With a hand from Trump, the right makes Rittenhouse a cause clbre

[JonLP24]

(snip)

Rittenhouse has become a cause célèbre on the right. Shortly after the shootings, someone tweeted they wanted Rittenhouse to be their bodyguard. Ann Coulter tweeted back that she wanted the teen to be “my president.” Aubrey Huff, a former baseball player for the San Francisco Giants, hailed him as a “national treasure.”

And Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host, quickly dedicated time on his program to the Rittenhouse story. Carlson drew fierce backlash when he seemed to justify the shootings by questioning why anybody would be surprised that “17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?”

(snip)

But other Republicans think Trump’s refusal to denounce Rittenhouse — including by liking a tweet that said, “Kyle Rittenhouse is a good example of why I decided to vote for Trump” — could backfire. GOP strategist Rob Stutzman said he thinks the rush to support Rittenhouse will repel key segments of voters that the president needs.

“The image of a dopey delusional kid with an AR-15 isn’t comforting to the ‘burbs,” Stutzman said. “The type of weapon he had I think influences those perceptions.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/01/trump-rittenhouse-kenosha-support-407106

[Nevilledog]

1. He's dissing law enforcement & DA by publicly suggesting guy was justified.

THAT should piss off law & order types. In a sane world.

[keithbvadu2]

2. The AR-15 style rifle is the preferred weapon of choice for killing schoolchildren.