The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a cold December morning outside Manhattan’s Hilton Midtown was the kind of flashpoint event that divides a nation not just along ideological lines—but along fault lines of identity, influence, and insanity. The shooter, Luigi Mangione, was caught just days later, hundreds of miles away in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Found in his possession: a 3-D printed firearm equipped with a suppressor, and a fake driver’s license—the very one that tied him to a nearby hostel in New York where he lay in wait.
Yet the fallout of this corporate assassination has extended far beyond crime scenes and courtrooms.
Taylor Lorenz on murderer Luigi Mangioni: “Here’s this man who, who’s a revolutionary, who’s famous, who’s handsome, who’s young, who’s smart — he’s a person that seems like a morally good man, which is hard to find”pic.twitter.com/o2rmSu1MNV
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 13, 2025
While investigators worked to piece together the logistical steps leading to the shooting, the internet and media ecosystem surged forward with a narrative blitz of its own. And as surreal as it sounds, Mangione—accused assassin, 26 years old—has become a cause célèbre among a very specific subset of Americans.
Women gather at his court appearances. Social media simps him with the sort of thirst posts once reserved for pop stars. Former Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz practically wrote a hagiography for CNN, describing him as “a morally good man,” as if the bullet didn’t rip through one of the country’s most powerful healthcare executives in broad daylight. In any other era, this would read like satire. Today, it’s just another Tuesday in the post-truth media landscape.
CNN literally normalizing politically motivated assassinations. https://t.co/cSFrzclvmd
— RBe (@RBPundit) April 14, 2025
It would be tempting to dismiss this fringe adoration as noise, but it signals something deeper: a political and cultural identity crisis. The progressive coalition—once the banner of working-class solidarity and anti-corporate resistance—now appears increasingly centered on highly specific identity blocks: college-educated single women, segments of the LGBTQ+ community, and a hyper-online class of media influencers. These are not groups that wield majority political power on their own. But they do drive narratives. And sometimes, those narratives get reckless.
Even the alleged assassin’s supporters seem to exist in a paradox: celebrating Mangione not in spite of the violence, but because of it. Revolution cosplay collides with celebrity culture, and the rest of the world watches in horror—or confusion.
Donie – she’s not a journalist. She literally was hoping that a former president was dead this week. And now she’s somehow trying to justify that coward Luigi as you nod along.
The fact that you give this lunatic a platform says everything about your brand. https://t.co/CRKlBdY1FM
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) April 13, 2025
