Some conservatives recoiled at the idea that they were celebrating, what they saw as, vigilantism. Rittenhouse’s lionization on the right has not been universal. Kirk announced he would be interviewing Rittenhouse for his radio show and podcast in the coming days. It’s about whether an American citizen will be afforded an impartial jury of their peers that won’t cow to threats of riots if they acquit an innocent man.” It’s about the rule of law, it’s about the Constitution, the 2nd Amendment, and the right to defend yourself when a violent mob is attacking you. “But this trial is about more than just Kyle. “Kyle is clearly innocent,” conservative activist Charlie Kirk told POLITICO. The totality of developments led conservatives to not just rally to Rittenhouse’s defense but portray him as a victim of a political hit job. She also did not comment immediately on the verdict. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said she wouldn’t comment on an ongoing trial or the president’s previous words. Those same commentators seized on a Joe Biden campaign tweetfrom over a year ago casting Rittenhouse as a white supremacist. The media mob … get it wrong and innocent people … pay the price.” “And sadly, it happens every single time over and over again the same cast of characters. “This is what happens when powerful people in the media, in Washington, in the swamp … rush to judgment,” Hannity said. Fox News commentators like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity have dedicated nightly monologues to blasting media coverage of the Rittenhouse trial and defending the teen. They argued that the media had mischaracterized his motives and the specifics of the case, largely by dismissing his claims that he feared for his life, was acting in self-defense, and that the men killed were white. The right, in response, largely and boisterously rallied around Rittenhouse. The left has painted the teen as reckless and even racist for going to Kenosha armed with an AR-15 as violence erupted in the wake of Jacob Blake’s shooting at the hands of the Kenosha police. According to a new Economist/YouGov poll, 76 percent of Democrats believed Rittenhouse should have been found guilty of homicide, while 65 percent Republicans did not. The trial of Rittenhouse, who faced multiple felony charges for those fatal shootings in 2020, was the latest event to split a deeply divided country. Neither CPAC nor Turning Point USA commented on any potential invitation to Rittenhouse. “I think given the situation he found himself in, what he did appears to be justified - but I would stop short of lionizing him as a hero, a 17-year-old kid who found himself in that situation.” I think there will be every effort made to turn him into conservative hero,” Keller said. A CPAC invitation “would not surprise me. Republican strategist Gregg Keller said he could see a future in which Rittenhouse becomes a featured speaker at the conservative confabs where activists congregate. Matt Gaetz offered Rittenhouse an internship in Congress if acquitted. Since Rittenhouse’s arrest, legal defense funds have been formed in his name, right-wing commentators have blasted media coverage for allegedly mishandling facts of the case, memes depicting Rittenhouse as a hero - or even Captain America - have cropped up on Twitter, and T-shirts have been made with the silhouette of Rittenhouse shooting his gun with the words, “Don’t Tread on Me,” and “Free Kyle.” Florida Republican Rep.
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