The View Condemns ‘Gleeful’ Response to HealthCare CEO Shooting: ‘So Disturbing’

At the top of the show, moderator Whoopi Goldberg noted that — due to Mangione’s wealthy, educated background — many people “seem to be surprised” he was named as the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthCare SEO Brian Thompson.

Though she noted, “I’m not sure why people are surprised,” she then asked the rest of the panel how they felt.

Alyssa Farah Griffin called Mangione’s arrest a “reminder that criminals and people who do harm don’t fit in one box.” Calling Thompson’s death a tragedy, she also said it was tragic that a “promising 26-year-old man went so astray that he committed this heinous crime.”

Speculating on what allegedly set him off, Griffin suspected Mangione had some “kind of mental health break” after he apparently “disappeared” from his loved ones around six months ago. Sunny Hostin, also wondering why “someone so young, so promising would do something like this,” noted how his friends said he was dealing with chronic back pain and had recent surgery.

“Who hasn’t! Everyone has back pain!” exclaimed Joy Behar, who also called out Ted Cruz for “politicizing” the shooting by saying Mangione’s viewers were proof “leftism is a mental disease.”

Hostin then really honed in on the ghost gun allegedly used in the shooting, arguing that despite what some lobbyists and kit manufacturers may say, she believes they are firearms and should be regulated as such. “It obviously is a firearm because a man was killed using one of them,” she said.

The Supreme Court has yet to decide on whether current rules in place requiring serial numbers and background checks on weapons parts kits will remain in place, after kit manufacturers and sellers challenged it.

When it came time for Sara Haines to chime in, she agreed it was a “shock” to see someone like Mangione as the suspect because “this man could have changed things in this world.”

“He had every privilege that could be given to someone ever. He came from a wealthy family, highly educated … all the things were there, he was a smart person, yet this is the option he chose,” she said, adding that he could have instead gone into a system he had issues with and tried changing the “ills and problems” from the inside.

“I think there’s so many massive problems with the insurance companies, we all know it, it’s almost like a criminal racket,” she continued. “This is never the answer to that and I’m actually more surprised by people’s continual response to this.”

Pointing to those on social media and TikTok almost celebrating Thompson’s murder and Mangione’s alleged actions, she added, “You can have all the rage in your heart at system and still know that to pinpoint and put the target on the back of a human that is so far removed from fixing the problem.”

“You have to reflect on yourself, if you at any point, are gleeful about this,” said Haines. “Because it is so disturbing to see the residual effect of how many people applauded this person, as if this is how we live in this country and this world. It’s unacceptable.”

Of ghost gun regulations, she also added, “If you’re doing something innocent, why do you care if it has a serial number or not?”

Watch the full discussion above.