too, will go down in the history books.