Lefty media and pols have fallen into a Kyle Rittenhouse trap

Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse already is turning into a nightmare for the progressives who immediately demonized him.  The seventeen-year-old boy who traveled to Kenosha with his semi-automatic rifle to defend property from mob destruction appeared at first to be a perfect example of what novelist Tom Wolfe called "The Great White Defendant" in his satirical novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities.  Kyle's white (strike one); he carried a semi-automatic "assault rifle" (strike two); he loves the police (strike three); and even worse, he shot three people demonstrating against allegedly racist cops (by burning and looting businesses of people innocent of anything other than owning a business).

Those committed to the narrative OF cops hunting down innocent blacks, AKA "systemic racism," knew in their bones that he had to be a "white supremacist" and said so right away.

Squad member Ayanna Presley:

Although I am no constitutional scholar, this statement on Twitter probably does not fall under the Article 1, section 6 grant of immunity for statements in speech or debate.

She was not alone in taking to Twitter with a poisonous racialist label:

An entity with far deeper pockets — BET — used the expression "white supremacist" in its headline:

For the record, there is no evidence at all that Kyle Rittenhouse is in any way affiliated with any group espousing white nationalism or white supremacy, nor is there anything on the record that he has said or written indicating such a political stance.

For reasons it did not explain but likely related to these labels, GoFundMe removed accounts set up to fund a legal defense for Rittenhouse.

GoFundMe said the campaigns were taken down for violating its terms of service but did not specify further. Its terms prohibit "activity that GoFundMe may deem in its sole discretion to be unacceptable."

Meanwhile, GoFundMe hosts an account for the family of Anthony Huber, who was shot and killed, and another for his "significant other."

But young Rittenhouse will not be without support as he fights the six felony counts on which he has been indicted.  The U.K. Daily Mail:

The attorneys representing Kenosha gunman Kyle Rittenhouse have announced they will be establishing a legal defense fund for the teen who is facing multiple charges for killing two protesters on Tuesday. 

The Kenosha County District Attorney's office on Thursday formally charged the 17-year-old from Illinois in the fatal shooting of two men and the wounding of a third during a night of Jacob Blake demonstrations in the city.  

The charges include one count of first-degree intentional homicide; one count of first-degree reckless homicide; one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide; two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment.

For a review of what the evidence so far shows, see "What really happened with those Kenosha shootings."  It appears that in each of the three cases where he used his rifle, he was defending himself.  See also these tweets from Andy Ngo with graphic evidence of the danger Rittenhouse faced.

Lin Wood, the super-lawyer who has won settlements for Nick Sandmann, stepped up with an offer to defend Rittenhouse after GoFundMe denied him the opportunity to raise money, and now there is a place where donations can be made.  But Wood's specialty is not criminal law; it is defamation cases, and the odds are good that he has ample scope for raising a lot of money for Rittenhouse.

The wheels of justice turn very slowly, so we will have to wait some time for verdicts in the criminal proceedings against Rittenhouse, if they continue to be pressed.  But I expect that Lin Wood already is gathering evidence for libel lawsuits over the hasty and ill advised labeling of Rittenhouse as a white supremacist and white nationalist.

 

 

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