Several politicians and candidates, mostly Republicans, expressed their outrage after a man allegedly vandalized the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City by spraying red paint on the landmark earlier this week.
Jonathan Tijerina, 31, was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and making graffiti for spray-painting the name of his anti-gun website, juststopkillingkids.com, on the part of the memorial that featured victims’ names. The incident occurred on Monday, but it didn’t widely gain traction on social media until Wednesday.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) was one of the most prominent political voices to denounce the “horrific” act of vandalism and call for a criminal prosecution.
New York “just commemorated the solemn 25th year anniversary of 9/11 honoring the victims, families, and first responders,” she posted on X. “This heinous criminal must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Former New York Republican Gov. George Pataki also weighed in on the “vile, disgraceful crime,” questioning how a person could do such a thing.
“What kind of person looks at the names of innocent people murdered on September 11 and decides to desecrate them?” he asked. “These are the names of people who never came home. People who kissed their children goodbye, went to work, and had their lives stolen. Their families come here to mourn. To see those names defaced is sickening.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) was more unforgiving in her words about the suspect.
“It takes a special kind of evil to vandalize the 9/11 Memorial,” she wrote. “Nearly 3,000 innocent Americans were murdered on September 11. Now some anti-American radical has used their memorial to push a political agenda. The 9/11 Memorial is SACRED GROUND. This is absolutely vile.”
Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt blamed “communist politicians” like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for seemingly inspiring the vandalism after the two socialists briefly laughed together at last month’s ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
They “laughed their asses off at the memorial and the very next month commies are desecrating it for the first time,” Pratt said. “Probably nothing.”
New York City Republican Councilwoman Vickie Paladino similarly pinned the blame on the mayor, dubbing the incident a result of the “Mamdani effect.”
Even a relatively unknown Republican candidate running for the New York State Assembly this year, Thomas Sullivan, commented on the incident.
“This is absolutely disgusting and deeply disrespectful to them and the thousands of other innocent lives lost that day,” he said. “This individual needs to be caught and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, a Democrat, called out the memorial’s defacement in a statement on social media and thanked the New York City Police Department for swiftly arresting the suspect. Menin was one of the only Democrats who made a public statement on the criminal act.
HOCHUL CAST DOUBT ON SOCIALISTS WINNING STATEWIDE IN NEW YORK DESPITE MAMDANI FRIENDSHIP
As of Wednesday afternoon, neither Mamdani nor Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) commented on the incident via social media.
Tijerina, a gun-control activist, posted a video of himself committing the vandalism before his arrest. The graffiti was promptly removed by officials, resulting in no permanent damage to the memorial.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
