President Biden sported a Trump 2024 campaign hat while in Pennsylvania Wednesday, spurring a heavy dose of incredulous attention on social media.
Pictures of Mr. Biden donning a red Trump hat while visiting firefighters in Shanksville for the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks quickly spread on social media. Someone in the audience handed him the Trump hat and he put it on momentarily over another cap he was wearing, smiling broadly.
The Trump War Room X account posted a video of Mr. Biden putting on the hat with the caption: “BREAKING: Kamala did so bad in last night’s debate, Joe Biden put on Trump hat.”
In another post on the account it said, “Thanks for the support, Joe!”
British TV host Piers Morgan commented on X, “Joe Biden just put on a Trump 2024 campaign cap. This is not a joke… he really did.”
An X user with the account “@thefourteetoo” said of the moment, “Biden wearing a Trump hat, Kamala Harris telling people to go to Trump rallies! What is going on?”
Another, @meadowshadow, wrote, “Yesterday Trump said at the debate: Biden hates Kamala Harris. Today Biden put on a MAGA hat.”
And @kennethstarkrl said, “They let Biden out for an hour and he goes and puts on a Trump hat lmao.”
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates posted on X that Mr. Biden “spoke about the country’s bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that” while at the fire station.
“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,” Mr. Bates wrote. “He briefly wore it.”
Mr. Biden and Vice President Harris, the Democratic nominee, were in Shanksville to visit the memorial to United Flight 93 that crashed. Mr. Trump, the GOP nominee, also visited the site.
Mr. Trump battled it out on the debate stage in Philadelphia Tuesday night with Ms. Harris.
The former president has claimed that he won the debate, while polls show that most Americans think Ms. Harris performed better.
The debate was the first time Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris had met.
For the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris have attended memorial services in New York and Pennsylvania.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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