Washington Examiner columnist Guy Benson said it should “not be surprising” that left-wing streamer Hasan Piker seemingly justified Luigi Mangione’s alleged murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“Brian Thompson, as the UnitedHealthcare CEO, was engaging in a tremendous amount of social murder,” Piker said on the New York Times’s The Opinions podcast Wednesday.
Benson said Piker’s stance “should not be surprising, though unfortunate, given what this guy believes,” on Fox News’s Fox & Friends Thursday.
“Murder murder, as opposed to what he [Piker] calls social murder,” Benson said.
Piker said that many families have a shared experience with the healthcare system, where last moments with a loved one are spent on the phone with insurance providers, instead of with family.
“That is the reason why I think the reaction to Luigi Mangione, especially by younger generations, was not so negative,” Piker said.
Piker has been criticized for comments he made about 9/11 and antisemitism.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) addressed a letter to Congress on Oct. 29, 2024, raising concerns about Piker on the streaming platform Twitch.
“Here is Mr. Piker in his own words: ‘America deserved 9/11,’” Torres said. “The 3,000 Americans incinerated or otherwise murdered in the Twin Towers; the falling men and women plummeting to their deaths from 110-story skyscrapers; according to Mr. Piker, all of them had it coming. They deserved it.”
“This is a degenerate with insane extremist beliefs,” Benson said.
Benson also condemned Democrats who support Piker.
“What is most disturbing to me is him being folded into increasingly mainstream Democrat politics and given a platform repeatedly by the New York Times,” Benson said.
JUDGE POSTPONES LUIGI MANGIONE FEDERAL MURDER TRIAL TO OCTOBER
Benson said there seems to be a correlation between Islamism and hardcore leftism. He said it’s making people think about “embracing a guy or playing at least footsie with a guy who said that Hamas is a thousand times better than Israel.”
“It’s a pretty dark trend, I would say, in Democrat politics and does not speak well of our overall direction as a country,” Benson said.