The Kyle Rittenhouse Trial: Apparently Self-Defense is a Thing of the Past

On Aug. 25, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse went to Kenosha, Wisconsin to help clean up the wreckage left over by the “peaceful protestors” who were protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake. Kyle, then 17, was spotted scrubbing graffiti off a school building, administering first-aid to people injured by the protestors, and protecting small businesses and policemen from harm’s way. However, as three men advanced on him, Rittenhouse was forced to kill two and injure another in order to save his own life. While the media and then-presidential candidate Joe Biden portrayed Rittenhouse as a white supremacist murderer, it is clear to anyone watching the trial that Rittenhouse’s actions were simply the actions of a terrified 17-year-old who only shot because of self-defense.

Rittenhouse is being tried on six criminal charges, including first-degree homicide and attempted first-degree homicide, and is facing up to a lifetime in prison for simply defending himself. When looking at the witness testimony from the sides of both the prosecution and the defense, it becomes obvious that Rittenhouse should be acquitted.

Let us examine the first man over whom the Left is weeping-Joseph Rosenbaum, 36. Rosenbaum was not merely a convicted serial child molester (not that this has any bearing on Rittenhouse’s guilt or innocence). According to Ryan Balch, a prosecution witness, Rosenbaum had shouted, “If I catch any of you alone, I’m going to f–king kill you.” Rittenhouse added that Rosenbaum had also yelled, “I’m going to cut your f–king hearts out.” Rittenhouse started to run away from him, while repeatedly yelling “friendly,” as evidenced from an FBI surveillance camera. As he was running, Rittenhouse said that he heard another person with Rosenbaum shout “get him and kill him,” and that he heard a gunshot behind him. According to the testimony of Richie McGinniss, a video editor for The Daily Caller, Rosenbaum then lunged for Rittenhouse’s AR-15. In an attempt to save his own life, Rittenhouse fired at Rosenbaum, killing him. Rittenhouse then ran towards him in an effort to administer first aid but stopped after he saw someone else already giving it to him.

The second man, Anthony Huber, 26, a convicted domestic abuser (which similarly does not affect the outcome of the case), struck Rittenhouse multiple times with a skateboard, knocking him to the ground, and then tried to grab Rittenhouse’s rifle. Rittenhouse said that he had felt “the strap starting to come off my body.” Rittenhouse then shot and killed Huber, too.

Lastly, Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, the prosecution’s key witness, admitted himself that Rittenhouse had only shot at him once he pointed his handgun (which was being illegally carried, as he had been arrested for a felony burglary) into Rittenhouse’s face:

CHIRAFISI (defense attorney): Okay. So, when you were standing three to five feet from him with your arms up in the air, he never fired, right?

GROSSKREUTZ: Correct.

CHIRAFISI: It wasn’t until you pointed your gun at him, advanced on him, with your gun — now your hands down, pointed at him — that he fired, right?

GROSSKREUTZ: Correct.

As Rittenhouse put it, Grosskreutz “lunge[d] at me with his pistol pointed directly at my head.” Rittenhouse then shot at Grosskreutz’s bicep, injuring his arm.

Rittenhouse clearly feared for his life many times over that night. According to the Wisconsin self-defense law, a person has a right to use deadly force if “the actor reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself.” As we can see from the trial, Rittenhouse had every right to believe he was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm. Not only that, but Rittenhouse testified that he didn’t even intend to kill anyone. All he wanted to do was to stop the attackers from harming him.

The questions being thrown at Rittenhouse under cross-examination were unbelievably ridiculous. Such questions include why Rittenhouse felt that Grosskreutz was a threat, when he was only carrying a handgun, along with an attack on Rittenhouse’s constitutional right to remain silent during his arrest. Thankfully, the judge yelled at the prosecutor for violating Rittenhouse’s right to the 5th amendment. However, the fact that this trial is still being debated across the country is both astonishing and heart-breaking.

As J.D. Vance said on Tucker Carlson Tonight, “It's not a trial, it is child abuse masquerading as justice in this country.” When Rittenhouse broke down in tears on the witness stand the other day, the trauma that Rittenhouse was experiencing should have become clear to everyone.

If Rittenhouse is convicted, it would be an extreme perversion of American justice. As Cassandra Fairbanks tweeted, “our right to self defense is on trial.” Are we now such a progressive society that we would rather an innocent be murdered, rather than have that individual defend his life? Would we rather mourn the deaths of a pedophile, domestic abuser and burglar, rather than sympathize with an innocent child’s trauma? Would we rather turn a simple court case into a show of politics, rather than hand out the justice needed? These are the questions we ought to be asking ourselves as this crazy trial awaits a jury decision.

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Photo Caption: Burned cars in Kenosha

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons