The political left is giving Luigi Mangione the Che Guevara treatment.
Images of the man accused of killing the CEO of the nation’s largest health insurance company are splashed across T-shirts, coffee cups and other merchandise being hawked online and on the streets of New York City.
Meanwhile, a group born out of Sen. Bernard Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign is walking a tightrope of sympathy after the high-profile execution in Manhattan, suggesting, in this instance, that vigilante justice has a silver lining.
“We want to be unequivocal: we condemn the murder of UnitedHealth Group’s CEO. Violence is never the answer. But we can’t ignore that this rage is rooted in reality, and we’ve all felt it,” Our Revolution said in a fundraising email.
“Half a million families go bankrupt each year from medical debt, and millions are harmed because their care is delayed or denied,” said the email, which included the subject headline “What Luigi Mangione means for Our Revolution.”
The group has been a chief advocate for Medicare for All, taxing the wealthy and kneecapping corporations it accuses of putting “profits over people.”
SEE ALSO: Gun casings, fingerprints tie Luigi Mangione to UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing, police say
Mr. Sanders said killing anybody is “abhorrent and immoral” and added a “but.”
“I condemn it wholeheartedly. It was a terrible act. But what it did show online is that many, many people are furious at the health insurance companies who make huge profits denying them and their families the health care that they desperately need,” the Vermont independent said in an interview with Jacobin magazine. “What you’re seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current health care system. It is broken. It is cruel.”
This quasi-embrace or nod of understanding of Mr. Mangione disgusted Republicans.
Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, said it is “tragic” and “sick” that the “murderer has been widely celebrated by leftists online.”
“Leftism is a mental disease,” he said.
Mr. Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Baltimore family, has been charged with gunning down Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, as he walked into a company investors conference in midtown Manhattan last week.
Caught on camera, the brazen killing was met with horror and jubilation. It sparked a massive six-day manhunt that captured the attention of the nation and ended when Mr. Mangione was arrested Monday at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Law enforcement officials said he was carrying a manifesto saying companies “continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it.”
He also criticized health care companies for prioritizing profits over care.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, lamented in a press conference that some of the reaction to the killing, in particular on the internet, has been “deeply disturbing as some have looked to celebrate, instead of condemning, this killer.”
“In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint,” Mr. Shapiro said. “I understand people have real frustration with our health care system. … But I have no tolerance, nor should anyone, for one man using an illegal ghost gun to murder someone because he thinks his opinion matters most.”
Despite that, people have lionized Mr. Mangione while airing their grievances and outright hostility toward the health insurance industry.
A pop culture twist is the sale of T-shirts featuring the images of Luigi from the Mario Bros. video games holding a pistol with a silencer and emblazoned with “Free Luigi.”
Another says, “In this house, Luigi Mangione is a hero, end of story.”
“Wanted” posters around Manhattan include images of corporate executives and the warning: “UnitedHealthcare killed everyday people for the sake of profit. As a result, Brian Thompson was denied his claim to life. Who will be denied next?” and “Wall Street CEOs Should Not Feel Safe, Deny, Defend, Depose.”
Bullets used to kill Mr. Thompson were reportedly inscribed with the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose.” Those words are also featured on clothing.
That pro-killer sentiment has gone viral across the internet and spilled out over the radio airwaves, with callers bluntly cheering on Mr. Mangione and saying Mr. Thompson, a 50-year-old married father of two, got what he deserved.
“If the system doesn’t work, maybe sometimes somebody has to take measures into their own hands,” a caller said this week on Michael Smerconish’s show. “It is too bad, but that is the reality we live in.”
“People like this are killing tens of thousands of people every year, and of course, they get away with it because they pay off the politicians that make the laws,” the caller said.
The New York Times reported that shortly after Mr. Mangione’s arrest, a young woman held a sign that said, “Corrupt insurance CEOs have got to go.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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