I WAS GOING TO TITLE THIS “TRUMP NAMES LUIGI MANGIONE TO JUSTICE DEPARTMENT POST,” but decided that Andy Borowitz would do a better job with the satire.
Clik here to view.
I read Robert A. Pape’s insightful “What the Glorification of Luigi Mangione Reveals About America” in The New York Times, December 12, 2024, and it got me thinking.
Clik here to view.
A Phrase’s Origin. In early 2016 NPR quoted presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign stop at Dordt College: He boasted “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.”
Indeed, he weaved the location one over from Sixth.
“The businessman,” NPR continued, “whose Trump Tower stands on a major Manhattan thoroughfare, cracked the joke Saturday to a receptive audience at the Christian college.”
Trump, the Standup Comic. Several points cited here are telling. With regard to Trump Tower, see “Art Deco, The Met, The Polish Brigade, Trump and Truth.” That Trump’s comment was received by “a receptive audience at a Christian college” is chilling in retrospect. And NPR’s writing that he “cracked the joke” brought up another of his standup comic routines: “locker room talk” about grabbing women’s genitals.
Clik here to view.
Professor Pape’s Views. Robert Pape writes, “I’m a professor at the University of Chicago. I’ve been studying political violence for 30 years, and I’ve been watching the news about the alleged killer of the UnitedHealthcare C.E.O., Brian Thompson.”
Pape says, “Year after year, political violence is becoming more common, and we’re seeing that support for political violence is growing across a range of issues.”
He cites examples: “In 2022 we saw the attack against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that missed her but almost killed her husband. In 2023 there was an assailant who had weapons in his vehicle, and he was surveilling President Barack Obama’s home in Washington, D.C. This year we saw two assassination attempts against Donald Trump.”
Something New. Pape observes, “We’re used to thinking of violent actors as being on the margins of society. If we looked at the perpetrators that the F.B.I. was prosecuting for political violent attacks from, say, 2000 to 2015, these folks would be members of militia groups; a third of them would be unemployed. That certainly doesn’t fit the background of the alleged C.E.O. killer, who is coming from a privileged, elite high school background.”
What’s more, Pape notes, there has been “an outpouring of support that is essentially treating this individual as a kind of hero or a Robin Hood.”
A Crucial Time. Pape stresses, “It is terribly important right now that national political leaders at all levels condemn political violence and the murder of the health care C.E.O. and condemn the outpouring of support for the murder. We have found in our national surveys that 75 to 80 percent of Americans abhor political violence. They want their political leaders to make bipartisan statements condemning political violence. We have an example with Gov. Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania discussing the arrest of the alleged shooter.”
An Archived Clip of Gov. Shapiro: “Some attention in this case,” the Governor said, “especially online, has been deeply disturbing, as some have looked to celebrate instead of condemning this killer. I understand people have real frustration with our health care system, but I have no tolerance, nor should anyone, for one man using an illegal ghost gun to murder someone because he thinks his opinion matters most.”
Pape says, “This is exactly the kind of language that we need from our national political leaders, and it’s something that we also need in the national media.”
Clik here to view.
And, for occasional relief, I also believe there’s room for satire. Which is what got us into this today. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024