Brian M Downing
The assassination of business leader Brian Thompson was shocking. More shocking is the approval heaped on his suspected murderer – Luigi Mangione. The US has had spates of terrorism led by small groups: the KKK after the Civil War, the anarchists a century ago, and the Weathermen of the Vietnam era.
Alienation and anger in young people are now deeper and more widespread than when we were mired in Southeast Asia. Internal restraints on violence are frailer, practically nonexistent in many. Eruptions are everywhere – in stores, gatherings, traffic, and schools.
Some of the violence is political. The extreme Right announced itself with the Oklahoma City bombing, proliferating militias, and the assault on the Capitol. Counterparts on the Left, often middle-class or better, their disaffection and hatred fathomless, may be ready to answer in kind, either as lone wolves like Mangione or in clandestine cells with an unwavering determination to perform the people’s will, as they see it.
Wealth has become highly concentrated over the last half century. Inequality, as measured by the Gini index, is approaching that of developing countries run by family cliques. Middle classes, once the basis of stability, are beleaguered. Family-owned groceries, pharmacies, hardware stores, and farms have been disappearing for years – brushed aside by corporate giants. But even the giants are losing out. Mergers and acquisitions have seen to that. There are now only a handful of major investment banking firms, pharmaceuticals, telecoms, and defense contractors.
The political system is considered a moribund, unresponsive duopoly. Both parties are in the hands of powerful organizations, lobbies, and patrons. Elections are billion-dollar enterprises. Third parties are kept out and populist movements are ignored or co-opted.
Big businesses and the wealthy feel exceptional and deserving of a larger portion of the wealth they produce. They resent growing demands from below and want to suppress them. Some are collaborating with populist masses and foreign elites. A new order ruled by a league of oligarchs is forming. It’s branded fascism and stopping it is a defining imperative.
The planet faces environmental catastrophe as temperatures rise and storms intensify. What little the government has done over the years will probably be rolled back in coming years. Defacing artwork isn’t enough.
A determined youth stratum has formed. They’re not a large movement and know they never can be. That adds to their determination, as does the incoming government. Like Dostoevsky’s possessed and Lenin’s vanguard, they are sure the future is theirs. The incoming president used violence four years ago. How can they not embrace it today?
Violence is intended to be a spark leading to popular support. This isn’t likely. The administration is more likely to blame predecessors and higher education for permissiveness. Internal enemies will be hunted down. A protracted campaign may be decried as a national emergency requiring extraordinary powers.
The populist base has its own zealots. Many have military service which conferred organizational skills and familiarity with weapons. They too have unreasoning passion, an array of justifications, and no doubt as to who the enemy is.
©2025 Brian M Downing
Brian M Downing is a national security analyst who’s written for outlets across the political spectrum. He studied at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, and did post-graduate work at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs. Thanks as ever to fellow Hoya Susan Ganosellis.