Michael P. McDonald
Director of Communications
Most Americans were shocked to learn that an innocent man, Brian Thompson, was murdered simply because he was an insurance man; he was the United Healthcare CEO. They were also shocked to learn that a former Marine, Daniel Penny, was being tried for manslaughter: he put his life at risk trying to subdue a crazed man on a New York subway who threatened to kill passengers; it ended with the death of the offender.
But in the mind of left-wing haters, Thompson deserved to be killed and Penny was probably guilty.
The author Joyce Carol Oates took to social media to claim that the outpouring of negative sentiments toward slain United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson “is better described as cries from the heart of a deeply wounded & betrayed country; hundreds of thousands of Americans shamelessly exploited by health-care insurers reacting to a single act of violence against just one of their multimillionaire executives.”
Oates, however, took a different approach to Daniel Penny. She questioned if the decision to dismiss the manslaughter charge was “based on law.” Oates accused Penny of homicide and wondered if there were “mitigating circumstances” that would have led to the dismissal.
Beau Forte, a former Green Party candidate for Congress in New Jersey, said, “Currently, over 1,000 people go bankrupt daily, solely due to personal medical bills. Anyone who can make millions of dollars overseeing a system like this, and sleep well at night doesn’t deserve my sympathy.” Forte additionally opined on social media “that the world is a better place because of” Thompson’s murder.
Forte posted on social media that he did not know enough about the Daniel Penny case to make an informed statement if Penny “was guilty or not.” Forte, however, went on to push the racist lie “that If [sic] you swapped the races in this case, the jury would not be deadlocked.”
Anthony Zenkus, a senior lecturer at Columbia, is more of an activist than an academic. According to his profile on Columbia’s website, he is involved with racial justice, income inequality, and climate justice. He has served as an organizer for Occupy Wall Street, the fight for a $15 minimum wage, Al Gore’s climate initiative, and supports Black Lives Matter.
Zenkus posted online, “Today, we mourn the death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, gunned down…wait, I’m sorry—today we mourn the deaths of the 68,000 Americans who needlessly die each year so that insurance company execs like Brian Thompson can become multimillionaires.” His X account is littered with sympathy for the shooter and scornful of anyone showing remorse for Thompson.
Zenkus did not make any statements on the Daniel Penny verdict, but when the incident first happened he posted on social media, “Daniel Penny was trained. Daniel Penny knew exactly what he was doing to Jordan Neely [sic]. Daniel Penny murdered Jordan Neely. Arrest Daniel Penny.”
The ladies on ABC’s “The View” were quick to defend Jordan Neely and cast aspersions on Daniel Penny. Whoopi Goldberg sympathized with Neely stating that “he was an ill man” and argued that the death of his mother “set him off on his mental path.” Co-host Sunny Hostin referred to Neely as “a former Michael Jackson impersonator” and suggested he was “hungry and thirsty” and less of a threat. Both Goldberg and Hostin asked several times “where is our compassion as a society” for Neely.
As for the murder of Thompson, co-hosts of “The View” took a different tone. Sara Haines took point accusing health insurance companies of acting “like a criminal racket.” Meanwhile, Hostin referred to the gunman as “young” and “promising.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA-D) commented on the murder of Thompson noting, “Violence is never the answer, but people can only be pushed so far.” She went on to say, “This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they…start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone.”
Senator Bernie Sanders (VT-I) commented on the Thompson murder by arguing that the “anger at healthcare industry tells us…you cannot have people in the insurance industry rejecting needed healthcare for people while they make billions of dollars in profit.”
Yolanda Wilson, Ph.D., an associate professor of health care ethics at St. Louis University, wrote on social media “While I’m not rejoicing about UHC CEO being shot dead in the street, I’m not sad about it, either. People deserve better than the US health insurance industry, and chickens come home to roost.”
Following Penny’s acquittal, Hawk Newsome, a cofounder of Black Lives Matter, stated, “We need some black vigilantes.” It is worth restating the George Floyd riots that Black Lives Matter participated in contributed to the death or injuries of dozens of people and caused between $1 and $2 billion dollars worth of damage.
What happened to Thompson was inexcusable. What Penny did was honorable. Unfortunately, 41 percent of those under the age of 30 found Thompson’s killing acceptable. This tells us more about what they are learning in school and from social media than anything else.
