When police identified Luigi Mangione as the primary suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a few weeks ago, observers on the Left and Right were quick to point out the tension between the young man’s background and the crime. The alleged perpetrator: A dashing, well-educated, recent Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family. The crime: Thompson, head of the nation’s largest health insurance company, was shot in the back as he entered a shareholder meeting.
In response to the explosion of online (and offline) support for the homicide, many rightly have expressed moral outrage. They should understand and call out in moral terms what the Southern District of New York has identified as a matter of law: that the whole American public has been subject to terrorism.