Taylor Lorenz swoons over a killer, and CNN airs it with a smile

Well, well, well. Just when you think CNN has finally hit rock bottom, they break out the jackhammer and start digging.

In a move that can only be described as a masterclass in how to lose whatever scraps of credibility you have left, CNN decided to feature journalist-turned-internet-fabulist Taylor Lorenz on their primetime special MisinfoNation: Extreme America. And what earth-shattering insight did she bring to this very serious, disinformation-themed program?

She gushed — and I do mean gushed — about Luigi Mangione, the man who shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the back, as a “morally good man.”

Let’s just pause there. Take that in. Breathe it in like the smell of burnt toast when the whole kitchen’s on fire.

Apparently, it’s not enough for CNN to act as the unofficial PR arm for every ideologically convenient cause of the moment. Now they’ve gone full starry-eyed true crime Tumblr-core, elevating murderers to misunderstood antiheroes — and doing it with a straight face in a show that allegedly aims to combat disinformation. The irony has eaten itself and is now burping smugly on cable news.

Taylor Lorenz, in her infinite wisdom and TikTok-soaked worldview, described Mangione — a man who murdered a stranger over vague grievances about healthcare — as “revolutionary,” “famous,” “handsome,” “young,” “smart,” and a “morally good man, which is hard to find.” Apparently, the only thing he’s missing is a book deal and a Netflix docuseries narrated by Billie Eilish.

Let’s be clear: Mangione is not morally good. He is, in fact, a murderer. You can add all the sad violin music and VSCO filter lighting you want — the facts don’t change. He shot a man in the back. Not in a duel, not in some Hollywood revenge fantasy. Just cold, cowardly, premeditated violence. But Taylor Lorenz looked at that and saw a romantic underdog. This is not journalism; it’s fan fiction for sociopaths.

And let’s talk about CNN’s role in this circus. Because while it’s tempting to roll our eyes at Lorenz — after all, she’s been busy for years building a personal brand on emotional fragility, terminal online-ness, and performative trauma — the real scandal here is that CNN gave her a platform. A primetime platform. On a show about disinformation.

Was this supposed to be performance art? A satire of bad editorial judgment? Or are the producers just so deep in their own ideological echo chamber that they genuinely thought Lorenz’s swooning soliloquy about a murderer was “valuable perspective”?

Either way, let’s walk through the hits.

First, why now? The shooting happened in December. The fangirls showed up outside the courthouse back in February like it was the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, only with more balaclavas and fewer moral boundaries. So why is CNN delivering this tepid, murder-fetishizing analysis in April? Did someone forget to check their Outlook calendar? Or is the news cycle just that dry?

Second, was Lorenz brought on to analyze the disturbing trend of women romanticizing violent men? Or was she there because she’s one of them? It’s honestly hard to tell. She speaks about Mangione with the kind of breathy reverence typically reserved for tortured poets or the lead singer of a 2007 emo band. And she’s done this before — more than once. At this point, Lorenz doesn’t report on obsessions; she auditions to be part of them.

Third, can someone please get Donie O’Sullivan a spine? Or at least a follow-up question?

All he could muster in response to Lorenz’s bizarre gushing was a self-deprecating one-liner: “Yeah, I just realized women will literally date an assassin before they swipe right on me.”

Okay, Donie. Ha ha. You’re lonely. Got it. But maybe, just maybe, you could have taken a second to ask your guest if she realized she was humanizing a murderer in front of a national audience. Maybe you could’ve challenged the assertion that committing homicide in the name of vaguely defined class warfare somehow makes you “morally good.” Or do you need a chyron graphic and a commercial break before you’re allowed to speak truth to insanity?

And let’s not kid ourselves — this isn’t some one-off fluke. It fits neatly into a broader trend where violence committed by those who check the right ideological boxes is softened, romanticized, or just ignored.

CNN has spent years crafting a narrative that right-wing violence is the only violence that matters. Donie himself preemptively apologized for the show’s tiny nod to leftist extremism: “It is important to point out off the top here that we’re most of the time speaking about right-wing extremism in this country.” Gee, thanks, Donie. It’s always reassuring when a “disinformation” special starts with a trigger warning for balance.

But the facts, as inconvenient as they are, tell a more complicated story.

We had nationwide riots in 2020, billions in property damage, entire neighborhoods torched, and the chattering class cheering it on from their safe suburban Zoom bubbles. We had activists and pundits say, “looting is a tool for change” and “peaceful protest is a trap.” You want a greatest hits collection? How about the attempted assassination of Brett Kavanaugh, the firebombing of pro-life centers, the Marco Rubio canvasser beaten bloody for daring to exist in a red hat? Still feel like there’s no “equivalent” on the left?

Even after Charlottesville — which was rightly condemned — the conversation quickly veered into a philosophical defense of political violence… as long as it came from the correct side. Remember when CNN’s own Chris Cuomo justified Antifa by claiming “all punches are not morally equal”? That wasn’t an aberration. That was a thesis.

But now we’ve entered the next phase of the narrative. It’s not enough to excuse violence. Now we must celebrate it. We’re asked to empathize with the killer, view them through a poetic lens, marvel at their youth, their intellect, their cheekbones, and declare, “Wow, how rare it is to find someone so… moral.”

No, what’s rare is the staggering lack of self-awareness it takes to broadcast this as journalism.

Let’s be very clear about the stakes: political violence does not emerge from nowhere. It grows in environments where it is normalized, rationalized, and occasionally glamorized. Shows like this one, with their smug detachment and performative faux-balance, are actively helping to pour gasoline on the cultural fire. And when you present left-wing violence as quirky, well-meaning rebellion while portraying every right-wing voter as a ticking time bomb in camo pants, don’t be surprised when the country keeps getting angrier, more fragmented, and more violent.

So no, CNN. You don’t get to call yourself an arbiter of truth when you’re handing out praise to a killer because he looks like he could’ve been cast in Euphoria. You don’t get to brand yourself as a watchdog of misinformation while platforming a woman who’s built a career out of distorting reality for clout. You don’t get to lecture the rest of us about democracy and civility while laughing along with people who believe that assassination is activism.

This wasn’t just bad television. This was journalistic self-immolation. And the only people surprised are the ones who still think CNN gives a damn about truth.