President Donald Trump will not be standing at Ground Zero this Friday. For the first time since he showed up there as the Republican nominee in 2024, he is marking this year's milestone from the Pentagon, while New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani spends the week fighting to keep his spot on the Lower Manhattan program, pushing back against a petition drive that has climbed past 100,000 signatures.
Friday marks 25 years since 2,977 people were killed in the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil, a milestone that would normally center on unity. Instead, a split travel schedule and a public campaign against the sitting mayor have turned the day into a preview of how fractured the country's political leadership remains a quarter-century later.
