Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is under fire for her statement to Joy Reid on MSNBC explaining why Luigi Mangione allegedly murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Warren explained that this was a “warning ” that “you can only push people so far.” After a public outcry, Warren walked back her statement. Yet, the statement captures the growing radicalism on the left, particularly among anti-capitalist, Democratic Socialists, and other groups. It is also notable how many of the same political and media figures who were apoplectic and unrelenting over the false claim about Trump’s “fine people on both sides” statement are largely disinterested in this and other extreme comments on the left.
Reid has long been criticized for racist and extremist commentary. Warren seemed eager to play to the far-left audience after first noting that “Violence is never the answer,” but then adding the warning to others that “you can only push people so far, and then they start to take matters into their own hands.”
The senator explained that
“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 health care system.
Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far. This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they lose faith in the ability of their government to make change, lose faith in the ability of the people who are providing the health care to make change, and start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone.”
The comments came after various pundits and citizens celebrated the killing, including the former Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz, who expressed “joy” over the murder (only to walk that back like Warren). Some have defended Lorenz and explained how, while they may not express joy, they understand where “she is coming from” in celebrating the murder of a healthcare executive.
Wanted posters have appeared throughout New York with the images of other CEOs (and of Thompson with a red X across his face).
It is the same moral relativism that we have long seen in higher education on the left where violent rhetoric against conservatives or capitalists is common.
As previously discussed, such statements include professors writing about “detonating white people,” abolish[ing] white people, denouncing police, calling for Republicans to suffer, strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservative protesters and other outrageous statements.
We also discussed the free speech rights of University of Rhode Island professor Erik Loomis, who defended the murder of a conservative protester and said that he saw “nothing wrong” with such acts of violence. (Loomis, who has written for the New York Times, was later made Director of Graduate Studies of History at Rhode Island).
It is unclear if Mangione’s anti-capitalist views brought him into contact with known violent groups on the left, including Antifa. Just days before the murder, I wrote about how a liberal media site was selling Antifa products in celebration of the anti-free speech, violent group.
The different treatment given the statements of Trump and Warren are striking. Notably, the false claim received endless coverage and is still reported by the media despite being debunked. The Charlottesville controversy occurred at the start of Trump’s presidency and showed how the media was not interested in whether stories were true in the shift to open advocacy journalism.
What was evident to many of us listening was that Trump was referring to the debate over the removal of controversial historical statutes and noting that there were “very fine people on both sides.” As Snopes belatedly recognized years later, “while Trump did say that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and white supremacists and said they should be ‘condemned totally.'”
None of that mattered (or continues to matter to some) in the media because the narrative was better than the facts. Many in the media did not even acknowledge that Trump denied the spin given by his opponents and said that he was referring to the underlying issue of the protest. The statement was treated as demonstrably and unequivocally endorsing violence. It is the same reason why the statement of Warren and many on the left have not been given the same level of public condemnation even in the face of an actual murder. It does not fit the narrative.
Many celebrated Warren’s warning and the implied rationalization for the murder. Others praised her gutsy take.
The far-left publication The New Republic reported the Warren statement in positive terms in an article titled “Senator Elizabeth Warren had an awfully real reaction to the shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.”
TNR has been one of the promulgators of this story and attacked Trump in 2024 in what it called a “new” defense over his comments despite the fact that he has always maintained that he was referring to the overall protest over the monument. TNR also attacked Snopes for its fact check and “helping Trump.”
As I discuss in my book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” politicians use rage rhetoric to ride waves of public anger and garner supporters on the extremes of our political system. The same motive has led some Democratic leaders to embrace Antifa in the past. However, these establishment figures often find that being embraced as a revolutionary today often means that you are viewed as a reactionary tomorrow by the same radical allies in these movements.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Senator Warren is attempting to turn what appears to be a cold blooded murder into a crime of passion based on little evidence. If I catch, In flagrante delicto, some man in bed with my wife and blow him away, that would be crime of passion and generally people would be sympathetic with me. However, if I am caught shooting on the street a stranger in the back, that would be cold blooded murder and no rational person would be sympathetic with that. In our cultural tradition, the why is considered as important as the what.
The fact that Luigi put days or weeks of planning into the operation and 3-d printed the weapons sure sounds like pre-meditation to me!
Soviet
I disagree arnold. The premium payor’s are who prop up healthcare. When 75% are on govt insurance that doesn’t “pay” a minority is stuck with the bill. That minority can not get solution democratic. They pay dearly in real money but are denied themselves. 75% have govt insurance which does not pay – so its made up on the people forced to. And who can’t as minority change it. Obama cares mandate solidified that the minority would pay for the majority. Would funnel 20 cent every health care dollar through a skimmer. Like uhg. For his 43 million a year theft package. Govt is guilty as him to be sure.
75% are now govt payor – but govt doesn’t pay. It “allows” like 2 bucks for an inr or 16 for an X-Ray – it costs more than that so the less influential are bilked more via their insurance prememius. Their insurance props it all the care up. Ceos get a cut of every health care dollar – not because they insure risk but because they prop up the whole affair that has to charge more because govt a!lowlands is a joke. Can you imagine paying 15000 a year and being denied coverage for what you paid for? And a huge deductible – your money is supporting everyone else – whilst you are the minority paying all of it. And no all the costs are washed via an insurance company that takes 20 cent every health dollar whether nk t insuring a risk or not. It’s their windfall – because govt insurance doesn’t pay – its made up on the backs forced to.
Its worse than greed – its a sick rent seeking out of proportion – the CEO deserved what he got. A death sentence. He was powerful – he could have said this is wrong and doesn’t make sense – but he took the minority money and got rich….not by free markets but by exploitation. I am satisfied a man gave him justice. Because the minority never could have. The minoity who props it up. the majorities Allowable amounts made up off the minority. Kma.
I am struck by the readiness of people like Joy Reid and Senator Warren to ascribe motivation of a crime before knowing very much about it. Should we not be a bit more patient and let the facts of the case and history and thinking of the defendant be more developed before jumping to conclusions? (The adjoining post by Prof Turley about the Duke Lacrosse players is a timely cautionary tale not to jump to early conclusions based on limited evidence.) I know that comments advocating for “wait and see” do not get many clicks but it can sure keep the commentator from looking deranged or stupid. Senator Warren’s off the cuff comments are going to live forever and I suspect (hope) not age well. Originally used in a different context but generally applicable: Cognoscetis Veritatem et Veritas Liberabit Vos!
” before knowing very much about it.” What can you possibly know that everyone else dosen’t. Pompus fool.
so if this is the result of the Healthcare insurance companies pushing people too far, are we then justified to shoot Democrats for pushing their woke ideologies too far?
For the left to idolize this murderer shows how far the crazy left has gone. They can only hope that those of us on the right don’t take their lead and say we were pushed too far.
She is a nut job that is a liar . She should be removed from the senate immediately. She falsely said she was a American Indian to gain minority status send her to a reservation for liars
Liz Warren got herself into Harvard by fabricating the lie she had Native American roots (Cherokee).
The DNA test showed something like ‘1 / 1024 th’ She tried to explain it away with this story that her grandmother or great-grandmother had always told the ‘family history’ and Liz seemed to remember part of that history was that she had Cherokee blood —- yeah, right!
And yet, a majority of voters in Massachusetts continue to vote for her — how come is that?
The US healthcare industry has the power of life and death over American citizens, awarded to it by Washington swamp, with the help of power mad lobbyists creating that laws directly impact everyone in America.
I recall the description of a genocide participant, also empowered by the state and became the face of the Nazi genocide machine. “The banality of evil”, Adolf Eichmann a cog in a machine that eradicated millions because the state allowed it, demanded it. Thompson is no different than Eichman, a banal bureaucrat, an ordinary guy, wife, kids, a salary ($10 M), a bonus plan, stock options (ca. $15 M recently cashed ), and topped off with the power of life and death over ordinary, faceless American citizens.
For what he did to Americans, I have no pity for him.
He was just doing his job.
Beth Warren and Chuck Schumer have more conteil than a health insurance company.
Andnlike you, sir, they have pushed us too far.
You still wanna deny empathy for the guy who got s hot IN THE BACK BY A SPOILED IVY LEAGUE SOY BOY WHO THOUGHT HE WAS A REVOLUTIONARY FROM THE BOOKSTORE?
I’m quite sure once some of the Bubbas and Bothas see him in the shower he will understand what bits like to be slapped on the back…multiple times if there is justice.
Shoot in the back? Another progressive. He’s a punk and his supporters, the chicks of course, are typical.modern womyn.
Hey anon, you have more hate in your comment than the guy you’re critizing.
Why hate on an ivy league – case of social anexity? Been rejected?
Gotta do something about that hate there bubba.
The other guy got it right, he was just doing his job. And he was amply rewarded for hurting millions. Somehow that strikes a cord with many people.
Obama did this to America. So, you would be okay if the same happened to him??
We don’t know, do we, what the UHC president or UHC “did to Americans”? UHC and other insurers surely have the power to harm Americans, and surely sometimes do, but behind those types of comments is an assumption that a warm-hearted, loving government health plan will approve a patient’s every desire. We have all read stories about UK’s National Health Plan’s denying an operation or forcing a patient to wait months or years for it, keeping the patient in a bind or despair or, if the patient can afford it, forcing him to fly to the US to purchase the operation.
We also know that the media, once they and pols have settled on an accusation, stick with it despite its being contrary to the facts. When I heard Trump say “both sides,” it was clear to me then, and many hearings later, that he was referring to the controversy about removing Lee’s statue (and Trump was right). On another issue, the AP continues to say that the bunch that crowded into the Capitol were taking part in an insurrection, when the government’s charges against individuals have seldom, if ever, made that claim because they know it cannot stick. Democrats claim DT is a fascist, but DT sailed in the heart of the Constitution in his first term while Joe and Obama frequently exceeded its borders, sometimes acknowledging lawyers told them they lacked the authority but “we’ll give it a try”.
What Mr. Thompson did for a living and how you feel about it are irrelevant. The dirty little coward who shot Mr. Thompson is a murderer. That’s all there is to it.
You may believe that shitcanning the concept of rule of law–that protects all citizens–is a good idea. I don’t. We’ll simply have to agree to disagree and hate each other’s guts.
She is advocating murder, but of course will lie and deny it. The left has a long history of inciting violence against anything or anyone they don’t like. You could also argue you can ‘only push people so far’ as they have to sit and watch as people like her get high paying jobs by outright lying about their heritage, to attain that much coveted ‘victim status’ that liberals see as more valuable than 24 k gold.