Rittenhouse acquittal reaction highlights nation’s polarized politics: Republicans claim 2nd Amendment victory, progressives call it a miscarriage of justice
In the run-up to Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial, legal experts cautioned that no matter which way the verdict fell, larger political conclusions should not be drawn from the case.
But in a highly politicized and polarized America, that’s exactly what transpired after Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all counts Friday afternoon.
Elected leaders and pundits on the right declared the verdict a victory for gun rights and the use of self-defense and a defeat for media entities they argued had unfairly smeared Rittenhouse.
“God Bless America!” U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., tweeted moments after the verdict. “Never surrender your Second Amendment right to defend yourself and your family.”
Many on the left decried the verdict as a travesty that allowed a white teenager toting an AR-15-style rifle to walk free after killing two demonstrators and wounding a third amid the chaotic fallout of the Kenosha, Wisconsin, police shooting of Jacob Blake. Some progressives doubted the same verdict would have been afforded to a defendant of color.
“In Black and Latino communities, we have long known that there’s a different set of rules for
