The Birth of "The Adjuster"

What it says about us when we celebrate the man who murdered Brian Thompson

Photo by RDNE Stock

My son sent me a text.

“The revolution starts now.”

It was the morning of the brazen murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare on a Manhattan Street.

My son can be dark in his humor, sarcastic, and sometimes unapologetically edgy. Still, even from him, this stuck me as over the top. I understood what he meant. But it shocked me.

I texted him back.

“Wow. That’s dark.”

Now, several days later, I’m beginning to get it.

The killer has become a folk hero. He’s being called a modern-day Robin Hood, a dragon slayer, his grainy image compared to Hollywood celebrities. The jacket he’s wearing in wanted posters is now a hot commodity. And the words he reportedly etched on the bullets he used have emerged as a kind of rallying cry. People are rooting for the killer, and police believe there are some who are offering “tips” to police that are meant to throw them off and help the shooter get away.

It reminds me of the Depression-era gangsters, the men and women of those times—Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Ma Barker, “Baby Face” Nelson—who in some circles were seen as legends, rightfully taking matters into their own hands, robbing and killing as justification for what the system had done to them and to America.

Then there’s D.B. Cooper. Another folk hero. Not a killer. But a legend nonetheless, parachuting from a plane with $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills.

And Joaquin Murieta, an outlaw of the Gold Rush era. According to legend, he left Mexico for California with dreams of cashing in, but he was met with racist injustices, tied up and whipped, made to watch the rape of his wife and the hanging of his brother by a group of White men who claimed he had stolen a horse. As revenge, Murieta began to steal from the same Whites who nearly killed him. He became a bandit for his people. Justice, some say. A legend, some say. A hero, some say.

No one wants murder in the streets. And the praise and adulation for a killer is terribly troubling. Still, like that text from my son, I get it now. I understand.

One recent online posting:

“The French Revolution started with the people who deserved to die and along the way claimed the lives of a lot of people who were innocent. Any kind of non-violent approach would be better—if it worked, if they hadn't made themselves immune to it. But . . . ‘All legal measures have been exhausted. We protest, we're ignored. We sue, we ruin ourselves financially in prolonged fights in courts. We vote, they BUY OUR GOVERNMENT. What else can we do?’”

People are seeing the monetization of death in the refusal to insure the sick and dying. They see shareholders buying yachts. They see corporations screwing customers. CEOs purchasing their third and fourth mansions. And they see the system rejecting their grievances, refusing to right the wrongs. When you understand this, you can understand the reactions of a vigilante, and you understand the vitriol, and the praise for a murderer.

I don’t believe people are truly gleeful about a killing. Instead, they are celebrating what it represents. It’s not the “start of a revolution” as my son believes. That “revolution” has been raging for a very long time. But this emergence of a new murderous folk hero, one some are calling “The Adjuster,” has taken the anger out of the shadows. And now, with a new presidential administration calling for major cuts in or elimination of Planned Parenthood, educational programs, Medicare and Social Security, and in essence, “defunding the poor,” well, things may soon get even uglier.

You may not believe that revolutions begin with the singular act of one man. But one man’s actions may have released the cap on a pressure valve that has been more than ready to blow.

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David W. Berner is the author of several books of award-winning fiction and memoir. His latest, Daylight Saving Time: The power of growing older is available now. His novella, American Moon will be published by Regal House Publishing in 2026.