Rachel Maddow has linked Luigi Mangione, charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, with Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
The MSNBC host drew a connection between Mangione’s support for the Unabomber, and similar statements made by Blake Masters, who is reportedly in consideration to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Mangione, who has been charged with first-degree murder, previously wrote a positive review of the book Industrial Society and Its Future by Theodore Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber terrorist. Kaczynski killed three people and injured more than 20 others in bombings across the U.S. in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Mangione wrote on book review site Goodreads: “It’s easy to quickly and thoughtless write this off as the manifesto of a lunatic, in order to avoid facing some of the uncomfortable problems it identifies. But it’s simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out.”
Rachel Maddow finds a way to make the Luigi Mangione arrest about Trump lol: “the fact that he’s a professed Unabomber fan is unsettling. I might venture it’s even more unsettling that Donald Trump’s reported choice to run the ATF is also a self-professed fan of the Unabomber.” pic.twitter.com/9IiqY22b9f
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) December 10, 2024
Venture capitalist Masters, who ran for the Senate in Arizona in 2022, called Kaczynski a “subversive thinker,” during a podcast interview for that election.
MSNBC’s Maddow highlighted this similarity, saying on Tuesday morning, repeated in a post on X (formerly Twitter) by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein: “If it is him [Mangione], the fact that he’s a professed Unabomber fan is unsettling. I might mention that it’s even more unsettling that Donald Trump’s reported choice to run the ATF is also a self-professed fan of the Unabomber.”
Newsweek contacted Blake for a response to the comments via email out of working hours. Newsweek also contacted also the Trump transition team for a response to the comments and for clarification on whether Masters was being considered for the ATF position via email.
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Mangione was arrested on Monday morning after being recognized at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and was detained on weapons and forgery charges. Manhattan lawyers filed murder charges against him just hours later, according to The Associated Press. Mangione remains in custody in Pennsylvania, and is expected to be extradited to New York.
When Mangione was arrested, a handwritten manifesto was found on him that warned, “these parasites had it coming.” The full copy of the two-page document has not yet been released to the public.
Mangione’s family said in a statement: “Unfortunately, we cannot comment on news reports regarding Luigi Mangione. We only know what we have read in the media.
“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved. We are devastated by this news.”
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