Americans cheering accused killers shows dangerous 'dehumanization' of opponents, Douglas Murray warns

Alleged killers Tyler Robinson and Luigi Mangione appeared in court this week on murder charges, drawing not only headlines but a surprising wave of public support. The sympathy is raising questions about why some Americans are willing to justify violence.

"The terrorists and the assassins and the murderers now have this growing number of people who seem frankly, as I wrote in The Post the other day, to treat life as if it's some kind of computer game," said Douglas Murray, a New York Post contributor on "America’s Newsroom".

"As though you just take people out and there's no consequences." 

Mangione appeared in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday on charges related to the December killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. He faces multiple state and federal charges, though some of the top counts against him were dropped. 

APPARENT LUIGI MANGIONE SUPPORTER CLAIMS SHE'S 'MARRIED' TO HIS 'AI' AT COURTHOUSE RALLY

Demonstrators in New York City gathered for the "Protect Migrants, Protect the Planet" rally on April 19, 2025, demanding that New York stop collaborating with ICE and calling for climate and immigration justice. (Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

Video from outside the courthouse showed Mangione’s supporters cheering after the decision. 

Murray said that while killers in the past sometimes attracted fringe sympathies, what’s different today is the chorus of "excuses" now being made by both ordinary Americans and prominent politicians.

"So many people have made excuses for him when it's really a very straightforward case. Do people have the right, or should they be justified, in taking things into their own hands and murdering other Americans in cold blood on the street? Yes or no?"

LUIGI MANGIONE FACES JUDGE AS POLICE WARN BUSINESS LEADERS OF RISING ASSASSINATION RISKS

He added that even political figures have made those excuses, pointing to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s comments on Mangione’s supporters. She told the Huffington Post: "Violence is never the answer, but people can only be pushed so far."

Tyler Robinson, 22, the suspect in the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, appears by camera before 4th District Court Judge Tony Graf on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, for his initial court appearance in Provo, Utah. (Scott G Winterton/Pool/Deseret News)

Murray also linked the reaction to Mangione’s case with support Robinson has drawn since the death of political activist Charlie Kirk last week. Like Thompson, Kirk was a husband and father who was shot and killed.

"As if a legitimate extension of having a disagreement or an imagined disagreement with somebody over healthcare, over politics, whatever, could ever justify somebody picking up a gun and murdering," said Murray. 

FLASHBACK: CHARLIE KIRK WARNED OF LEFT-WING 'ASSASSINATION CULTURE' MONTHS BEFORE HIS MURDER

He argued this shift reflects a broader culture of dehumanization accelerated by social media.

"We have to address this thing of why so many segments of the political left have been able to dehumanize their opponents," he said. 

Supporters of Luigi Mangione gather outside Manhattan Supreme Court after terrorism charges were dismissed in the case of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

"We also have to address this question of why so many people, including some prominent politicians in this country, have made excuses for the use of violence."

President Donald Trump has made similar comments in the wake of Kirk’s death, calling out the role social media plays in radicalizing people. He told reporters that there are "deep, dark holes" online he considers "cancerous."

Murray agreed that addressing the online environment is critical.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

"It means that the faceless person online can get away with making their opponent faceless as well, and taking away their life for nothing and no reason."