For the better part of a month, Kyle Rittenhouse has been the latest hero du jour on the right. But a guy who was actually on hand when Rittenhouse killed two people and wounded another in Kenosha reached out to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch unit in hopes of pouring cold water on that legend.
Ryan Balch, the Wisconsin man who Hatewatch reported was immersed in white supremacist propaganda before joining Rittenhouse in Kenosha on Aug. 25, reached out to Hatewatch by phone. He offered additional context about what happened that night, when Rittenhouse allegedly killed two people and injured another. Balch, 31, described the militia contingent that descended on the city in the midst of civil unrest there as being “small groups of friends who went together” in separate groups. He called the groups “ad hoc.” Balch also told Hatewatch that Rittenhouse lied to him that night, claiming that he was 18 years old and an EMT, both of which were untrue.
Wow. If anyone else can attest to this, and is willing to do so under oath, Rittenhouse could be in a real pickle if and when his case goes to trial. Exposed liars never look good in front of a jury.
Balch went on to say that much of the effort to lionize Rittenhouse—which has gone as high as the Trumps—is “not factually based.” He believes that will become clear when anyone really looks into what happened that night. Balch himself sees Rittenhouse as little more than “a kid who lied to the people he was with,” and outright lied to “anybody in proximity to him.”
Rittenhouse’s legal team has hinted it will argue that Rittenhouse was part of “a well-regulated militia.” However, Balch claims that in order to meet that criterion, “there has to be some organization”—and there was no organization on August 15. Far from it—according to Balch, there was little communication worth mentioning, “and that was even within the protesters themselves.”
The big part of this, however, is that Rittenhouse has a rather tenuous relationship with the truth. If anyone else is willing to come forward and back up Balch’s claim, this has the potential to be a crippling blow to Rittenhouse’s defense—and that’s putting it mildly.