Joe Biden briefly donned a red “Trump 2024” hat during a visit to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. The moment occurred while Biden was visiting a fire station and speaking with first responders, following his participation in ceremonies marking the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The unusual sight quickly became a viral moment, as footage of the 81-year-old president wearing the hat was shared online by both supporters and critics. The Trump-Vance campaign was quick to seize the opportunity, posting the clip with a tongue-in-cheek caption, “Thanks for the support, Joe!”
According to a tweet by White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, the hat exchange was intended as a light-hearted gesture in the spirit of unity. Bates claimed that a Trump supporter at the fire station gave Biden the cap and jokingly asked him to put it on. Biden, in keeping with the theme of bipartisan unity that he emphasized during his remarks, complied.
“At the Shanksville Fire Station, @POTUS spoke about the country’s bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that,” Bates tweeted. “As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it.”
The moment comes at a politically charged time, with the 2024 presidential election season heating up. Biden’s bipartisan gesture stood in stark contrast to the war of words between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who faced off in their fiery debate the previous day.
The incident came just one day after Trump told Harris that “Biden hates you” during the debate.
While the White House downplayed the significance of Biden’s brief hat-wearing moment, the image is likely to be a point of emphasis as each side jockeys for political advantage ahead of 2024.
