The death of Charlie Kirk invites himself to the commemorations of the September 11 attacks

(New York) The commemorations of September 11, 2001, a traditionally very consensual and transpartisan anniversary, served as a framework on Thursday for a supported tribute from Donald Trump and his secretaries for the influencer of the radical right Charlie Kirk, murdered the day before.

The Drapeau de la Jeunesse Trumpiste was a “giant of his generation” and a “champion of freedom”, said Donald Trump during a ceremony in the Pentagon, one of the places struck 24 years ago in these attacks which changed the face of the United States and the world.

The American president announced that he would “soon” put Charlie Kirk, posthumously, the highest American civil distinction, the presidential medal of freedom.

“The life, example and even the death of Charlie Kirk, a faithful of Christ and an American patriot, give me hope,” said defense secretary Pete Hegseth, during the Pentagon ceremony.

Initially expected in New York, the vice-president JD Vance decided to cancel his trip to go to Utah (West) to the bereaved family of the young influencer. Donald Trump will be in the city of the East Coast in the evening, for a baseball match.

Meanwhile at Ground Zero, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center were stood in the past, relatives of the 3000 victims of the drama proceeded as every year at the long reading of the names of all the dead.

Several candidates for the town hall of New York took place among the officials alongside Rudy Giuliani, who led the city during the attacks, the torso surrounded by a corset – he was recently injured in a serious traffic accident.

The ceremony is the occasion for a short truce in the harsh battle in progress for the town hall.

Two days ago, the former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, who competes independent, criticized his main rival Zohran Mamdani-also a democrat, but invested by their party-for having granted an interview to a streamer Star of the radical left, Hasan Piker, who said in 2019 that “the United States deserved on September 11”.

For the Cuomo team, this proximity is a “shame” and constitutes proof that “Mamdani does not deserve to be mayor”.

The mayor in difficulty

“Suggest that Zohran Mamdani-who is about to become the first Muslim mayor in New York-has in one way or another supported on September 11” is “infamous” and “dangerous”, reacted the campaign team of the young candidate.

Zohran Mamadani, 33 years old at the New York Municipal Council and claimed socialist, still races in the polls. A recent Siena University survey for the New York Times attributes 46 % of voting intentions to it, compared to 24 % for Andrew Cuomo and 15 % for the Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Outgoing mayor Eric Adams, a democrat struggling with corruption accusations, is now in limbo, credited with less than 10 % of votes.

Several media have reported negotiations between him and the Trump administration for a possible position in exchange for withdrawal from the race. What the interested party has so far denied, but which would singularly rebuild the cards.

Eric Adams also made the link Thursday between September 11 and the assassination of the young Trumpist influencer: “It was the same hatred that pushed two planes to hit the World Trade Center and who pierced Charlie Kirk with a bullet in the neck. (…) It was a terrorist act ”.

On September 11, 2001, the United States was the target of four coordinated suicide bombings, perpetrated by 19 members of the Al-Qaeda Islamist group, led by Osama bin Laden.

In New York, two diverted line planes crashed voluntarily against the twin rounds of the World Trade Center, causing their collapse in less than two hours and the death of thousands of people.

On Thursday evening, two beams of light will rise in the sky to symbolize the twin towers, illuminating the south of Manhattan until dawn.