Democrats are facing backlash for their take on the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
As the head of the country’s largest insurance firm, Thompson’s murder, by a suspect police believe bore animosity toward the healthcare industry, sparked some controversial reactions. Some on the Left said his murder brought them “joy” because he represented the “greedy” corporations they believe have oppressed millions of Americans.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) condemned the violence but expressed that “you can only push people so far, and then they start to take matters into their own hands.”
Warren indicated during an MSNBC interview that she agreed people are angry “with good reason” at the insurance industry.
“The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system,” Warren told the Huffington Post when pressed on social media posts celebrating Thompson’s murder.
Warren faced criticism on X for her position, with one user saying the senator “believes that the disgusting act of a crazy communist reflects the hatred of the entire nation for insurance companies.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) also condemned the healthcare industry during a response to Thompson’s death.
“I think what the outpouring of anger at the healthcare industry tells us is that millions of people understand that healthcare is a human right and that you cannot have people in the insurance industry rejecting needed healthcare for people while they make billions of dollars in profit,” Sanders told the same outlet.
Both senators have been rebuked by people who believe they are excusing Thompson’s murder.
“We already knew this, but Warren and Sanders have no business being in elected office. They have essentially excused the murder of a healthcare executive, laying the groundwork for additional violence. Disqualifying,” one user said on X.
Taylor Lorenz, a journalist who formerly worked for the Washington Post, was also reprimanded after she initially said on Monday that Thompson’s murder sparked “joy” for her. Lorenz’s comments came as she lamented during a Piers Morgan Uncensored interview the “tens of thousands of Americans that [Thompson] murdered” and those who “died because greedy health insurance executives like this one push a policy of denying care to the most vulnerable people.”
Thompson’s death “feels like justice in this system when somebody responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans suffers the same fate as tens of thousands of Americans,” Lorenz added.
Host Piers Morgan asked Lorenz: “How can this make you joyful? This guy is a husband, he’s a father, and he’s been gunned down in the middle of Manhattan.”
"I felt, along with so many other Americans, joy…"
Piers Morgan is left astounded as Taylor Lorenz gives her thoughts on the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
https://t.co/4ZCtndddDg@piersmorgan | @TaylorLorenz pic.twitter.com/46OAoZmRG9
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) December 9, 2024
A report from Network Contagion Research Institute found that six of the top ten most-engaged posts on X about Thompson’s murder on the day it occurred “either expressed explicit or implicit support for the killing or denigrated the victim.”
“If we had universal healthcare like Bernie Sanders proposed, no one would be shooting insurance CEOs,” one user said.
“This needs to be the new norm,” another user wrote, “EAT THE RICH.”
Alex Goldenberg, a top adviser at the institute, said that the murder is “being framed as some opening blow in a broader class war, which is very concerning as it heightens the threat environment for similar actors to engage in similar acts of violence,” in comments to the New York Times.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a conservative voice in Congress, also expressed concern on Tuesday that Thompson’s murder had turned his suspected killer, Luigi Mangione, into a “hero” and launched a left-wing “political movement.”
“I’ve been watching this unfold, and I believe it’s the beginning of a political movement,” Greene said during an interview with Real America’s Voice. “What I’m more concerned about is we’ve seen the Left push for socialized medicine for years, you know?”
“Bernie Sanders had Medicare For All,” she continued. “I hope this doesn’t turn into where they take this guy they’re praising … and make him some sort of hero that they all worship and then pick up the mantra and go after other people.”
Other conservative commentators, including Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh, have criticized the “radical left-wing” for its stance on Thompson’s murder in warnings that political violence “may be coming back.”
Circumstantial evidence surrounding Thompson’s murder indicated that the gunman bore ill will toward the health insurance industry.
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Bullet casings left behind by the shooter at the crime scene had the words “depose,” “deny,” and “delay” written on them. The words are likely a reference to the similar “three Ds of insurance,” “deny,” “delay,” and “defend,” which are tactics used by insurance companies to avoid paying claims. The words also mirror the title of a book that denounces healthcare insurers, which became an Amazon bestseller following the shooting.
Mangione suffered from chronic back pain and is believed to have undergone spinal fusion surgery last July. At the time of his arrest at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Monday, Mangione was found with a handwritten document that criticized healthcare companies for putting profits above care, expressed ill will toward corporate America, and included a passage saying, “Frankly, these parasites had it coming.”
