The Elitist Media evening newscasts rightly accorded significant coverage to last year's deadly Southern California wildfires. It is therefore unfortunate that they seem mostly disinterested in covering the arrest and revealed motive of the individual suspected in starting the Palisades Fire.
ABC and CBS did NOT cover the arrest of Jonathan Rinderknecht. ABC covered the end of the litigation between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, while CBS covered the Met Gala. There was simply no time to spare.
NBC Nightly News did cover it. Here’s the report in its entirety as aired on Monday, May 4th, 2026:
The sole report on the evening news of the Palisades firebug and his Luigi Mangione fixation aired on @NBCNightlyNews. More far-left violence exposed. pic.twitter.com/nwXbArLl3J
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) May 5, 2026
TOM LLAMAS: We're back now with new and disturbing details behind the deadly Palisades wildfire. Prosecutors now revealing the suspect may have been inspired by Luigi Mangione. Here’s Steve Patterson.
STEVE PATTERSON: Tonight, new insight into the man accused of sparking last year's deadly Palisades Fire. An inferno that reduced neighborhoods to ash and left 12 dead. Court documents revealing the accused arsonist, 30-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht, was fixated on Luigi Mangione, the man charged with a high-profile murder of a health care CEO in 2024. According to federal filings, Rinderknecht’s search history included “free Luigi Mangione,” and “let's kill all the billionaires.”
Prosecutors say the suspect, an Uber driver, was upset over a failed relationship on New Year's eve when he ignited the fire. Passengers from that night described him driving erratically, ranting about Luigi Mangione, later telling investigators, “The violence, that's what happened with that CEO recently, that's what happens when people get desperate.” Rinderknecht’s attorney claiming his client is innocent, telling the Associated Press the alleged motive is a “misguided theory". But it's a pattern officials are seeing elsewhere.
Just last month, 29-year-old Charif Abdulkarim was charged with torching a massive California warehouse. Authorities say he also compared himself to Mangione and was fueled by anti-capitalist views.
BILL ESSALYI: There is an extremely disturbing trend where people are resorting to violence to communicate political messages or economic messages. I don't know if this guy saw himself as Luigi but he’s an arsonist, he’s a criminal…
PATTERSON: Both Rinderknecht and Abdulkarim have pleaded not guilty and are currently awaiting trial. Tom.
LLAMAS: OK, Steve.
The most important thing, which anchor Tom Llamas and reporter Steve Patterson noted early on, is the suspected arsonist’s fixation with notorious CEO shooter Luigi Mangione. These days, it seems like an act of courage for the media to point out that there in fact exists left-wing violence. NBC did not blink and did not omit that particular angle from the story.
The very top of the story cites the firebug’s Mangione fanboyism, as well as his call to “kill all the billionaires.” There is no going around what the fire was. The suspect’s rants to his Uber passengers further expose his deranged ideology.
NBC then takes the step of mentioning that other recent fire, the warehouse factory blaze that started when a disgruntled worker lit toilet paper on fire. Patterson rightly attributed it to “anti-capitalist views.”
It did not take a whole lot of time to put this report before viewers exposing left-wing violence, but it did take courage- something seemingly lacking at CBS and ABC.
