I never commented on the Rittenhouse case until I started watching large chunks of the trial, and all I can say is that anyone who has done the same and denies that there's a huge gap between the media narrative about this and what actually happened is not telling the truth.
Hey, I'm a lawyer who admits I haven't watched the trial ("in minute detail") but I'd nonetheless like to announce that the view I have of what happened is exactly what my liberal followers want to hear and will instantly click re-tweet: pure toxicity.
Kudos to @AnaKasparian for acknowledging that, as she actually watched the trial, she realized that the narrative she was fed by corporate media about the Rittenhouse case was wildly different than the fact. And this before the most important evidence:
It's almost inconceivable that these charges would have been filed absent the political climate and social media demanding it, which is rather alarming. I've rarely seen a judge this hostile to the prosecution before. It's not done, so we'll see, but it's extraordinary.
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Read this whole thread and note -- yet again -- (1) a very informed person coming to realize how wildly misinformed by the media he was about the Rittenhouse case once he started watching the trial and (2) the media's inability to realize people think differently than they do:
There's an avalanche of punditry, think pieces and cable segments about the Rittenhouse case and only a tiny portion of it relates to the evidence in court about what happened.
It's all just processed through their dreary, pre-scripted narratives about race and ideology.
Brazil's largest newspaper, @folha, had to delete a tweet about Rittenhouse because they claimed the people he shot were black.
Obviously, they are getting their information from US media and this is what has been done on purpose. So many people misled:
Principles of rehabilitative justice, reform of the carceral state and liberalized criminal justice evaporate when Democrats demand harsh prison for their political adversaries.
When it comes to their political enemies, they embrace the harshest possible law-and-order framework.
This is why liberal politics was driven in the Trump era by reverence for George W. Bush's ex-FBI Director, who they literally sung and danced in homage, craving that he would come to lock up their political enemies for decades. They view political opposition as the worst crime.
What happened to the whole thing about criminal justice reform, prison abolition, the evils of the carceral state, the inherent pro-prosecution bias, rehabilitative justice?
It all instantly disappears based if the accused has the wrong ideology. Then it's: law and order!
I also don't believe the people saying this have watched much or any of the trial. They're instead demanding a now-18-year-old be imprisoned for life because they know their political followers want to hear that or they're looking for positive social media attention: both gross.
With both Rittenhouse and the 1/6 defendants, it's absolutely bizarre (and more than a little grotesque) to watch liberals jettison every criminal justice reform principle they claim to believe because of the ideology of the accused, and suddenly turn into pro-prison fanatics.
Look at what an amoral sociopath Adam Schiff is. He spent years promoting the Steele Dossier. He read it into the Congressional Record. He lied about the "smoking gun" evidence he saw (that Mueller never found). Watch how he worms his way around to avoid even an iota of mea culpa
Notable that Adam Schiff -- who appears on every CNN, MSNBC and Sunday morning network news program as often as possible -- just had his first truly adversarial questioning about his pathological Russiagate lies not on any of those networks but from Morgan Ortagus on the View.
I spoke this morning with @krystalball and @esaagar this morning, examining the latest indictments of Russiagate fabulists and what this tell us about the entire fraud and the media's role in it:
This NYT article actually does a reasonable job - not a great job, but reasonable - describing the serious evidentiary problems prosecutors already face in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial: all the more reason not to form opinions on his guilt without watching:
This also highlights the huge problem with dissent-free media. The Rittenhouse case was complex from the start, given the chaos. But look how these media outlets just settle on an ideological narrative and don't even hint that there's real dissent to it:
I also want to note that the Daily Caller's @RichieMcGinniss was a key witness. Why? Because he put his life on the line -- was almost killed -- to cover this protest on the ground, and literally took his shirt off his back to try to save the life of one of the people shot.
I hope anyone who plans on opining on the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict, whatever it may be, spends significant time watching most or all of the trial, not relying on media accounts.
Almost no trial can be credibly assessed without watching it, but especially one this fraught.
This is yet another one of those bizarre instances -- like 1/6 -- where much of the liberal-left is cheering for the prosecutors and championing pro-law-and-order theories, while the right is enthralled by civil liberties and defendants' rights.
All the more reason to watch.
If Rittenhouse had shot and killed anyone black, that would have been **the headline** of any Intercept article on his case, or any other digital outlet like it. But since all the people he shot were white, they just don't mention their race -- at all!