He's only 22 and a year out of college, but Troy Fritzhand's resume describes experience in commercial real estate, investment banking, event planning, high-end athletic shoe sales — and good-government websites, created with the help of older brother Tyler and younger brother Brad. First was the boldly named Ballot, software local governments can purchase to verify the authenticity of signatures on absentee ballot forms. (While pitching that product two summers ago the brothers got arrested in a restricted Senate hallway. The Capitol Police alleged the trio falsely claimed to work for Sen. Chuck Schumer when confronted. They denied doing so but agreed to perform community service to get the case dismissed.) For the past six months Fritzhand has been pitching Let Them Know, a free civic education and grassroots advocacy site. His answers have been edited for clarity and length.
What's the tweet-length description of your organization?
A mobile and web-based civic engagement platform that helps educate Americans on the issues important to them, reach out to their members in Congress and easily register to vote.
Describe your very first civic engagement.
That's hard, since I've been working to assist the community around me for as long as I can recall. In high school on Long Island it was educating fellow students on HIV/AIDS and working with the local special education population. At Ohio State I started a food banking club to feed the local homeless community, which still exists today, and made a volunteer consulting trip to a women's economic development center in Kathmandu. All these experiences opened my eyes to the possibility that when the effort is right, change is not only possible, but necessary.
What was your biggest professional triumph?
Getting arrested in the Capitol definitely stands out as a turning point in my career. I got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because of a clear misunderstanding, I ended up held for almost 24 hours in D.C.'s Central Cell Block. Some of the men I met there may have committed unspeakable crimes. Most were there for petty crimes, but their circumstances and backgrounds likely led to some time behind bars — stifling their voice, and for a time their chance to vote. Everyone should be able to voice their opinion on issues important to them and getting a short glimpse of hopelessness behind bars motivated me to do better, be better, and launch Let Them Know.
And your most disappointing setback?
I've been taught that every setback, no matter how disappointing, should be viewed as a chance to grow. My stay in Nepal included a three-day hike in the Annapurna mountain range. We reached the peak at dawn and got ready for a beautiful sunrise overlooking some of the largest mountains on Earth. But the clouds were thick and completely blocked the sunrise. The other hikers all left, but my group stayed to wait out the storm. Sure enough, we had it all to ourselves when the most incredible vistas appeared — the clouds tumbling over Dhaulagiri Mountain and its surrounding peaks as the sun burst through. Utter disappointment yielded to something breathtaking, and an even better message: Patience is key, so never give up no matter how bad it may seem.
How does your identity influence the way you go about your work?
Growing up in the very diverse and family-oriented town of Great Neck outside New York, I was taught to love everyone I met unconditionally. This helped me when I left home for college, where I arrived knowing only one person. The culture of my hometown enabled me to make friends from many countries and backgrounds — and to recognize the true power education offers to bridge gaps. That's why Let Them Know. Our goal is to educate voters in an unbiased, fact-based manner.
What's the best advice you've ever been given?
I was 4 years old and ready to fall asleep when my dad sat down by my bed. He told me about the time he first went skiing. It was with a group of experienced skiers. Rather than hold them back, he went up the mountain and told himself that under no circumstance would he fall. He didn't. The lesson: If you believe 100 percent in what you are doing, no matter what it is, you will be successful. I have lived by that motto ever since.
Create a new flavor for Ben & Jerry's.
I prefer Haagen Dazs. I also love ice cream. A new Ben & Jerry's flavor should be Caramel Cookies Compound: vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough, brownie and caramel.
What's your favorite political movie or TV show?
"Fauda," an Israeli television series on Netflix. It is a political thriller showing the human side of both Israelis and Palestinians in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
What's the last thing you do on your phone at night?
Usually I check Twitter to see if anything notable has happened, but then I read myself to sleep with a paperback.
What is your deepest, darkest secret?
Although I am on the phone speaking to people all day long, I hate my phone and would like nothing more than to go off the grid abroad for a year. Maybe after the election.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.