Again, there's a big difference between "the government" and "the people". The government used 9/11 as an excuse to push through a bunch of surveillance-state

Again, there's a big difference between "the government" and "the people". The government used 9/11 as an excuse to push through a bunch of surveillance-state policies. The people acquiesced at the time because, well, wartime & terrorism, but they didn't necessarily like it. One of the things it actually did was drive a wedge between the government and the people, fueling mistrust between different groups. And so here we are 20+ years later with a former president who was elected on the premise of "draining the swamp", openly feuded with the surveillance state during his time in office, and is now a convicted felon running for president again.