Allison Robbert/Pool/AFP via Getty Images; Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday commented on the shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the valorization of the suspect, Luigi Mangione.
"I think it's really terrible that some people seem to admire him," Trump told reporters at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago.
"That was a terrible thing. It was cold-blooded. Just a cold-blooded, horrible killing," Trump said of the killing.
While a broad swath of politicians have condemned the shooting, some progressive Democrats have also used the moment to take stock of Americans' frustrations with the healthcare industry, given that the public reaction to the shooting has not been universally negative.
"Of course, we don't want to see the chaos that vigilantism presents," Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told Business Insider last week. "We also don't want to see the extreme suffering that millions of Americans confront when your life changes overnight from a horrific diagnosis, and people are led to just some of the worst, not just health events, but the worst financial events of their and their family's lives."
Trump expressed bewilderment at the public reaction on Monday, speculating that some of it had been falsified.
"How people can like this guy, is… that's a sickness, actually," Trump said. "Maybe it's fake news, I don't know. It's hard to believe that can even be thought of, but it seems that there's a certain appetite for him. I don't get it."
President Trump on Luigi Mangione:
— Bobby LaValley (@Bobby_LaVallley) December 16, 2024
"I think it's really terrible that some people seem to admire him, like him... How people can like this guy is. That's a sickness, actually." pic.twitter.com/Ken6q4gdhI
