Today we’re bringing you the latest episode of Breaking History, the podcast where I go back in time, in order to make sense of the present. In the last episode, I told the story of how America won the Cold War. Today’s is inspired by the latest celebrity trial to begin in New York City next month. In the dock will be Luigi Mangione, the well-educated, good-looking young man who became a progressive icon last year, after he was accused of murdering a health insurance executive. But he’s just the latest in a long line of alleged terrorists who have been adored by civilized people—as you’ll realize, when you’ve heard the story of Ulrike Meinhof.
You can listen to the episode below, or keep scrolling to read a print adaptation of it. If you enjoy either, follow Breaking History on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
“Protest is when I say I don’t like this. Resistance is when I put an end to what I don’t like.” —Ulrike Meinhof
The first motions of a trial of a celebrity will start next month, in New York City. TMZ will fight with The New York Times for space inside the courthouse. Guards will be on hand to stop fans breaking up the proceedings. In the dock is a handsome young man who shot to fame last year after a cold-blooded murder in midtown Manhattan.
His name is Luigi Mangione.
Before Brian Thompson was shot dead, and Mangione was accused of the crime, no one had heard of this young man from Maryland. Now, he’s releasing statements from jail worthy of an A-lister. “I am overwhelmed by—and grateful for—everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support,” he recently announced, via his lawyer. “While it is impossible for me to reply to most letters,” it went on, “please know that I read every one that I receive.”
It’s the kind of thing you’d expect from Ringo Starr.
The face of Luigi Mangione has been printed onto T-shirts and projected onto skyscrapers. His name has been written on stickers, and those stickers have been stuck on lampposts from the Pacific Coast to Long Island Sound. He’s become the patron saint of all the progressives who believe that insurance execs like Thompson are evil, capitalist ogres. If only this insanity were unprecedented, but unfortunately it is not: Civilized people have fallen for terrorists before.
One terrorist in particular comes to mind.
She was a journalist who quit her magazine and went underground to rob banks and destroy capitalism. She bombed, killed, stole, and was worshipped for it. Marianne Faithfull dedicated songs to her. Joe Strummer wore T-shirts in her honor. Her portrait hangs in the permanent collection at the New York Museum of Modern Art.