Staff Reports
The recent comments from Taylor Lorenz regarding the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson have ignited a firestorm, and rightly so. In a world where basic decency seems to be in short supply, Lorenz’s bizarre attempt to frame the alleged killer, Luigi Mangione, as a “revolutionary” and “morally good” man is both disturbing and emblematic of a broader cultural rot. Rather than unequivocally condemning the murder of a husband and father, Lorenz chose to focus on Mangione’s supposed appeal and the anger of his supporters, painting a picture that dangerously flirts with excusing political violence.
What’s truly alarming is Lorenz’s repeated refusal to draw a clear moral line. When pressed by Sean Hannity and others to denounce the act, she danced around the issue, instead launching into diatribes about the flaws of the American healthcare system. She even admitted to feeling “joy” at the attention the murder brought to healthcare inequities, only backtracking after public outrage. This is not just tone-deaf; it’s a shocking abdication of journalistic responsibility. No matter how broken our healthcare system may be, celebrating or rationalizing assassination as a form of “symbolic justice” is a bridge too far.
The left’s obsession with framing every societal grievance as justification for extremism is on full display here. Lorenz’s rhetoric is not just irresponsible—it’s dangerous. By refusing to unequivocally condemn Mangione and instead amplifying the voices of those who praise him, she is normalizing the idea that violence against political or corporate targets is somehow understandable, even heroic. This is the logical endpoint of a media culture that has spent years excusing riots, property destruction, and now, apparently, murder, so long as it’s in the name of “justice.”
Conservatives have rightly called out this double standard. Imagine the uproar if a right-leaning journalist had even hinted at sympathy for someone who targeted a left-wing figure. The legacy media would be in full meltdown, demanding resignations and congressional hearings. Yet when it comes to leftist violence, the best we get is mealy-mouthed equivocation and hand-wringing about “systemic issues.” It’s no wonder trust in the media is at an all-time low.
If Lorenz and her ilk truly cared about fixing healthcare, they’d focus on real solutions—like increasing transparency, fostering competition, and rooting out fraud—rather than providing rhetorical cover for extremists. The American people deserve a healthcare debate that’s grounded in facts and compassion, not one poisoned by the glorification of violence. Until the left is willing to police its own and reject these dangerous narratives, don’t expect the rest of us to take their moral preening seriously.
