I sat on this when it first broke because I wasn’t 100% sure it was the same kid in the video, even though they looked identical. Snopes is calling it “unproven” because they can’t say “definitively” it is Kyle, which they would have to do unless Kyle Rittenhouse confesses. However, Snopes points out plenty of evidence. Besides being a dead-ringer, and in a nearby area where this altercation took place, you can clearly see the ridiculous stars & stripes crocks that he wears in the video that he also wears when he poses with his AR-15. I have little doubt these videos will come into play during the court case.
The GOP, starting with Fox News, has bent over backwards to make Rittenhouse into a 2nd amendment hero and are trying hard to justify the marauding Trump-supporting white supremacist militias terrorizing the streets of Kenosha. Tucker Carlson said the shooter was just trying to “maintain order.” A Republican House candidate said he was acting in self-defense. Of course, Trump got involved and, rather than condemn the killings, decided to unequivocally throw his support around the 17-year old Kenosha Killer.
Because the video of the actual killing wasn’t enough, maybe this will counter the media narrative of the graffiti-scrubbing kid:
New follow up video emerged. A Black man yells at him not to put his hands on a female, which he brutally ignores.
The Trump-supporting kid ended his adventure being charged with first degree intentional homicide, while two men are dead, and one wounded. The real heroes are the brave men who charged him… unarmed… to try and stop the trigger-happy teen. They died protecting others, leaving their wives and young children behind. Democrats would do well to point out that THEY are the true heroes in this.
When the Republicans can’t deny a something awful, they try to justify it. The racist Kenosha News had no problem with the armed Trump gangs but called protesters “thugs.” The police chief said the victims wouldn’t be dead if they weren’t out past curfew—because I guess we are living in the Purge. I would also point out he had no problem with Kenosha PD allowing the Trump gangs being out past curfew: they gave them refreshments and told them they “appreciate” them. After the killings, several protesters tried yelling at the police that Kyle was the shooter, but the police ignored them and Kyle just went home. Contrast that with an unarmed black man getting into his car.
The GOP has taken this a step further—instead of just justifying this behavior, they are championing it. They are literally trying to make this disturbed young killer a hero. I have very little doubt that if the shooting happened just one week prior to the GOP convention, he’d have a prime speaking slot. Probably in between the neighbor-hating gun-toting couple pointing guns at peaceful protesters. Hell, if they had Rittehhouse, they wouldn’t need them, or the Fuhrer-admiring GOP candidate accused of aggressive sexual behavior. Violence, misogyny, fascism and gun death rolled up into one.
This is what the GOP has devolved into.
