Paul Ellertson, online publishing coordinator

The so-called “Justice Department” hasn’t been very “just” since the Trump administration took over. Attorney General Pamela Bondi has stated that she wants Luigi Mangione to be executed for allegedly killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. 

In her statement, Bondi said Mangione “killed an innocent man who left behind a wife and kids.” This should be very controversial because Thompson was known for making millions of dollars a year as UHC’s CEO. He profited off a corrupt healthcare system, and not only that, but the policies he helped put in place instantly denied much-needed healthcare to millions of Americans all to make a profit for those who are considered the real customers. These “real” customers are employers of other companies. 

Unfortunately, if found guilty, Mangione would qualify for the death penalty on the federal level because he not only allegedly killed someone, but he also allegedly was in possession of a firearm during the killing. Knowing Trump’s fascist administration, due process for Mangione might be out the window soon. There’s a lot of speculation that if Trump and Bondi have their way and Mangione is executed, he would become a martyr and inspire a real revolution where the people unite and overthrow the rich. 

Trump and the bourgeoisie want to execute Mangione because they’re scared of the icon of class war Mangione has become. Trump is starting to find out just how united Americans can be when it comes to accessing our healthcare without getting screwed over. 

Even though it hasn’t been confirmed that Mangione killed Thompson, his name is enough to scare other CEOs, which is a good thing for us. The least that we the people can do is keep them on a tight anti-corruption leash. Trump and his rich allies need to sow division in the American population, they need to keep things like sexism and racism to keep leftists, liberals, centrists, conservatives and the far-right divided. This is the bourgeoisie key to staying in power. Every empire has used tools to distract the people from the problems at hand in order to stay in power. For example, the Romans used bread and circuses to keep their people distracted.

As of a few days ago Bondi says she has received death threats for trying to put Mangione up for the death penalty, according to USA Today. This isn’t shocking, not only because Mangione is very popular among the people, but also because Bondi and the rest of the Trump administration are anything but popular. 

Since day one, there have been many calls to “Free Luigi” everywhere, from the jails he’s been in to posts online. The Trump administration is also trying to charge Mangione for terrorism. It’s very ironic because the U.S. government has committed many acts of terror over the course of the last few weeks alone. It will be very interesting to see what happens with this case going forward.