Justice prevailed when a jury of his peers declared Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty after defending himself from three left-wing attackers in the midst of fiery riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. What the rioters began, the legacy media seemed eager to finish, attacking the 18-year-old man a symbol of “white nationalist terror,” a “white nationalist coward,” and a “murderous little white supremacist.” (Notice a trend?)
Here are the worst media meltdowns since the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict:
1. The “loudest warning” about the “rise of white nationalist terror” killing “race-traitors”
MSNBC’s Joy Reid took the day of the verdict, November 19, off — but she turned her hosting duties over to the equally outlandish Jason Johnson, who said that “the single most important thing to understand about today’s ruling” is that it allows white supremacists to shoot minorities and white liberals with abandon.
“By allowing him to go free and potentially commit other crimes, this jury sent the final and loudest warning to white America about the dangerous rise of white nationalist terror in this country, one I suspect will be ignored by most thought leaders, politicians, and the press,” he said. “Kyle Rittenhouse was able to kill Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and face no consequences because those men were race traitors.”
Jason Johnson: "By allowing [Rittenhouse] to…potentially commit other crimes, this jury sent the final and loudest warning to white America about the dangerous rise of white nationalist terror[.]"
He adds Rittenhouse won b/c the white guys he shot were seen as "race traitors" pic.twitter.com/fpMcL8Uf1O
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 20, 2021
2. “White nationalist coward little kid with an AR-15”
Jason Johnson could not limit himself to only one offensive statement. On the same episode of “The ReidOut,” Johnson said that innocent social justice protesters must now live in fear of being liquidated:
The first thing that occurred to me after this ruling is, “Oh, well, OK, now it’s just open season.” Like, if I’m walking around and I’m a white nationalist coward little kid with an AR-15, and I see someone drive by with a “Black Lives Matter” bumper sticker and I feel threatened, I can open fire. If I go by a youth group standing outside a local Target and they’re chanting, “Black Lives Matter,” and I feel threatened, I can open fire.
Rittenhouse’s surviving accuser, Gaige Grosskreutz, admitted that Rittenhouse only opened fire after Grosskreutz drew a handgun, pointed it at Rittenhouse (who was then 17), and advanced on him.
3. Kyle Rittenhouse is like a bank robber shooting his way out
MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance likened Rittenhouse to a bank robber being given the right to blow away law enforcement officers on the November 19 episode of “MTP Daily.”
“… [T]his strikes me as an odd situation for self-defense,” she opined. “It’s something akin to saying that if you go in a bank and rob it, and people are trying to apprehend you, you can shoot your way out and claim self-defense. That’s a little bit what Kyle Rittenhouse did. He created this problem, and then proceeded to threaten people to get out.”
“Typically, you can’t claim self-defense in a situation where you’ve provoked the incident,” she said, without evidence. Despite the prosecution’s best efforts, there is no evidence Rittenhouse broke any law before opening fire in self-defense on August 25, 2020.
4. “Murderous little white supremacist”
MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross denounced Kyle Rittenhouse as “a murderous little white supremacist” on “The Cross Connection” the day after the verdict. “I’m disgusted at what I’m seeing” from members of Congress offering Rittenhouse an internship. “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.”
“This happened because this is what the white justice system was designed to do,” agreed her guest, Nation magazine “justice correspondent” Elie Mystal. “This is not a miscarriage of justice. This is justice working as intended for white people.”
Newsmax contributor Jenna Ellis later noted, “Murder is a legal definition. Kyle was acquitted. This is textbook defamation with actual malice.”
Murder is a legal definition. Kyle was acquitted. This is textbook defamation with actual malice. https://t.co/ZCEzPcizUs
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) November 21, 2021
5. “Gun laws” giving white people the right to “inflict violence” are “foundational” to America
Although she relinquished the host’s chair, Joy Reid made a special guest appearance on her own show to insult both Rittenhouse and the essence of the United States.
“This is what we expected to happen because I think we have to keep in mind when we’re watching the criminal justice system at work that it was designed to do exactly what it did today,” she said on November 19, imputing racial machinations to a trial in which every major player was white. “Gun laws helped to enhance the design to allow this verdict to happen today. This country was built on the idea of white men had a particular kind of freedom and a particular kind of citizenship that only they have,” she said. Gun rights, enshrined in the Second Amendment, allegedly gave “slave catchers” and other malefactors “the right to inflict violence in the name of protecting property. That’s, like, the foundational creation of the United States.”
6. “The poster child for reactionary white men”
MSNBC guests, as well as hosts, took turns belittling Kyle Rittenhouse, while insisting the right to self-defense will lead to murder.
“… [M]ake no mistake, Rittenhouse will be the poster child for reactionary white men who want to take the law in their own hands, who want to bring assault weapons to Black Lives Matter protests, and who think that violence is a legitimate form of political discourse,” said MSNBC legal analyst Paul Butler on “The ReidOut” hours after the teenager’s acquittal on all charges.
“In the eyes of the law, Rittenhouse is now actually the victim of the three men who he shot, even though the evidence suggest[s] that Rittenhouse went to Kenosha spoiling for a fight,” he said. “I think we should be troubled that other people who want to take the law into their own hands might view this verdict as an invitation.”
As offensive as these comments were, they are but a sample of the vitriol poured out 24/7 on cable news networks like MSNBC and its lower-rated competitor, CNN.
Bear in mind, these media assaults come after weeks of similar insults, assaults, and imputations against the teenager. As I noted, even before the verdict:
- CNN posted an article stating that Kyle Rittenhouse “represents the epitome of [w]hite privilege in America run amok”;
- Elie Mystal branded Judge Bruce Schroeder “a biased, racist judge”; and
- MSNBC’s ReidOut blog rated Kyle Rittenhouse’s breakdown on the witness stand as “white crocodile tears.”
The legal system backed Kyle Rittenhouse when he defended himself against his attackers once before. Perhaps it will smile on him again if he files a defamation lawsuit against his assailants in the drive-by media.
Related: ‘The Epitome Of White Privilege’: The Media’s Worst Reactions To The Kyle Rittenhouse Trial
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.