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Two solemn anniversaries and the cancer of political violence

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Benson, G. (2026, September 11). Two solemn anniversaries and the cancer of political violence. Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/premium/4717095/two-solemn-anniversaries-and-the-cancer-of-political-violence/

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Washington Examiner · collected 2026-09-11 · by Guy Benson

Quick Summary

Two solemn anniversaries are being marked: the 25th anniversary of the hijacking of commercial jetliners by jihadi terrorists that killed thousands, and the first anniversary of a shooting at a public event in which Charlie Kirk was fatally wounded. No specific numbers on the death toll or the number of people affected by the second attack are mentioned. The article focuses on the ongoing impact of these events on Americans' emotions, evoking "revulsion and righteous anger" that persists even after 25 years. It is written from a perspective critical of what it calls "the cancer of political violence".
Written by AI on 2026-09-11, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, New York City's first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, faces controversy over his decision to attend memorial events despite calls from some victims' families and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for him to stay away. Mamdani, who lost an older brother in the attacks, insists on honoring those affected by reading out names at Ground Zero. Meanwhile, nearly 110,000 signatures have been collected through a petition urging Mamdani not to attend, citing concerns over his past associations and appointments that some see as conflicting with the solemnity of the event. Despite this opposition, Mamdani is moving forward with plans to release more than 170,000 pages of documents related to air quality around Ground Zero in the months following 9/11, aiming to provide transparency on what the city knew about toxic conditions and how they handled it.

Written for “9/11 Memorial Controversies” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 169 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 9/11 Memorial Controversies
Politics · 170 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Guardian
Hedges 5 of 164 claims Outlet record 66/100
The Dispatch
⚖️ Centre further right than this Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 61/100
NBC News
Hedges 8 of 71 claims Outlet record 60/100
NPR
Hedges 2 of 47 claims Outlet record 60/100
National Post
⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this Hedges 7 of 47 claims Outlet record 60/100
National Post
Hedges 6 of 102 claims Outlet record 60/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 0 of 30 claims Outlet record 66/100
CBS News
Hedges 3 of 56 claims Outlet record 66/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
5
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 5 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
70/100
Washington Examiner's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
170
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-11 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Washington Examiner · 3851 article(s) · 7 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 7 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Guy Benson
14 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 With the 2026 midterm elections just days away, the pivotal question for Republicans seems to be whether Nov. 3 will go poorly or disastrously for them.
2026-10-30 · assertive framing · An eleventh-hour GOP surge, or a looming blue blowout?
🔮 He couldn’t drag Hillary Clinton over the finish line at the tail end of his Oval Office tenure.
🔮 This might have been a compelling answer if he’d invited MacCallum to appear with him on the stump five times in Michigan, which is what el Sayed did with Piker (el Sayed recently lied that he and Piker had only appeared together once on the trail).
🔮 Voters were broadly correct in assessing that blame: The Biden administration, with the backing of Congressional Democrats, shoveled trillions of dollars out the door under the auspices of COVID-19 “relief” — ignoring warnings from some of its own ideologically allied economists that the results would be hugely inflationary.
🔮 As he described the composition of November’s electorate, he asked, “Is the base of people who believe in freedom and justice, compassion and mercy, the people, will the people who believe that in the equality of human beings, in the dignity of all human beings, will we show up and vote?
🔮 I’ll leave you with this — with my gratitude to my colleague Will Cain for giving me the space to communicate these thoughts: Out of curiosity, how will this be blamed on Israel?
2026-09-30 · assertive framing · Facts can’t convert the Gaza ‘genocide’ faithful
🔮 Perhaps it’s a sign of how dire things may be feeling on Team Red that many Republican-aligned strategists would take this outcome in a heartbeat:
🔮 Owners of some of the stadiums on the tour, including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, made clear that they would not permit their venues to be used as a platform for Macklemore.
🔮 Therefore, the American people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will.”
2026-09-17 · assertive framing · Yes, the jihadis really do hate us for our freedoms
🔮 But in what is shaping up to be a blue-tinted year, some very problematic figures may get swept into power if voters decide to deliver a generalized backlash against the party in power.
2026-09-17 · assertive framing · Abdul el Sayed’s Hasan Piker problem
Also by Guy Benson
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 14 articles by Guy Benson →

Topics

Americans United 93

Subjects

Americans NORP · 1× Charlie Kirk PERSON · 1× United 93 ORG · 1×

Narrative

The death toll would have been even higher if not for the remarkable courage of the passengers aboard United 93, who fought back and saved innocent lives.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-11
🔮 The death toll would have been even higher if not for the remarkable courage of the passengers aboard United 93, who fought back and saved innocent lives.
2026-09-11 · Washington Examiner
Two solemn anniversaries and the cancer of political violence · assertive framing

Claims (5 extracted, 0 hedged)

Twenty-five years ago this week, jihadi terrorists hijacked commercial jetliners and weaponized them, murdering thousands of innocent people. asserted
terrorists → hijack → people
The death toll would have been even higher if not for the remarkable courage of the passengers aboard United 93, who fought back and saved innocent lives. asserted
who → fight → lives
One year ago this week, a hateful, radicalized leftist shot Charlie Kirk in the neck during a public event, killing the young father and husband. asserted
leftist → shoot → father
The haunting, horrifying images of both attacks stirred revulsion and righteous anger among millions of Americans. asserted
images → stir → Americans
They still do. asserted
They → do → ?
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