Murder Celebrated, Cops Condemned: The Sick Logic of the Left

It was perhaps the most telling detail in a deeply alarming piece of social commentary published this week by J.B. Shurk at American Thinker: a fashion designer calling a suspected assassin a “trendsetter” who “looks pretty good the way he dresses.” That is not a typo. Marc Jacobs, the American designer, reportedly made those remarks about the man accused of shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the back.

Shurk’s essay, “Four Murderers and a Scapegoat,” offers a chilling inventory of how American society has responded to four recent high-profile killings. It is not a comforting read. But it is a necessary one.

The Four Cases

Let us set the table. Shurk identifies four murders that have dominated the news cycle over the past year: the December 2024 assassination of Brian Thompson in New York; the September assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk; the stabbing death of Texas high school student Austin Metcalf at a track meet; and the strangling murders of three young children by their mother in Massachusetts.

In three of these cases, Shurk notes, the accused have either confessed or been convicted. In the fourth—Kirk’s murder—the defendant has sent multiple communications since the assassination that strongly suggest guilt. The factual record, in other words, is clear. What is not clear is the moral compass of the public reaction.

Thompson’s alleged killer, who inscribed the words “delay,” “deny,” and “depose” on shell casings, was immediately cast by many on the left as a folk hero. The shooter’s “boyish good looks” and a short manifesto attacking the healthcare system were enough to turn a man accused of murder into a cause célèbre. Crowdsourcing efforts raised over a million dollars for his defense. Social media users mocked the victim. Politicians blamed capitalism.

The reaction to Kirk’s murder was, if anything, more disturbing because of its sheer venom. Rather than condemn the killing, many pundits suggested that Kirk’s Christian faith and conservative activism constituted “hate speech”—a charge echoed in the alleged assassin’s private messages. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel reportedly used his platform to blame MAGA Americans for the assassination, despite all evidence pointing to a violent leftist. Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah went further, labeling Kirk a “racist” and lecturing that “part of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that people perform care, empty goodness, and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence.” The dead man, in other words, deserved it.

In Texas, the response to Austin Metcalf’s murder has taken a racial turn. The defendant, a Black high school student who stabbed Metcalf in the heart, has admitted to the killing. He texted hours before the attack: “When I stab somebody I’m gonna lick their blood off the blade.” His girlfriend had reported him for stalking just one hour before the murder. Even so, the New Black Panther Party has spent months demanding his release in the name of “black power,” and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico has argued that the absence of Black jurors means “the system is not working for black Texans.” The murderer’s apologists claim self-defense, despite his confession.

The fourth case involves a Massachusetts mother on trial for strangling her three children to death. She has confessed. Her defense: postpartum psychosis. And her supporters—mobs of “pink-clad, leftist women,” as Shurk describes them—are rallying behind her. Thousands of online videos express sympathy for the mother because of the difficulty of caring for young children. One wonders: if the children had been strangled by a father, would the reaction be so forgiving?

The Scapegoat

Shurk’s central point is that while these four defendants receive sympathy and even adulation, a different kind of justice is reserved for those on the other side of the political line. His exhibit A is Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer now serving decades in prison for the death of George Floyd.

Shurk argues that Chauvin subdued Floyd in a manner consistent with his training, and that Floyd had a lengthy criminal record and both fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. He acknowledges that Floyd died in custody, but insists the left demanded a murder conviction not out of justice but vengeance. The threat of continued violence, he writes, secured the verdict. Elon Musk, he notes, has also called Chauvin’s conviction unjust and argued for his release, writing: “The facts show that he was not the cause of death, nor did he at any time intend for death to occur…That is the truth.”

The contrast could not be starker, Shurk argues: actual murderers are celebrated, while a police officer who—whatever one thinks of his actions—did not intend to kill is scapegoated to appease the mob. “When murderers are celebrated and scapegoats go to prison to satisfy the mob,” he writes, “it is clear that American society suffers from a devastating illness.”

A Society Unwell

Shurk’s diagnosis extends beyond these specific cases. He points to decades of social decline: declining church attendance, falling marriage rates, rising divorce rates, and an entertainment industry that glorifies selfishness and violence while mocking faith, fidelity, and family. He describes a nation that once gathered in clubs, town halls, and civic organizations, but now collects online “friends” and screams obscenities at strangers on social media.

His conclusion is blunt: “Leftism is a deadly disease. Those suffering should seek immediate help.”

That may sound like an overstatement, but the evidence he marshals is difficult to dismiss. When a mother who strangles her children is met with sympathy, when a confessed murderer is hailed as a “trendsetter,” when a political assassination is blamed on the victims—something has gone deeply wrong.

As Shurk writes, “Now more than ever, the ability to speak our minds is crucial to the republic we cherish.” One hopes that the republic is still listening.

Source: www.americanthinker.com — https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/08/four-murderers-and-a-scapegoat/