Bret Stephens of The New York Times analogized Donald Trump’s assumption of the White House to the hijacking of Flight 93 by Islamic terrorists during the 9/11 attacks.
Mocking an article from September of 2016 by Michael Anton entitled, “The Flight 93 Election,” Stephens initially dismisses fears of America as a nation in crisis via the spread of leftism:
To imply, as Anton did, that Barack Obama, for all his shortcomings, was Ziad Jarrah, Flight 93’s lead hijacker, is vile. To suppose that we’d all be dead if Hillary Clinton, for all her flaws, had been elected is hallucinatory. To argue that the United States, for all its problems, was the equivalent of a doomed aircraft is absurd. To suggest that Donald Trump, a man who has sacrificed nothing in his life for anyone or anything, is the worthy moral heir to the Flight 93 passengers is a travesty.
Stephens concludes that perhaps it is Trump who represents the political manifestation of 9/11’s Islamic terrorists, painting Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign as analogous to the failed attempt by Flight 93’s passengers to secure the cockpit:
Maybe 2016 was the Flight 93 election, or something like it. Maybe the pilots are dead. Maybe the passengers failed to storm the cockpit. Maybe the hijackers reached their target by landing on the White House after all.
Stephens describes himself as “proudly conservative,” and is often presented as a conservative when participating in television news media discussion panels on outlets such as CNN.
Last October, Stephens announced that he would be vote for Hillary Clinton, repeatedly describing Donald Trump as a “threat to the Republic.” In doing, he joined other self-described conservatives such as David Frum and David Brooks.
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.