The Opinions - What the Glorification of Luigi Mangione Reveals About America

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

The political scientist Robert A. Pape has studied political violence for the past 30 years. In this episode of “The Opinions,” he describes what his research illuminates about the homicide of United Healthcare’s chief executive, Brian Thompson. Pape also explains why he is not surprised by the background of Luigi Mangione, who has been charged with the killing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is The Opinions, a show that brings you a mix of voices from New York Times opinion. You've heard the news. Here's what to make of it. I am Robert Pape. I'm a professor at the University of Chicago. I've been studying political violence for 30 years, and I've been watching the news about the alleged killer of the healthcare CEO. And what I have seen is lining up quite squarely with what we have found about the health care CEO. the growing normalization of political violence in America. Year after year, political violence is becoming more common, and we're seeing that support for political violence is growing across a range of issues.

Think about the political violence we've experienced just in the last few years. In 2022, we saw the attack against the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that missed her but almost killed her husband. In 2023, there was an assailant who had guns, weapons in his vehicle who was surveilling Barack Obama's home in Washington, D.C. This year, we saw two assassination attempts against Donald Trump. It's happening across the political spectrum, and violence is becoming more normal today than five, six years ago. Good afternoon, everyone. Earlier this morning, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, members of the Altoona Police Department arrested Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old male on firearms charges.

What we know about the motives of the shooting of Brian Thompson all point to a political motive. Authorities finding three pages of writings, which say, in part, frankly, these parasites had it coming. Investigators are now confirming that bullet casings found at the scene had words, including deny and delay written on them. The suspect in this case is clearly wanting to make a broader political point. And we are seeing what I would call a threshold-breaking attack, setting a new precedent. And that new precedent is already producing an outpouring of public support for the suspect on social media. The thing about this CEO in Luigi's situation is that we are witnessing a Robin Hood right before our very odds. A true Robin Hood.

That's Luigi's Manifesto. I guarantee you we all know someone, a family member, a friend getting denied, denied, denied. Pay more money if you want to live. And they wonder why we're not. Breaking news, Luigi Mangione of the alleged shooter is now in danger. Guess all the joints in both of his arms are currently in danger as he received a record number of high fives entering the jailhouse. There is now a hashtag that is trending called Free Luigi. What we are seeing is an outpouring of support that is essentially treating this individual as a kind of hero, a kind of Robin Hood.

The background of the alleged attacker virtually personifies the normalization of political violence. We're used to thinking of violent actors as being on the margins of society. If we looked at the perpetrators that the FBI was prosecuting for political violent attacks from, say, 2000 to 2015, these folks would be, half of the members of militia groups. A third of them would be unemployed. Well, that certainly doesn't fit the background of the alleged CEO killer, who is coming from

a privileged background, who's coming from an elite high school background. We're used to thinking that, oh, it must be these perpetrators of political violence are in some way losers or on the margins of society. And that

has been a profile that has a lot of empirical basis, but that is changing. The more political violence is spreading in America, the more we're seeing the wider profile of individuals who are committing political violence, and that wider profile starts to look like America itself. It is terribly important right now that national political leaders at all levels condemn political violence, condemn the murder of the health care CEO, and condemn the outpouring of support for the murder. We have found in our national surveys that 75 to 80 percent of Americans

abhor political violence. They want their political leaders to make bipartisan statements condemning political violence. And we have an example with Governor Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania discussing the arrest of the alleged shooter. Some attention in this case, especially online, has been deeply disturbing as some have looked to celebrate instead of condemning this killer. 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. This is exactly the kind of language that we need from our national political leaders. And it's something that we we also need in the national media. Many people have been asking why there was no political violence in the immediate aftermath of the November election. Well, our surveys actually give us insight into this. In our June survey, we found that 10% of Americans supported political violence to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president. while we ran another survey the week after the November election, and there we found that support for political violence against Trump fell by 50%. That's the first time we saw a significant drop in over a year

and a half. Why did that support for political violence fall? Well, if you look at the rhetoric by President Biden after the first Trump assassination attack, If you look at Kamala Harris's major statements after the second Trump assassination attempt, you will see there was a steady effort by Democrats and Republicans to condemn political violence in the months before the November election. The more we drive down support for political violence, the less likely it is to occur. We need a similar national conversation to not just condemn the act itself, but also to condemn the support for political violence and to redirect the anger.

There's no doubt. There is anger at our health care system. There's anger at our corporations. The question is, what is the right way to express that anger? Is it through violence or is it through politics? I would say for sure we should be redirecting that political anger. anger away from political violence and redirect it toward politics and voting. The ballot box, not guns, is the right way to settle disputes in America.

If you like this show, follow it on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. This show is produced by Derek Arthur, Sophia Alvarez Boyd, Veshaka, Phoebe Lett, Christina Samuoski, and Jillian Weinberger. It's edited by Kari Pitkin, Alison Brzeck, and Annie Rose Strasser. Engineering, mixing, and original music by Isaac Jones, Sonia Herrero, Pat McCusker, Carol Sabarrow, and Afim Shapiro. Additional music by Amin Sohota. The fact check team is Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker, and Michelle Harris. Audience Strategy by Shannon Busta, Christina Samuelski, and Adrian Rivera. The executive producer of Times Opinion Audio is Annie Rose Dresser.

Thank you.