The political left is giving Luigi Mangione the Che Guevera treatment.

Images of the alleged triggerman charged with whacking the head of the nation’s largest health insurance company are splashed across T-shirts, coffee cups and other merchandise being hawked online and on the streets of New York City.

Meanwhile, a group born out of the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign is walking a tightrope of sympathy following the high-profile execution in Manhattan, suggesting, in this instance, there is a silver lining to vigilante justice.

“We want to be unequivocal: we condemn the murder of UnitedHealth Group’s CEO. Violence is never the answer. But we can’t ignore that this rage is rooted in reality, and we’ve all felt it,” Our Revolution said in a fundraising email.

“Half a million families go bankrupt each year from medical debt, and millions are harmed because their care is delayed or denied,” continued the email, which included the subject headline “What Luigi Mangione means for Our Revolution.”

The group has been a chief advocate for Medicare for All, taxing the rich and kneecapping corporations that it accuses of putting “profits over people.”

Mr. Sanders responded similarly, saying that killing anybody is “abhorrent and immoral,” and he also added a “but.”

“I condemn it wholeheartedly. It was a terrible act. But what it did show online is that many, many people are furious at the health insurance companies who make huge profits denying them and their families the health care that they desperately need,” the Vermont senator said in an interview with Jacobin magazine. “What you’re seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current health care system. It is broken. It is cruel.”

This quasi-embrace or nod of understanding of Mr. Mangione disgusted Republicans.

Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, said it is “tragic” and “sick” that the “murderer has been widely celebrated by leftists online.”

“Leftism is a mental disease,” he said.

Mr. Magione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Baltimore family, has been charged with killing Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, as he walked into a company investors’ conference in midtown Manhattan.

Caught on camera, the brazen murder was met with horror and jubilation. It sparked a massive six-day manhunt that captured the attention of the nation and ended when Mr. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Law enforcement officials said he was carrying a manifesto in which he said companies “continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it.”

He also criticized healthcare companies for prioritizing profits over care.

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, in a press conference this week, lamented that some of the reaction to the killing — in particular on the internet — has been “deeply disturbing as some have looked to celebrate, instead of condemning, this killer.”

“In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint,” Mr. Shapiro said. “I understand people have real frustration with our health care system. … But I have no tolerance, nor should anyone, for one man using an illegal ghost gun to murder someone because he thinks his opinion matters most.”

Despite that, people have lionized him while airing their grievances and outright hostility toward the health insurance industry.

In a pop culture twist, T-shirts featuring the images of Luigi from the Mario Brothers video games holding a pistol with a silencer and emblazoned with “Free Luigi” are being sold.

Another says, “In this house, Luigi Mangione is a hero, end of story.”

“Wanted” posters have been put up around Manhattan that include images of corporate executives and the warning: “UnitedHealthcare killed everyday people for the sake of profit. As a result, Brian Thompson was denied his claim to life. Who will be denied next?” and “Wall Street CEOs Should Not Feel Safe, Deny, Defend, Depose.”

Mr. Mangione is alleged to have used bullets inscribed with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.” Those words are also being featured on clothing being sold.

That pro-murder sentiment has gone viral across the internet and spilled out over the radio airwaves, with callers bluntly cheering on Mangione and stating that Mr. Thompson, a 50-year-old married father of two, got what he deserved.

“If the system doesn’t work, maybe sometimes somebody has to take measures into their own hands,” a caller said this week on the Michael Smerconish show. “It is too bad, but that is the reality we live in.”

“People like this are killing tens of thousands of people every year and of course, they get away with it because they pay off the politicians that make the laws,” the man said.

The New York Times reported that shortly after Mr. Mangino was arrested at the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, a young woman was there holding a sign that said, “Corrupt insurance CEOs have got to go.”

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.