Theatricality of Mangione & Robinson

Did the young men feel so empty and bored -- with such a yearning for fame--that they decided to murder or serve as accomplices with the intention of being caught and lionized?

Here is accused murderer, Luigi Mangione, showing up at his arraignment dressed just like Lee Harvey Oswald was dressed at his.

Now (as I reported this morning) we see the news that accused murderer, Tyler Robinson, purportedly made a full and detailed confession to his lover in a text message exchange that reads like a film noir script.

As I have also noted in an earlier post, it wouldn’t surprise me if the prosecutor struggles to find evidence that Mangione actually pulled the trigger on UH CEO Brian Thompson. I sense it would have been far more prudent to indict Mangione for accomplice to murder.

Mangione made no effort to cover his tracks after being photographed checking into a youth hostel and getting into a taxi on the Upper West Side. This suggests he wanted to be arrested. Since his arrest, he has acquired hordes of adoring fans.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he agreed to serve as an accomplice and to get caught, perhaps with the assurance that when it comes to trial, his defense will introduce evidence that he is not the guy who actually shot Brian Thompson

Likewise, I wonder if the FBI should consider the possibility that Robinson was groomed and recruited to serve as a patsy who would present himself to video cameras, leave his grandad’s rifle in the woods, and make a confession by unencrypted text to his transitioning lover.

Note the dramatic and highly self-conscious line:

Why did I do it? I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out.

Robinson didn’t just write this line for his lover. He wrote it for an audience.

I perceive a cruel irony in the apparent tenderness and solicitude of Robinson’s text, because if he truly loved his partner and saw a future together, he wouldn’t have committed cold-blooded murder or agreed to serve as an accomplice. He had to have understood the high likelihood that he would be caught, thereby terminating the love affair and exposing his lover to a probable nightmare of publicity.

Whether these two young men are the actual murderers, or if they agreed to serve as accomplices, their behavior suggests that they were at least partly motivated by a craving for fame. Just as Mangione has acquired an adoring “following” for allegedly murdering Thompson, Robinson will likely acquire the same for allegedly murdering Kirk.