Maine State Auditor Matt Dunlap sympathized with the man who assassinated UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson during a campaign event this weekend, in response to a Democrat activist who lamented the paucity of would-be assassins willing to murder health insurance executives.
“With a lack of Luigi Mangiones, what are we going to do about the insurance companies?” the blood-thirsty Democrat activist asked.
In video obtained by The Robinson Report, Dunlap appears to chuckle at the mention of the leftist celebrity, who has been indicted on eleven New York State charges and four federal charges in relation to Thompson’s shooting, including first-degree murder and terrorism.
Dunlap conceded that he doesn’t think murdering people is “necessarily” the proper avenue for health insurance reform. However, he did empathize with Mangione, the 27-year-old child of wealth and privilege whom young leftists have taken as their spirit animal, much as an earlier generation took Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev.
“Well, you know, obviously I don’t think shooting people down the street is necessarily the answer, but you understand why people get to that point,” said Dunlap.
Dunlap, who was the first Democratic candidate to declare his candidacy in the Democratic primary for Maine’s Second Congressional District, has held a state job for almost two decades, meaning he’s enjoyed the gold-plated health insurance that comes with working for the government.
He served fourteen years as Maine’s Secretary of State, eight years in the Maine House, and is currently in his second term as the state’s elected auditor.
Mangione stands accused of stalking and shooting Thompson in the back on a Midtown Manhattan sidewalk on Dec. 4, 2024, as the 50-year-old executive walked to his company’s annual investor conference.
The words “delay,” “deny,” and “depose” were reportedly scrawled on the spent shell casings — a riff on the well-worn left-wing slogan describing how insurance companies allegedly handle claims.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty. His state murder trial is currently scheduled to begin Sept. 8 in Manhattan. His federal trial was originally set to follow in October but has since been pushed into January 2027.
Federal prosecutors initially sought the death penalty. A Biden-appointed judge tossed the charge that would have allowed it.
Since the shooting, Mangione has become a folk hero in certain corners of the online left.
A GiveSendGo legal defense fund for him has raised more than $1.4 million. A warehouse arsonist in Los Angeles reportedly invoked his name in April after causing $600 million in damage.
Polling has consistently shown that voters under 30 and self-identified progressives view Mangione more favorably than they view the man he is accused of killing.
Dunlap is currently facing Jordan Wood, former Chief of Staff to U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), and State Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot).
The state auditor currently sits in second place in the limited public polling of the Democratic primary. A Pan Atlantic Omnibus survey released in March put Baldacci at 36 percent, Dunlap at 14 percent, and Wood at 12 percent, with 38 percent undecided. A University of New Hampshire poll the week before showed all three Democrats running essentially even with Republican former Gov. Paul LePage in hypothetical general-election matchups.
Whichever Democrat survives June 9 will be running in a district that voted for Trump by nine points eighteen months ago — a district in which LePage has historically been popular and electorally dominant.
He's an auditor. For the State. In Maine? Maybe he should concentrate on the day job and the millions in fraud ripping off Maine taxpayers. Ugh!
OMG. What is wrong with Democrats and their justification of murder and attempted murder ?