Barely 10 hours earlier, they had been at each other’s throats, calling one another a “disgrace,” “horrible” and “grossly incompetent.” Then they put down their political swords on Wednesday morning and stood just a few feet apart to mark one of the most solemn moments on the modern American calendar.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump joined President Biden and other dignitaries in a daylong journey to the sites of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — traveling separately but collectively paying homage to the nearly 3,000 people killed on that day of devastation 23 years ago in a remarkable display of shared sentiment.
Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump shook hands politely at ground zero in New York the morning after their fiery debate, in what was only the second time they had met in their lives. They then stood together in a tent as the names of those who died at the World Trade Center were somberly read by sometimes teary-eyed family members. Standing between them were Mr. Biden and former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. On Mr. Trump’s other side was Senator JD Vance of Ohio, his vice-presidential running mate.
The picture of unity after a night of gladiatorial combat was, of course, just a surface-level show for the cameras. There is no love lost between Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump, nor between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump. Just the night before, Mr. Trump referred to Mr. Biden as a “weak, pathetic man” who is so decrepit that he “doesn’t know he’s alive” and had disappeared from public view so much since dropping out of the race that “we don’t even know if he’s a president.”
But it is a mark of the singular nature of Sept. 11 as a traumatic national memory that the combatants in today’s scathing political competition would feel compelled to share a tent even for an hour. Both sides know that whoever did not show would pay a political price, so they swallowed any reservations and made the appearance. No speeches were given during the ceremonies, averting the risk of an impolitic statement.
The gridlock of motorcades of current, former and would-be presidents and vice presidents in Manhattan soon gave way to separate trips to Shanksville, Pa., where Flight 93 crashed after passengers and crew rose up against the hijackers who had seized the plane. This time, Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris appeared first without Mr. Trump, laying wreaths in a wordless ceremony and later visiting a nearby firehouse for pizza and beer with relatives of those who died and local firefighters.
Mr. Trump, who stopped with Mr. Vance at the Engine 4/Ladder 15 firehouse in the Financial District, after leaving the World Trade Center site, landed in Pennsylvania a little while after the president and vice president. He then headed to the same memorial after the president and vice president had left, joined by his son Eric Trump, among others. The former president was heard thanking his hosts as he left, declaring it an incredible place. He pumped his fist several times.
Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris then planned to fly to Washington for a final wreath-laying stop at the Pentagon. Mr. Trump did not continue on to the third site.
The ceremony at ground zero in New York came on a day that felt eerily similar to that tragic Tuesday morning nearly a quarter-century ago — sunny, clear and crisp, a touch of coming autumn in the air. For a time, at least, minds turned back to where people were when they saw or learned of the two majestic towers collapsing in a cloud of debris and dust, the deadliest foreign attack on American soil and a moment that transformed the nation.
The handshake between Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump appeared to be facilitated by Mr. Bloomberg. The two were standing a few feet apart before the ceremony got underway and the former mayor made a point of tapping the vice president, who was facing the other direction, to draw her over to greet the former president.
Ms. Harris gamely reached out to shake Mr. Trump’s hand, just as she had done on her own initiative at the beginning of the debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. The two said some words to each other that were not audible to reporters kept far away and then a smiling Mr. Trump used his other hand to pat hers twice in a seemingly friendly gesture.
The break from politics will be brief. On Thursday, Ms. Harris is scheduled to hold rallies in North Carolina while her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, visits Michigan, both swing states. Mr. Trump is set to hold a fund-raiser in Los Angeles while Mr. Vance does the same in New York City.
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