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The Memo: Social media sympathy for killing of health insurance CEO sparks pushback

6 39
11.12.2024

The battle-lines over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the ethics of the healthcare industry, are deepening with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) the most high-profile politician yet weighing in on the matter.

Shapiro, who had been under consideration to be Vice President Harris’s running mate in this year’s election, pushed back hard against those who have sought to minimize the killing of Thompson.

Luigi Mangione, 26, has been charged with murder in the shooting death of Thompson in the early morning of Dec. 4, shortly before the executive was due to speak at an investor conference in midtown Manhattan.

Shapiro, speaking at a Monday evening news conference, said, “In some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. Hear me on this: he is no hero.”

Mangione was arrested in Shapiro’s state, having been recognized at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa.

Shapiro acknowledged that there were frustrations with the healthcare system but condemned those who view violence as a valid response to those concerns.

He said that he had worked for better healthcare provisions “throughout my career,” and then stated: “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. In a civil society, we are all less safe when ideologues engage in vigilante justice.”

The fact Shapiro found it necessary to make those remarks is telling in itself. There are, plainly, quite a few........

© The Hill


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