Will the Trump administration’s efforts to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione cost the 47th president the support of America’s Gen Zers?

That’s the theory being pushed by Politico, which, in its morning newsletter, prefaced the news of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s order to federal prosecutors with the prediction: “How Trump Loses Gen Z.”

Ms. Bondi, in a Tuesday press release, announced that she had directed prosecutors to pursue the death penalty for Mr. Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate who stands accused of murdering the former head of UnitedHealthcare in the streets of New York last December. 

Ms. Bondi decried Ms. Mangione’s alleged murder of Brian Thompson as “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America” and claimed that the death penalty decision was in line with President Trump’s agenda “to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.” 

Politico Playbook’s far-fetched prediction, however, sparked a firestorm of criticism online. “Playbook becomes more insufferable each day,” the White House correspondent for Daily Caller, Reagan Reese, commented on X. “What on earth,” quipped Reason reporter, Billy Binion. “Politico is so hopelessly millennial,” mused the president of American Commitment, Phil Kerpin. 

A senior Republican National Committee advisor, Gates McGavick, responded by urging “whoever came up with this framing” to “go outside and touch some grass.” 

Mr. Mangione’s harsh critiques of the American health care system — as showcased in a 262-word manifesto seized by police following his arrest — prompted some to dub him as a modern-day Robin Hood. 

His growing popularity became evident shortly after his arrest, with the rallying cry #FreeLuigi circulating widely on social media. It wasn’t long before pro-Luigi slogans started to pop up in street art and graffiti across the country. Throughout his prosecution, sympathizers have shown their support for the accused killer by gathering outside of the courthouse during hearings. 

Even with Mr. Mangione’s folk hero persona, though, Politico’s suggestion struck critics as a step too far. “Color me skeptical that most of Gen Z are sitting around, deeply concerned about the fate of a dude who shot another dude in cold blood,” reckoned a popular RedState writer, Bonchie. “That’s a too-online, far-left thing. Not a Gen Z thing.”