Several prominent progressive figures have hedged on the shooting death of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson in 2018. New York CityThey said violence was wrong but conditioned their statements on the problems of the US health care system.
Luigi Mangione was arrested Monday after a manhunt and charged with Thompson's murder, which was committed outside a Manhattan hotel last week. Mangione has become a Popular hero of some on the far left Figures who feel Thompson's death is a deserved backlash against health insurance giants like UnitedHealthcare that deny coverage or charge high premiums.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., condemned the killing this week, but said Thompson's death should also serve as a “warning.”
“Violence is never the answer, but people can only be pushed so far,” she told HuffPost. “This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they lose confidence in the ability of their government to make change, they lose confidence in the ability of the people providing health care to make change, and they start to take things into account.” “At their own hands in ways that will ultimately pose a threat to everyone.”
Elizabeth Warren says killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO was a warning: 'You can only push people away'
Elizabeth Warren, Joy Reid, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (Getty Images)
Warren made similar comments to MSNBC host Joy Reid about Thompson's murder.
“People are very angry about health care, and I think it's for good reason, which is the denial of care, the whole system… killing the CEO is not the way you change,” Reid said. “You have to organize them.”
“We'll say that over and over again,” Warren said. “Violence is never the answer. This man who allegedly killed the CEO of UnitedHealth (Care) is on trial, but you can only push people so far and then they start taking matters into their own hands.”
Warren later retracted her comments to Fox News Digital.
“Violence is never the solution,” she said. “I should have been clearer that there was no justification for killing.”
Journalist Piers Morgan also clashed with left-wing journalist Taylor Lorenz over her apparent sympathy for Mangione during an episode of “Piers Morgan Uncensored” that aired Monday night. During the program, Lorenz admitted that she felt “joyed” by Thompson's death.
Piers Morgan unloaded on Taylor Lorenz on Monday for claiming she felt happy following the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Lorenz claimed she was referring to feeling euphoric that there was more discussion about the health care industry. (Screenshot/Piers Morgan uncensored)
When a shocked Morgan confronted Lorenz over her comments, calling Thompson a “husband and father,” Lorenz responded: “So are the tens of thousands of Americans he killed! And so are the tens of thousands of Americans, innocent Americans, who died.” Because greedy health insurance managers like this push a policy of denying care to the most vulnerable people.”
She later said that she had never felt “joy that that man died” but rather that more people were paying attention to the systemic problems in American health care.
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin read comments last week mocking Thompson’s death on social media, saying the celebration by some American audiences “reflects how people feel about their health care.” She once said, “Isn't that something?”
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“Our country is one of the only countries that does not have universal health care, and we do not take care of the elderly and people feel distressed,” Hostin said. (Screenshot/ABC)
“Our country is one of the only countries that does not have universal health care, and we do not take care of the elderly and people feel distressed,” Hostin said. “We talk about it all the time and I think people are really angry with the health care system, and unfortunately, that translates to this father.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., also spoke out after Thompson's killing, saying violence was not “justified” but that people viewed being denied health insurance as an act of aggression on their part.
“This does not mean that acts of violence are justified, but I think for anyone who is confused, shocked or terrified, they need to understand that people interpret, feel and experience dismissed allegations as an act of violence against them.” she said this week.
Fox News' David Rutz and Gabriel Hayes contributed to this report.
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