Younger Generation Support for Luigi Mangione Reflects “A Strong Anti-Capitalist Trend on Campuses”

Younger Generation Support for Luigi Mangione Reflects “A Strong Anti-Capitalist Trend on Campuses”

I appeared this morning on Fox Business Network Mornings with Maria, with guest host Gerri Willis.

The topics included Joe Biden’s commutation of the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life in prison without possibility of parole. Three others – the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon Bombing, and the Tree of Life Synagogue (Pittsburgh) and Mother Emanuel AME Church (Charleston) massacres – remain on death row. We also discussed the 1499-person mass clemency and 39 pardons recently issued by Biden, the pardon of Biden’s son Hunter, and whether Biden will pardon other family members.

The last part of the interview turned to the Not Guilty plea entered by Luigi Mangione, the alleged murderer of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson, and polling that showed strong support for Mangione among the younger generation (ages 18-29).

• Most voters (68%) think the actions of the killer against Thompson were unacceptable, while 17% found them acceptable, an Emerson College poll out this week found.
• Young voters were far more split: 41% found the killer’s actions acceptable, while 40% found them unacceptable, per the poll. About 24% found them “somewhat acceptable” and 17% “completely acceptable.” ….
• Even before Mangione was arrested, posters hailed him as a folk hero and posted jokes and memes celebrating the suspect and his purported cause, Axios’ Ivana Saric reported.
• TikTok, a top social media app for young people, was awash with comedy over the killing.
• Online storefronts also began selling merchandise, including sweatshirts, wine tumblers and hats emblazoned with words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” — industry parlance found on shell casings at the crime scene….
• 22% of Democrats found the killer’s actions acceptable, while 59% found them unacceptable. Among Republicans, 12% found the actions acceptable while 16% of independents said the same.
• Men (19%) found the killer’s actions slightly more acceptable than women (14%).

Here is the video, with a partial transcript below.

Partial Transcript (auto-generated, may contain transcription errors, lightly edited for transcript clarity).

Willis (01:04):

…. Joining me now is Cornell University law professor and founder of EqualProtect.org. William Jacobson. William, what do you make of these commutations? I mean, it, it’s stunning to see what these individuals have done. Just awful. What do you say?

WAJ (01:23):

I think what’s stunning is how sweeping it is, that he’s not taking into consideration a particular case. He’s not taking into consideration whether somebody in prison has changed their life. The usual things that we look for when a commutation is done. None of that is true here. These are cold-blooded killers who’ve shown no remorse. They’re certainly not being, having their sentences commuted because they’ve found God and they’ve become religious in prison, anything like that.

This is a purely political move, and that’s what people need to understand. There is a wing of the Democratic Party, and not just the Democratic Party, but mostly the Democratic Party, which does not accept the death penalty under any circumstance. And if somebody does that for religious views, I I understand that, but this is purely political.

Willis (02:11):

Those weren’t the only commutations. President Biden also commuting the sentences of 1500 people and pardon 39. Earlier this month, it was the largest single day act of clemency in history. Biden has issued a total of more than 1600 commutations and 65 pardons. He’s still facing criticism, of course, for both sides of the aisle after pardoning his own son Hunter, a felony gun and tax charges. William, who do you think is next to receive a pardon? Maria believes the President’s brother James May be next. What do you say?

WAJ (02:45):

Well, I think that’s a logical thought, that he’s going to protect the family, protect the family business. I mean, Hunter wasn’t the only one. A lot of people have described him as the bag man for the family. And that may or may not be true, but I think the president’s brother, other family members, I think they’re all going to be protected because Joe Biden does not want them prosecuted for what could have amounted to payoffs to Joe Biden through a circuitous family route. So I think that that’s a good estimation.

I think you’re also going to see pardons of people who were involved in the investigations and prosecutions of Donald Trump. So I think that those prosecutors are going to get pardons, preemptive pardons. because Trump and others have announced that they’re going to be investigated, and they should be investigated as to whether they abused their power or not.

And I think you’re also going to see pardons for January 6th commission members. You’re going to see Liz Cheney, people like that, because what Joe Biden has been doing, and it’s really the team behind Joe Biden, is they have been using his pardon power as a sweeping political tool, both to get his son off the hook, but also I believe to protect his family and to protect his political legacy.

Willis (04:02):

I hope somebody starts reconsidering all of this. It just seems egregious to me that he uses it in any way he wants to and sets free these, these horrible criminals.

Let’s move on to the murder of this UnitedHealthcare, CEO. The suspect in that murder case, Luigi Mangione, pleading not guilty in a New York courtroom yesterday, Mangione is seen smiling in court after entering his plea. If convicted on the federal murder charges, he could face the death penalty. More than 30 protestors held up signs outside, and they’re chanting in support of the accused killer.

A new poll from Emerson College showing 41% of voters aged 18 to 29 call the killing of the UnitedHealthcare, CEO, Brian Thompson, acceptable. William, you teach law at Cornell. Why do you think so many younger folks out there are aligning with a murderer in this case?

WAJ (05:02):

I think what you’ve seen on campuses for multiple decades now is a demonization of our system, a presentation that our system is inherently corrupt, racially corrupt, and, that capitalism is bad. So there’s a strong anti-capitalist trend on campuses. It’s not the majority, but it’s enough that you do get some measure of the student body, of the younger generation, thinking that political crime is okay as long as it’s a bad person.

And so I think that’s what you’re seeing is a destruction of the values in the younger generation via the education system on the rule of law, of the notion that you just don’t get to kill people you don’t like. And so I think that’s a problem, I think, that this should be the reaction from the younger generation to this assassination, this premeditated assassination, which has resulted in a very rare first degree murder charge in New York State, because it’s an act, was an act considered an act of terrorism, which pushes it up from second degree murder to first degree murder. You’reseeing that reaction is something that is very frightening for our society, and I think you may see play out in other cases that people think it’s okay to kill somebody you disagree with or you think has a bad capitalist job.

Willis (06:26):

It’s just amazing. Jonathan, your thoughts?

Jonathan (06:28):

Yeah, I mean, you said something very profound. You talked about this sort of breakdown in scrupulous values that we have and that we’re seeing throughout our nation. And I wonder if you think, is that something that kind of prompted the red wave to happen? I mean this idea, this sense among families throughout our country that we need to get back to the scrupulous values that made our nation great in the first place. And one of them being not wanting to see someone die just because they work in a certain industry, whether it’s popular or unpopular, but this idea that the values we hold as a nation have been on trial for the last four years, and it’s time to return to what makes our nation great from a moral standpoint.

WAJ (07:14):

I think there’s no question there’s a pushback nationwide against the craziness of the campuses. And I work on a campus and, you know, Cornell’s not as bad as some, but campuses in general have some of the craziest ideas that you can imagine. Many of the campuses are run by incredibly radical faculty who have no accountability to anybody.

So yeah, I think there is a pushback. I saw think you saw that throughout the nation, and I think that one of the unique features of the most recent election was the blue collar workers, the working class, shifting over to the Republicans, which was not traditionally how it’s been. So I think there’s no question that society is looking at the campuses and saying, what is going on here? And I think that is part of the political pushback.

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.