Political Unity Permeates 25th Anniversary Of 9/11

NEW YORK — At Friday’s 25th anniversary commemoration of Sept. 11, there were no arguments. There were no boycotts. And no first responders turned their backs in protest.

The energy at ground zero was quite the opposite.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani — he of the recent anti-Muslim tirade — shook hands with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the subject of that rant. In another unexpected clasp, NBC News reported former Mayor Bill de Blasio was seen hugging and amicably chatting with his longtime tormentor, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. And Republican Vice President JD Vance milled about among arch Democratic foes including former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

A Giuliani aide publicly defended both Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from allegations they were laughing throughout the ceremony (they were not).

Despite an unprecedented buildup of partisan rancor directed at the New York City mayor ahead of the anniversary ceremony in Lower Manhattan, the event transpired with its typical solemnity and a focus on the 2,983 victims.

Family members read out each of those names over the course of several hours in a ceremony interspersed with moments of silence to denote the major milestones of the attacks that began at 8:46 a.m. a quarter century ago. Throughout those proceedings, Mamdani and the crowd of officials that included all living presidents (except the current one) largely observed the recitation in silence, with the mayor staying after the event to speak and take photos with families.

The brief exchange between Mamdani and Giuliani before the ceremony — particularly striking given the tone of the former mayor’s remarks just days before the anniversary — drew praise from the current mayor’s allies.

“This is a moment of common humanity and that’s what I saw on display from people who may say things in the moment, but at that moment, we were united,” Gov. Kathy Hochul told CNN in an interview Friday morning.

After attending a memorial service at a church near Ground Zero later in the day, Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, told reporters he and Giuliani "exchanged pleasantries” when asked what they discussed.

But a person with knowledge of their exchange, who was granted anonymity to discuss it, said the former Republican mayor offered prayers for Mamdani.

“Rudy told him he knows it’s a tough job and he’s praying for him,” the person told Playbook.

New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks told POLITICO he believes Giuliani was “following in the steps of Jesus” by offering prayers to Mamdani. “He asks us to pray for not only those we love and who we agree with, but to pray for everyone,” he said. “So I just really believe that it's following in his footsteps, and prayer is a powerful sign of unity, and however that exchange was between them, hopefully it's a great reflection of Christ."

The idea that a sitting New York City mayor would skip a 9/11 commemoration ceremony is farfetched, and 74% of New York voters told a pollster recently the mayor should go. But Mamdani was asked to stay away anyhow for reasons ranging from his association with a Twitch streamer who once said “America deserved 9/11” to his Muslim religion. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the GOP nominee for governor, urged first responders to turn their backs on the young democratic socialist.

At Friday’s ceremony, however, none of that happened. And in fact, the elected officials were mostly an afterthought.

The political comity, however, gave way to an arch warning once the memorial was over.

In an interview following the event, Cuomo said the memorial service should, in part, serve as a reminder to remain vigilant for a younger generation of political leaders like Mamdani, the man who defeated him in last year’s hotly contested mayoral election.

“They should be thinking that this is not a page of history,” he said, pointing to the war in Iran and rising concerns over antisemitism. “This is a present-day threat. It wasn’t a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. This could happen again. The circumstances for it happening again are much more real than they’ve been in a long time.”

And outside the World Trade Center memorial, a heated clash between two elements of the far-right served as a stark reminder of the country’s messy and increasingly fractured political landscape, with white nationalist activist Jake Lang staging an anti-Muslim rally that was counter-protested by a man shouting “Allahu Akbar” and men dressed as Nazis shouting antisemitic slogans.