Zohran Mamdani is the mayor of New York City, and he’s going to show up at every single 9/11 memorial ceremony that he thinks that the mayor should attend.

And that’s even if the 9/11 families don’t want him there. He’s dug his heels in and showed us exactly who he values, offered up cheap platitudes and a smug grin, and he’ll be there.

Someone has to speak for the 19 people who died that day. https://t.co/d90OsDTAnY

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 9, 2026

Today, a police memorial wall was dedicated in New York City, in memory of those officers who lost their lives that day in the attacks, and afterward due to illness. Considering the reception that Zohran Mamdani has received previously from the NYPD, you would think he might not show up, or speak if he did show up. But he did both, and was respectful in his remarks – probably keeping in mind that this audience is not his fan club.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani recalled the story of Officer John William Perry, who was at One Police Plaza preparing to resign and begin a career as an attorney when the first plane struck the North Tower. Perry asked for his shield back and rushed to the World Trade Center.

“There he was confronted with unimaginable suffering, but he did not stop with the same immense bravery and courage that was commonplace among so many that day, the kind that has long defined this department,” Mamdani said.

“Officer Perry ran into the fire. The last time he was seen he was helping a woman out of the South Tower before rushing back in to save as many others as he could. Officer Perry and 22 of his fellow officers, each with their own stories, were killed that morning. That includes 14 members of the emergency service unit, who were among the first to enter the towers.”

Mamdani noted that the sons of officers Ronnie Klopfer and Joseph Viviano “now carry on his legacy of bravery as valued members of this very department.”

“Every officer present that day embodied the NYPD’s creed that the duty to protect is not a job that one clocks out of, but a calling,” Mamdani said. “One answers until the very end.

“In the days and months that followed Sept. 11, thousands of NYPD officers and staff from across every precinct and every borough heeded that same call. They took on that same heavy and incalculable risk.”

But then Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch got up to speak. She has been careful about her public comments about Mamdani, and he knows that crossing her would be a huge political problem for him.

Which is why he had to sit and listen when she spoke up at this memorial dedication service.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch pointedly called Wednesday for “moral clarity” ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks — decrying those blurring the lines between heroes and terrorists.

Tisch made the remarks alongside a stone-faced Mayor Zohran Mamdani as they unveiled a new 9/11 Memorial Wall at One Police Plaza.

The wall – which includes 469 new names, commemorating NYPD members who have died of 9/11-related illnesses – preserves the unfathomable devastation from the attack on the World Trade Center towers and the heroism in response, Tisch said.

“Preserving that history also means preserving its moral clarity,” she said.

“The men who attacked this city were terrorists. The men and women who ran into the towers to save innocent lives were heroes. Twenty-five years cannot be allowed to blur that distinction and shame on those who do.”

Good work by commissioner Jessica Tisch here. https://t.co/VNVYykFEk1

— Hon. Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) September 9, 2026

Tisch is speaking the truth, and Mamdani – who just made her hand a ceremonial 9/11 pen to a former al Qaeda lawyer who is now Mamdani’s chief counsel on Friday – is not stupid. He had to know this was about him and the company he keeps. Commissioner Tisch deserves kudos for saying this, and for saying it in front of the mayor.

Jessica Tisch said this with Zohran Mamdani sitting beside her.

Public officials must show “moral clarity” about 9/11 and never blur the distinction between heroes and terrorists.

“Shame on those who do.”

She didn’t say his name. She didn’t have to. https://t.co/4tM4e1twFq

— Sam E. Antar (@SamAntar) September 9, 2026

And this is likely just a small, bitter taste of what awaits Zohran Mamdani. He’s had plenty of practice keeping his shit-eating grin in place. When he shows up to the 9/11 memorial on Friday, he better be prepared for his final exam.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click