How 9/11 Redefined American Patriotism and Shifted the Political Landscape

On the eve of the attacks, the writer worked in Manhattan’s renovated Chelsea Market and later watched the tragedy unfold on television, later learning a colleague’s child lost a firefighter father. He observes that the immediate aftermath saw an unprecedented surge in national pride, with polls indicating around 90 percent of Americans feeling “extremely” or “very” proud. Over the ensuing decades, that fervor eroded, especially among younger cohorts; roughly 40 percent of Generation Z now express strong patriotism compared with higher rates among older generations.

The author connects this decline to the emergence of left-wing figures such as New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, who he says denounces foundational American ideas, and to a broader Democratic embrace of anti-American sentiment. He also critiques post-9/11 leaders, from George W. Bush’s early statements to Barack Obama’s foreign-policy agenda, as having altered the nation’s trajectory. Concluding, he contends that 9/11 initiated a secondary, generational political tragedy that continues to unfold.