MSNBC host Tiffany Cross laid into Illinois teenager Kyle Rittenhouse, calling him a “little murderous white supremacist” during her Saturday show, “The Cross Connection.”
Cross devoted a good portion of the show to a lengthy conversation about Rittenhouse — who shot three people during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August of 2020 and was acquitted Friday of all the charges against him.
Joining Cross in that conversation was The Nation’s legal correspondent Elie Mystal, who argued that Rittenhouse had only been acquitted because “the judge was in the tank from the defendant from the jump.”
“This is not a miscarriage of justice, this is justice working as intended for white people. And the way you know that is because of the judge. The reason why I was able to predict that was because of the judge. The judge was in the tank [for] the defendant from the jump. I mean literally before the trial, he was making motions and making rulings in favor of Rittenhouse,” Mystal continued, adding, “His actual decision-making favored the defendant the entire time”
Mystal went on to argue that the justice system had been designed to be “permissive of white violence,” and that no progress would ever be made unless that bias was confronted and addressed. “Kyle Rittenhouse is just the latest beneficiary of that bias in the justice system,” he said.
“I’m just disgusted because I still don’t think that Rittenhouse understands that he is morally wrong if the justice system did not find him legally wrong,” Cross added, arguing that Rittenhouse needed to understand that the moral standard and the legal standard applied to his actions should not necessarily be the same.
Cross went on to note a short time later that several Republicans, including Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, had suggested Rittenhouse might make a good Congressional intern.
“I find these people disgusting, Elie. I’m disgusted at what I’m seeing. It’s not just this trial, it’s other trials, but this in particular: The fact that white supremacists roam the halls of Congress freely and celebrate this little murderous white supremacist, and the fact that he gets to walk the streets freely, it lets you know these people have access to instituting laws, they represent the legislative branch of this country. What are we to make of that?” Cross asked.
“Welcome to the modern Republican Party. This is what these people want,” Mystal replied, claiming that white people showed their support for white violence by voting for Republicans. “And this is what a majority of white people vote for. When I say that majority of white people are in favor of this kind of violence, it is because a majority of white people consistently vote Republican. Since the passage of the Civil Rights Act, a majority of white people have voted Republican. So, like, this is the party that they are supporting.”
“A majority of white people pick judges like Bruce Schroeder, the judge in the Kyle Rittenhouse case. A majority of white people do not support policies that would unpack and unroll and reform this system of justice. This is what they want. Matt Gaetz is giving the white folks what they want,” Mystal continued. “Look at it. Look at yourselves. It’s gross. But until a majority of you stop voting for this, this will keep happening.”
“What these cases that we’re watching all have in common is white people deputizing themselves in some position of authority to have jurisdiction over their life when they need to mind their blanking business,” Cross agreed.