The GOP Is Just Loving the Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict – VICE

GOP elected officials like Rep. Matt Gaetz (L) and Madison Cawthorn (R) celebrated the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse (C) of all charges. (Photos:Paul Hennessy,Sean Krajacic-Pool/Getty Images, Republican National Committee)

Within minutes of the news breaking that Kyle Rittenhouse, a teenager who shot and killed two people last summer in Wisconsin, had been found not guilty, Republicans were flocking to the internet to celebrate.

Kyle Rittenhouse is not guilty, my friends! You have a right to defend yourself, a grinning Rep. Madison Cawthorn, a North Carolina Republican, cheered on an Instagram Story. Be armed, be dangerous, and be moral.

Kyle, if you want an internship, reach out to me, Cawthorn added in a caption at the bottom.

A Rittenhouse internship might turn out to be a hot commodity among the Capitol Hill GOP. Before the verdict was reached, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz suggested that Rittenhouse could become his intern. On Friday, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosarthe guy whose staff made an anime that depicted him killing New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Corteztweeted, I will arm wrestle @mattgaetz to get dibs for Kyle as an intern.

Justice was served for #KyleRittenhouse and he is fully exonerated, Gosar added. As I said last year, obviously self-defense.

Gaetz also reaffirmed his support for Rittenhouse on Friday, in a tweet from his official Twitter account. Kyle Rittenhouse committed no crimes, he wrote, before adding the nonsensical suggestion, Now do BLM

Rittenhouse had faced charges of first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, and two counts of reckless endangerment of safety. In August 2020, he killed two men and maimed another during protests against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

In the months since, Rittenhouse has become a cause clbre among conservatives, who have portrayed him as a hero, who did what was necessary to protect himself, and as a potential martyr for gun rights. During the protests, Rittenhouse was trying to protect a car dealership.

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, meanwhile, saluted Rittenhouse as one of the good guys.

Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, who loves to show off her own gun collection, called Friday a great day for the Second Amendment and the right to self-defense, adding, Glory to God!

The Twitter account for Republicans on the House Committee on the Judiciary took a simpler tack. After the verdict, it tweeted, Justice.

But Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, whos running for Congress, might have done the most: He proposed turning Nov. 19 into the federal holiday Kyle Rittenhouse Day.

View original post here:
The GOP Is Just Loving the Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict - VICE