Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Brian Thompson, Not Luigi Mangione, Is the Real Working-Class Hero
d8a347b41db1ddee634e2d67d08798c102ef09ac
By The New York Times
Published 4 months ago on
December 14, 2024

This undated photo provided by UnitedHealth Group shows UnitedHealthcare chief executive officer Brian Thompson. (AP/UnitedHealth Group via AP)

Share


Bret Stephens
Opinion
Opinion by Bret Stephens on Dec. 12, 2024

One of the more moving stories in The New York Times this week is an account of the life of Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO who was gunned down on Dec. 4 outside of a New York hotel.

Thompson “grew up in a working-class family in Jewell, Iowa,” a tiny farming community north of Des Moines, Amy Julia Harris and Ernesto Londoño reported. “His mother was a beautician, according to family friends, and his father worked at a facility to store grain.” Thompson’s childhood was spent “going row by row through the fields to kill weeds with a knife, or working manual labor at turkey and hog farms.”

Those details are worth bearing in mind as some people seek to cast his killing as a tale of justified, or at least understandable, fury against faceless corporate greed. One ex-reporter, Taylor Lorenz, said she felt “joy” at the killing. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., offered that “violence is never the answer” but “people can only be pushed so far.” Pictures of Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old charged with the murder of Thompson, have also elicited a fair amount of oohing and ahhing on social media over his toned physique and bright smile.

But if Mangione’s personal story (at least what we know of it so far) is supposed to serve as some sort of parable, it isn’t one that progressives should take comfort in. He is the scion of a wealthy and prominent Maryland family, was educated at an elite private school and the University of Pennsylvania and worked remotely from a nice apartment in Hawaii. And while Mangione, like millions of people, apparently suffered from debilitating back pain, excellent health care is not generally an issue for Americans of great wealth.

All this suggests that Mangione may prove to be a figure out of a Dostoyevsky novel — Raskolnikov with a silver spoon. It’s a familiar type. Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, was a lawyer’s son whose mother moved him to London before he went on to become an international terrorist. Osama bin Laden came from immense wealth. Angry rich kids jacked up on radical, nihilistic philosophies can cause a lot of harm, not least to the working-class folks whose interests they pretend to champion.

As for the suggestion that Thompson’s murder should be an occasion to discuss Americans’ supposed rage at private health insurers, it’s worth pointing out that a 2023 survey from the nonpartisan health policy research institute KFF found that 81% of insured adults gave their health insurance plans a rating of “excellent” or “good.” Even a majority of those who say their health is “fair” or “poor” still broadly like their health insurance. No industry is perfect — nor is any health care model — and insurance companies make terrible calls all the time in the interest of cost savings. But the idea that those companies represent a unique evil in American life is divorced from the experience of most of their customers.

Thompson’s life may have been cut brutally short, but it will remain a model for how a talented and determined man from humble roots can still rise to the top of corporate life without the benefit of rich parents and an Ivy League degree. As for the killer, Sen. John Fetterman had the choicest words: He’s “going to die in prison,” the peerless Pennsylvania Democrat told HuffPost. “Congratulations if you want to celebrate that.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
c. 2024 The New York Times Company

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Virginia Giuffre, Voice in Epstein Sex Trafficking Scandal, Dies at 41

DON'T MISS

California Proposes Allowing Testing of Self-Driving Heavy-Duty Trucks

DON'T MISS

Higher Taxes on Millionaires? Trump Says He’s Open, but Many in His Party Are Not

DON'T MISS

Ex-US Rep. George Santos Sentenced to Over 7 Years in Prison for Fraud and Identity Theft

DON'T MISS

Selma Mayor Charged With Electioneering Violation on Election Day

DON'T MISS

Fresno Air Improves. Where Does It Rank in the US?

DON'T MISS

As Harris Ponders Run for CA Governor, Is She Prepared for the Daunting Job?

DON'T MISS

Stocks Rise With Tech-Related Shares, Notch Weekly Gains; Dollar Up

DON'T MISS

Conflicting US-China Talks Statements Add to Global Trade Confusion

DON'T MISS

Driving Near the Fresno Airport Next Week? Plan for Road Closures

UP NEXT

California Proposes Allowing Testing of Self-Driving Heavy-Duty Trucks

UP NEXT

Higher Taxes on Millionaires? Trump Says He’s Open, but Many in His Party Are Not

UP NEXT

Ex-US Rep. George Santos Sentenced to Over 7 Years in Prison for Fraud and Identity Theft

UP NEXT

Selma Mayor Charged With Electioneering Violation on Election Day

UP NEXT

Fresno Air Improves. Where Does It Rank in the US?

UP NEXT

As Harris Ponders Run for CA Governor, Is She Prepared for the Daunting Job?

UP NEXT

Stocks Rise With Tech-Related Shares, Notch Weekly Gains; Dollar Up

UP NEXT

Conflicting US-China Talks Statements Add to Global Trade Confusion

UP NEXT

Driving Near the Fresno Airport Next Week? Plan for Road Closures

UP NEXT

Misty Her: Push for Fresno Unified Turnaround Starts Now With ‘Boots on the Ground’

Ex-US Rep. George Santos Sentenced to Over 7 Years in Prison for Fraud and Identity Theft

4 hours ago

Selma Mayor Charged With Electioneering Violation on Election Day

4 hours ago

Fresno Air Improves. Where Does It Rank in the US?

4 hours ago

As Harris Ponders Run for CA Governor, Is She Prepared for the Daunting Job?

5 hours ago

Stocks Rise With Tech-Related Shares, Notch Weekly Gains; Dollar Up

5 hours ago

Conflicting US-China Talks Statements Add to Global Trade Confusion

5 hours ago

Driving Near the Fresno Airport Next Week? Plan for Road Closures

6 hours ago

Misty Her: Push for Fresno Unified Turnaround Starts Now With ‘Boots on the Ground’

6 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest 17 in Domestic Violence Crackdown

6 hours ago

What’s Next for Fresno Smoke Shop Ordinance: Lawsuit, Veto, Override?

7 hours ago

Virginia Giuffre, Voice in Epstein Sex Trafficking Scandal, Dies at 41

Virginia Giuffre, a former victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring who said she was “passed around like a platter of fruit” as a te...

4 minutes ago

Virginia Roberts Giuffre speaks to reporters in New York on Aug. 27, 2019. Giuffre, a former victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring who said she was “passed around like a platter of fruit” as a teenager to rich and powerful predators, including Prince Andrew of Britain, died on Friday at her farm in Western Australia. She was 41. (Jefferson Siegel/The New York Times)
4 minutes ago

Virginia Giuffre, Voice in Epstein Sex Trafficking Scandal, Dies at 41

4 hours ago

California Proposes Allowing Testing of Self-Driving Heavy-Duty Trucks

4 hours ago

Higher Taxes on Millionaires? Trump Says He’s Open, but Many in His Party Are Not

4 hours ago

Ex-US Rep. George Santos Sentenced to Over 7 Years in Prison for Fraud and Identity Theft

Selma Mayor Scott Robertson (left) has been charged with misdemeanor electioneering for allegedly campaigning near voters at a polling place during the November 2024 election. (Facebook)
4 hours ago

Selma Mayor Charged With Electioneering Violation on Election Day

4 hours ago

Fresno Air Improves. Where Does It Rank in the US?

5 hours ago

As Harris Ponders Run for CA Governor, Is She Prepared for the Daunting Job?

5 hours ago

Stocks Rise With Tech-Related Shares, Notch Weekly Gains; Dollar Up

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend