Violence Is Wrong, But ‘You Can Only Push People So Far’

On Tuesday's broadcast of MSNBC's “The Readout,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, “Violence is never the answer. This man… UnitedHealth will go to trial.[care]. But you can only push people so far, and then they start taking matters into their own hands. ”And we need regulation.

Host Joy Reid said: [relevant exchange begins around 36:20] “So we've been talking a lot about this incident with Luigi Mangione, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. People are very angry at UnitedHealthcare, and they have no right to deny care or the entire system. I think there's a reason why. And as I just talked about in the previous block, CEO. That's not the way to change people. You have to regulate them, right? So we're trying to rein in some of these big companies, which you created. But the Trump administration wants to get rid of it. It's like protecting people from things like credit card fraud. What happens when that goes away?”

Warren agreed that regulating CEOs rather than killing them is the way to change things, replying: One of the arrangements that has kept this democracy, this economy, this country on a pretty stable trajectory for over 200 years is that people at the top pay a little more in taxes and are a little less rich than other people. They said no. Maybe so, and others at least have a chance. And what happens when this is all run by billionaires is they get the opportunity to squeeze every last penny out of it. And look, as I say again and again, violence is never the answer, this man accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealth will be brought to justice.[care]. But you can only push people so far, and then they start taking matters into their own hands. ”