Luigi Mangione and the left’s warped choice of heroes

Luigi Mangione has yet another day in court. A fresh collection of glamorous perp walk photos will emerge. Sexy orange-jumpsuit clad come-hither glances are forthcoming. This will surely appeal to his many fans – his stans – who’ve been dying to get a fresh look at their alleged murderous dreamboat. 

Luigi’s re-emergence comes at the end of an extraordinary week where the American left embraced a rogue’s gallery of villains so ridiculous that they almost seem fictional. You have Mangione, accused of shooting a healthcare CEO in cold blood; Mahmoud Khalil, who faces deportation for his role in Columbia’s radical protests; and the latest entry into the sinister sweepstakes, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Democrats tied themselves in knots this week “saying his name” and demanding Garcia’s release from a Salvadoran prison. In the sickest of burns, the Justice Department released evidence showing police officer assessment in 2019 that Garcia was, in fact, affiliated with MS-13. They also produced an old restraining order against him because he’d allegedly hit his wife. Compelling process arguments surrounding Garcia’s detention aside, this is a collection of figures so dastardly you’d almost expect Daredevil to burst through the window to hand-fight them. Instead, Democrats, shrinking their withering minority position by another 20 percent, have drawn a squiggly line in the sand.

We’ve been down this path of questionable standard-bearers before. In 2020, the resistance demanded we worship Dr. Fauci and burned down city blocks on behalf of George Floyd. But at least Floyd died in conflict with the police. He had a claim to martyrdom (and Dr. Fauci was on the cover of In Style). The current group, for all the drama surrounding their imprisonments, are still very much alive, their morality still very much in question. And yet we bumble forward, trying to make heroes out of molehills.

The week that has felt like a year started with media personality Taylor Lorenz popping onto CNN to say about Luigi, “You’re going to see women especially that feel like, ‘Oh my God,’ right? Here’s this man who’s revolutionary, who’s famous, who’s handsome, who is young, who’s smart. He’s a person that seems like this morally good man, which is hard to find.” That’s definitely going to be one of the year’s most insane quotes. Lorenz has repeatedly tried to walk it back, saying that she didn’t mean herself personally. Regardless, it was gushing. She and the show’s host laughed about it like they were gossiping about the Real Housewives with Andy Cohen. Luigi, the icon. Luigi, the folk hero.

Meanwhile the resistance was gearing up to back Mahmoud Khalil in a street fight, but Abrego Garcia’s story took precedence. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen made a big show of flying down to Central America to accomplish nothing, something I used to do in the 1990s when I wanted to boogie board and take drugs. Meanwhile, the US government was releasing information that made sure to label Garcia as the ultimate “bad hombre.”

The framing is absolutely horrible for the Democrats. I have serious doubts as to whether the Trump Administration’s policies will make Americans wealthier and safer. But at least they’re paying lip service to the problems that ordinary people in ordinary situations face. Meanwhile, the Democrats look like they’re mostly concerned about defending alleged assassins and gang members. Not ideal.

These aren’t obscure strategies, either. James Carville, the quotable Crypt-Keeper of Democratic messaging strategy, has said that they need to double down on the Abrego Garcia case. To him, it’s a winner, even if it’s obviously a big loser. These fellows will bear the standard for a long while.

We’ve never seen anything like this, in our political lifetime or any political lifetime. Imagine if the Democrats had thrown their 1972 lot in with Charles Manson. What if Bill Clinton had insisted we “free The Unabomber”? The optics are that disastrous, that ridiculous.

It even seemed for a minute this week that the resistance was about to add another member to its Legion Of Doom. But Cody Balmer – the man suspected of torching the residence of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro because of what Shapiro “wants to do to the Palestinian people” – was simply too much of a nut for anyone anywhere on the political spectrum to embrace. It’s nice to know – for now, anyway – we still live in a society where burning down the homes of Jewish politicians is a bridge too far.