Rachel Maddow Links Luigi Mangione to Donald Trump

Rachel Maddow has drawn a connection between Luigi Mangione, who is charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the incoming administration of Donald Trump.

On her MSNBC show, Maddow linked Mangione’s support for the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski, with similar remarks made by Blake Masters, a venture capitalist reportedly under consideration to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Mangione, facing first-degree murder charges, had previously written a positive review of Kaczynski’s book Industrial Society and Its Future on Goodreads. Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, was responsible for a series of bombings that killed three people and injured over 20 in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. In his review, Mangione dismissed the idea of labeling Kaczynski as simply a "lunatic" and instead suggested that many of his predictions about modern society were "prescient."

Blake Masters, who ran for Senate in Arizona in 2022, had described Kaczynski as a "subversive thinker" during a podcast interview while campaigning.

Maddow highlighted the unsettling similarity between Mangione’s views and Masters’ comments, sharing her concerns on-air and later amplifying them in a post on X (formerly Twitter) by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein. Maddow remarked, “If it is him [Mangione], the fact that he’s a professed Unabomber fan is unsettling. I might mention that it's even more unsettling that Donald Trump's reported choice to run the ATF is also a self-professed fan of the Unabomber.”

Newsweek reached out to Masters for a comment on these remarks, as well as to the Trump transition team to clarify whether Masters was being considered for the ATF role.

Mangione, arrested on Monday at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, faced charges of weapons possession and forgery. Later, Manhattan prosecutors filed murder charges against him. He remains in custody in Pennsylvania, awaiting extradition to New York.

When Mangione was apprehended, a handwritten manifesto was found, containing a statement warning, "these parasites had it coming." The full document has not been released to the public.

In response, Mangione’s family issued a statement expressing shock and devastation over his arrest. They offered condolences to Thompson’s family and urged prayers for everyone involved.