In the 1960s and ’70s, a radical leftist group that called itself the Red Army Faction but now is more commonly referred to by the names of its leaders, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, committed acts of terrorism. The Baader-Meinhof Gang kidnapped and assassinated political and business figures, planted bombs and committed arson attacks. Its objective was to model and provoke an anti-capitalist revolution, of which it considered itself the vanguard.
Groups such as this have cemented the idea that revolution is an activity of the left – which is why the terms left and progressive are often conflated. Revolution, which seeks to radically remake society, is the opposite of the conservatism traditionally associated with the right, which by definition seeks to conserve.
Ulrike Meinhof (left) and Andreas Baader: In 1975, terrorists raided the West German embassy in Stockholm to demand their freedom.Credit: AP Wirephoto
But then Donald Trump is also anything but a conservative. Trumpism is a revolutionary movement that aims to tear down institutions people no longer trust.
Both of the elections Trump won have represented revolutions. The first was a disorganised yell of pain from parts of society that felt left behind. The second, this year, was a much more calculated choice by voters to empower a known quantity to dismantle whatever corporate interests and bureaucracies might be holding them back. The catch-cry of the first Trump candidacy was “drain the swamp”. This time around, that barely needed to be said. Voters have lived through the chaos of a Trump presidency and enough decided that chaos is preferable to the stasis of establishment self-interest that prevailed under Joe Biden.
Luigi Mangione, accused of shooting dead 50-year-old Brian Thompson, the chief executive of US health insurer UnitedHealthcare, may have been one of them. Mangione carved words on his bullets and carried a manifesto with him to ensure his intent would be conveyed.
Suspect Luigi Mangione is taken into court in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Credit: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP
The murder is redolent of the left-wing, anti-establishment anger that the Baader-Meinhof mob hoped to encourage and channel. Since the shooting, Mangione has been painted as some kind of hero. An American tech journalist posted about feeling “joy” upon hearing about the murder, sharing an article about the (admittedly outrageous) idea that a health insurer would no longer cover anaesthesia for the full length of a surgery, along with the remark: “and people wonder why we want these executives dead”.
Instead of horror that a father had been gunned down, many on social media and even some mainstream media echoed similar sentiments. Many saw Mangione’s act as justified, claiming that America’s health insurers have been deliberately and systematically avoiding paying legitimate claims to boost their profits.
Strangely, though, it also smacks of the concerns of Trump and his MAGA movement. Trump’s cabinet picks reflect many of these concerns. Robert F. Kennedy Jr, whom Trump has chosen to be his head of health and human services, holds a mix of views that can only be described as non-traditional. He combines some very reasonable concerns about food additives and ultra-processing with a militant anti-vaccination and anti-fluoride stance. He, like Mangione, believes “the system” is making people sick. According to Business Insider, Mangione appeared to support RFK Jr in since-deleted posts on X. The same report refers to posts that suggest Mangione was a member of the “online right”.
