The Issue Is the Revolution

By Noah Rothman

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

 

Paraphrasing a “radical” associated with the 1960s-era Students for a Democratic Society, the late David Horowitz once said of the activists’ outlook: “The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.”

 

That quote came to mind when I heard a nauseating diatribe from a handful of women who showed up at a Manhattan courthouse on Monday in support of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024.

 

The three activists, who described themselves as “Mangionistas,” seemed to revel in the taboos they were violating. They were thrilled at the degree to which their antisocial celebration of this act of human sacrifice and the pain that reverberates from it shocked their audience. Indeed, the activists took turns one-upping one another in a ghoulish contest to see which of them could more profoundly offend the sensibilities of their well-adjusted spectators:

 

“I’m saying fuck Brian Thompson. I don’t give a flying fuck he died,” says Ashley Rojas, wearing her press badge provided by @NYCMayorsOffice. Lena Weissbrot adds that Thompson’s teenage sons “are better off without him” and should “enjoy the blood money.” pic.twitter.com/uQnHIHoC0x

 

— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) May 18, 2026

 

“I’m saying f*** Brian Thompson. I don’t give a flying f*** he died,” said one of the self-described Mangionistas, Ashley Rojas, of Mangione’s alleged victim. “His children are better off without him,” her compatriot, Lena Weissbrot, said of Thompson’s two teenage sons, who were robbed of their father. “They need to learn not to be like their dad, and enjoy the blood money, kids.”

 

“I’m standing on business, f*** Brian Thompson,” Rojas obliged when asked to repeat herself. “I liked it,” Weissbrot beamed while reflecting on Thompson’s death on a Manhattan sidewalk. “If you guys are okay with someone like Brian Thompson being around, and that being part of our society,” Rojas continued, “that says more about you as a person.”

 

It sure does.

 

This collection of addlepated miscreants eagerly peddled their ignorant misconceptions about the health-insurance industry, including the notion that insurers have more blood on their hands than does Osama bin Laden and, therefore, their summary execution should occasion celebrations.

 

“Let’s be honest: most average Americans support him,” Weissbrot said of Mangione. Americans have been made “blood sacrifices” by the rapacious capitalist enterprise, she continued. “Other countries have had revolutions for far less. We’re pretty much the most cucked and submissive population in all of human history. And I’m tired of it. Its time for everyone to grow some f***ing balls.”

 

There you have it: the issue is the revolution.

 

Mangione’s alleged murder of Thompson was, in this woman’s view, a revolutionary act — the propaganda of the deed that should by rights galvanize the American people to perform similar acts of terror. And in so doing, the righteous American mob would bring the revolution one day closer, at which point the rest of us would get what’s coming to us, too.

 

The future of journalism? Credentialed members of the NYC press corps came to Luigi Mangione’s hearing today to support the defendant they’re purportedly reporting on and to promote jury nullification “to the most cucked and submissive population in all of human history” pic.twitter.com/hmt7YOc2FX

 

— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) May 18, 2026

 

At least they’re not being shy about it. If only their degeneracy were rare. Unfortunately for the rest of us, they’re only saying out loud what the audience that cheered Mangione’s name on Saturday Night Live was thinking. They’re just articulating what those who purchased the merchandise adorned with his face and writings. They’re saying with less self-consciousness what Senators Chris Murphy, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez conveyed when they equivocated in condemning Thompson’s killing, urging us to understand why the American people (as evinced by their apparent champion, Luigi Mangione) are so angry.

 

These three activists were bolder than most. But there are a lot more of them out there than many would like to admit.