An Ivy League professor has revealed what he believes might have led Luigi Mangione to allegedly kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Mangione, 26, grew up in a prominent, wealthy Maryland family and spent his life attending prestigious private schools, earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Cornell Law Professor William Jacobson said fox news that Mangione’s educational background may have radicalized him, potentially inspiring him to murder Thompson.
“It’s pretty uniform across the Ivy League and other so-called elite educational institutions that their faculty is extremely left-leaning,” Jacobson explained.
“The modern Democratic Party…leans very much to the left, has a very strong anti-capitalist, anti-American wing…so I wouldn’t be surprised if someone who grows up and is educated in that atmosphere becomes radicalized.” .’
The law professor claimed that Ivy League educators have been promoting his personal value and trying to instill it in students for the past two or three decades.
“They don’t distinguish between their teaching and their activism,” he told Fox News.
‘That manifests itself more clearly. But it’s also somewhere else, on the anti-capitalist front… If you were brought up in that atmosphere, you could certainly understand why someone would have hostile views towards a health insurance company.’
Luigi Mangione, 26, has been arrested for allegedly murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare on December 5.
Cornell Law Professor William Jacobson believes Mangione’s elite educational background radicalized him.
Jacobson shared his theory after posts by a UPenn educator celebrating Thompson’s murder sparked outrage.
Assistant English professor Julia Alekseyeva shared a TikTok video praising the suspect and the fact that Mangione is a student at her university.
In response to Alekseyeva’s post, UPenn School of Arts and Sciences Vice Dean Jeffrey Kallberg told Fox News that “a lot of concern was raised.”
“His comments regarding the shooting of Brian Thompson in New York City were contrary to the values of both the College of Arts and Sciences and the University of Pennsylvania,” Kallberg said in a statement.
‘Neither the school nor the university tolerated them. Upon reflection, Associate Professor Alekseyeva agreed that the comments were insensitive and inappropriate and retracted them.
Mangione reportedly aligned himself with anti-capitalist ideologies. He was also found with a handwritten manifesto when he was arrested at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
The manifesto reportedly said: “To save you a lengthy investigation, I clearly state that I was not working with anyone.”
‘These parasites deserved it. “I apologize for any conflict and trauma, but it had to be done.”
Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4
Mangione was arrested at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s after a five-day manhunt
One of the alleged shooter’s friends told DailyMail.com that Mangione was actually “anti-woke” and was left-wing in some ways and right-wing in others.
“For example, he was pro-equal opportunity, but anti-woke: for example, against DEI policy (and) against identity,” explained Gurwinder Bhogal, a UK-based writer who met Mangione in line.
‘He opposed wokeness because he didn’t believe it was an effective way to help minorities.
“He expressed interest in more rational, evidence-based forms of compassion, such as effective altruism.”
Bhogal said he and Mangione discussed the differences between the UK and US healthcare systems.
“Luigi complained about how expensive healthcare was in the US and expressed envy of the UK’s nationalized healthcare system,” he revealed.
Bhogal, who runs a political blog called The Prism, said they discussed the actions of ‘Unabomber’ Ted Kaczynski, who used terrorism to campaign against modern technology.
Mangione previously appeared to praise Kaczynski in a Goodreads review.
Mangione was allegedly found with a manifesto when he was arrested on December 9.
“Luigi disapproved of the Unabomber’s actions, but was fascinated by his ideology and shared his concerns about rampant consumerism that was gradually eroding our agency and distancing us from ourselves,” Bhogal said.
The blogger speculated that material Mangione read on social media could be what sparked his alleged crime.
Another theory surrounding Mangione’s alleged actions is that he suffered from severe, chronic back pain, which became an obsession with the health industry.
Mangione’s college roommate, RJ Martin, said the suspect was in so much pain that he couldn’t be physically intimate with anyone.
Martin also recalled how he, Mangione and other students discussed health care and capitalism.
But he insisted that the alleged killer never gave the impression of being angry or radicalized.
He added that Mangione did not complain of back pain and did not appear to be taking any type of pain medication.
Mangione was arrested on December 9 after a five-day manhunt. He has been charged with second-degree murder.
Mangione’s friends have put forward other theories about what may have caused him to attack.
The Maryland native comes from a wealthy family and attended an Ivy League university.
He also faces charges of second- and third-degree possession of a weapon and second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument in Thompson’s murder.
On December 10, on his way inside a Pennsylvania courthouse to fight extradition to New York, an agitated Mangione shouted: “This is completely unfair and an insult to the American people.”
He also called out journalists for being “completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience.”
Jacobson reiterated his belief that Thompson’s death was not a random act and that Mangione’s life experiences could have led him to allegedly shoot and kill the CEO.
“I think people need to focus on what the evidence is, what in his background could have radicalized him…what in his background would have led him to engage in such an elaborate plot,” he told Fox News.
‘This is not a spontaneous act of violence. Evidently, this was clearly planned.