Kyle Rittenhouse, the Kenosha shooter who killed two people during street protests, was a budding right-wing idol… for about a minute.
The 18-year-old youth, acquited of all charges last week, was embraced by hard-right Reps. Matt Gaetz, Kevin McCarthy, Majorie Taylor Greene, censured Paul Gosar and others.
He was even lionized by Fox News talking head and fountain of misinformation Tucker Carlson in his first interview following the trial.
Then, Rittenhouse shut them all down.
He told a chagrined Carlson on national cable television that he supported Black Lives Matter, the organization behind numerous protests of police brutality against African-Americans.
The protests in Kenosha were over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
The police officer who shot Blake in the back seven times while he was prone in his car has not been charged.
To make matters worse, defense attorney Mark Richards slammed McCarthy, and other hard-right lawmakers for attempting to exploit the youth and the incident for political gain.
Earlier, Gosar tweeted that he would “arm wrestle” Gaetz “to get dibs for Kyle as an intern.” Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) also offered an internship.
“There’s a lot of people trying to profit on this, and I don’t think people should,” the lawyer said.
“They’re raising money on it and you have all these Republican congressmen saying come work for me,” Richards said. “They want to trade on his celebrity and I think it’s disgusting.”
Richards expressed particular ire at Donald Trump Jr. for citing Rittenhouse to encourage people to support Gun Owners of America, a hard-right gun organization.
Trump Jr. said the group would “award” Rittenhouse with a new AR-15.. His other gun had been confiscated by police.
But Carlson was the one left with the most egg on his face.
He gave Rittenhouse a national platform, and he promptly imploded.
“I’m not a racist person. I support the BLM movement,” Rittenhouse told the propagandist.
“I support peacefully demonstrating,” the teen continued, according to a transcript of the interview.
“I believe there needs to be change. I believe there’s a lot of prosecutorial misconduct, not just in my case but in other cases. It’s just amazing to see how much a prosecutor can take advantage of someone.”
Throughout the trial, civil rights activists said it was a case study of bias in favor of white defendants, largely because of the antics of Judge Bruce Schroeder.
Schroeder made a patently racist joke about Asian-Americans and sternly upbraided the prosecutor, all in front of the jury. His cellphone ring tone, which erupted during trestimony, was a Donald Trump campaign song.
One of the supreme ironies in the case was that neither Rittenhouse, nor his victims, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, Anthony Huber, 26 and Gaige Grosskreutz were connected to any protest organization.
Nor were the politically active, or members of Antifa, the supposed left-wing group.
Rosenbaum, was homeless and mentally ill. He was roaming the streets yelling racial epithets at random people when he encountered Rittenhouse and confronted him.
After shooting Rosenbaum four times and killing him, Rittenhouse left the scene and began running. Several others believed Rittenhouse was an active shooter and began chasing him.
Huber was part of that group and was actually acting as a good samaritan. He tried to disarm Rittenhouse and hit him with his skateboard. Rittenhouse fatally shot him once through the chest.
Huber went to the protest to video the unrest, according to girlfriend Hannah Gittings.
Neither Rosenbaum nor Huber were armed.
GrossKreutz, who witnessed the scene approached Rittenhouse with a hangun. When he lowered his hand, Rittenhouse shot and wounded him in the arm. He had a concealed carry permit.
Carlson and right-wing lawmakers have repeatedly demonized Black Lives Matter, although the organization discourages violence and strongly supports peaceful protests.
But if they plan to continue their attacks, it will be hard to use Rittenhouse as their stalking horse.
Just like that, he was off the hard-right’s radar.
Check the video below.