Opinion

DANIEL: The Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict Was A Victory For The American Legal System Against The Woke Mob

(Photo by Sean Krajacic-Pool/Getty Images)

Hayden Daniel Deputy & Opinion Editor
Font Size:

After a trial that gripped the nation and a sometimes frustratingly long deliberation process, the jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse delivered its verdict Friday: not guilty on all charges.

It seemed to be an open and shut case of self-defense to anyone who watched the footage of the shootings in good faith, but still the spectre of wokeness hung over the entire trial. The prosecution’s case was flimsy, and it led to conjecture that the trial was wholly political — brought before a judge and jury merely to placate leftist activists who bayed for retribution.

It seems that every day the laws of this nation are being flaunted in the name of a political cause. While leftists refuse to enforce the law at the border and in major cities where crime has spiked to record levels, they seemed determined to use the weight of the American justice system to crush Rittenhouse.

A small group of 12 people, however, pushed back on that, and the jury chose to uphold the objective nature of our legal system and refused to allow American justice to be subsumed by political fervor.

Rittenhouse crossed state lines to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to help protect businesses from rioters and render medical aid to anyone who might need it. Instead, the night ended in tragedy after the 17-year-old shot three people in self-defense, killing two of them.

Leftist politicians and every media know-it-all immediately branded Rittenhouse as a white supremacist domestic terrorist, and they gleefully called for a swift conviction and merciless punishment. These are the same people who advocate for “prison reform” and want to let violent criminals back onto the streets, mind you.

Democratic New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said, “Lock up Kyle Rittenhouse and throw away the key,” while “Squad” member Ayanna Pressley slammed media outlets that tried to offer an objective account of the events, proclaiming, “A 17 year old white supremacist domestic terrorist drove across state lines, armed with an AR 15. He shot and killed 2 people who had assembled to affirm the value, dignity, and worth of Black lives. Fix your damn headlines.”

Even then-candidate Joe Biden tried to tie Rittenhouse to white supremacy even though there was not a shred of evidence to support the claim. He criticized former President Donlad Trump’s performance during a debate by tweeting, “There’s no other way to put it: the President of the United States refused to disavow white supremacists on the debate stage last night.” A video accompanying showed a picture of Rittenhouse as well as footage from white supremacist rallies like Charlottesville.

Those same activists are now doubling down on their initial ignorance and reinforcing the lie that the verdict represents a victory for white supremacy.

Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush, who was involved in the equally spurious Ferguson riots of 2014, called the verdict “white supremacy in action.”

Nikole Hannah-Jones of 1619 Project infamy seized the opportunity to promote her widely discredited “history” project by saying “In this country, you can even kill white people and get away with it if those white people are fighting for Black lives. This is the legacy of 1619.”

The Maryland chapter of the ACLU, an organization founded to “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States,” commented that the verdict was “dangerous, disgusting, unacceptable white supremacy.”

Protesters gathered outside the Kenosha Courthouse every day to advocate a guilty verdict. They were soon met by counter-protesters who supported Rittenhouse. Tensions rose several times outside the courthouse, but overall it remained mostly peaceful (For once that’s not a dig at CNN).

But as the deliberation dragged on, some people speculated that the jury might have been intimidated into charging Rittenhouse on at least one charge in order to avoid a repeat of last year’s fiery riots.

We might see some violence in the wake of the verdict, but it is a triumph for the justice system that the jury did not bend to political pressure or compromise the rule of law for fear of the consequences of going against the woke mob.

Hayden Daniel is the opinion editor at the Daily Caller.