The liberals who acted as Rittenhouse's judge and jury before hearing a word of evidence: How Joe Biden, 'The Squad' and liberal media smeared Kyle Rittenhouse by branding him a white supremacist and domestic terrorist
Where do you go to get your reputation back?
Kyle Rittenhouse may be justified in asking that question after he was found not guilty on all charges in the shooting of three men in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 25, 2020.
If one had listened to some of the most prominent voices on America's political left over the last 15 months, they may -- understandably -- be shocked by the jury's decision.
Because that's not the story that they were told.
According to Joe Biden, the progressive 'Squad' and many in the liberal media, Rittenhouse was a 'white supremacist,' a 'domestic terrorist,' a vigilante and a cold-blooded killer.
Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, apparently didn't think a fair hearing was even necessary.
'Lock up Kyle Rittenhouse and throw away the key,' he declared on Twitter as the murder trial was underway.
Now in the aftermath of the verdict, there are calls from across the political spectrum to recognize that an 18-year-old was potentially smeared and many misled by the most influential people in America.
Prominent voices on the left, including then-presidential nominee Joe Biden (left), the progressive 'Squad' (top right) and the liberal media (bottom right), branded him a 'white supremacist,' 'domestic terrorist' and a vigilante, respectively.
'Don't forget the candidate for the U.S. president himself last year prior to the election called Kyle Rittenhouse a white supremacist,' said David Hancock, a spokesman for Rittenhouse, on November 9 on Fox News.
'Joe Biden called him a white supremacist; that is appalling. I can't even gauge how wrong that is,' he said in reference to a 2020 Biden-Harris campaign video tweeted by the then-nominee.
The video shows alleged white supremacists carrying torches in Charlottesville, Virginia, during a 2017 Unite the Right rally sparked by plans to remove statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
A picture of Rittenhouse holding a rifle in Kenosha is shown. Audio of Fox News host Chris Wallace plays under the image. One can hear Wallace questioning President Trump over his alleged refusal to condemn 'white supremacists and militia groups.'
The suggestion was clear -- Rittenhouse is a 'white supremacist.'
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough (left) claimed Rittenhouse fired '60 rounds' before walking back the remark as a mistake. 'The View's' Joy Behar (right) repeated the false claim that Rittenhouse illegally crossed state lines with a weapon
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki (left) condemned 'vigilantes' who corrupted 'peaceful protests' in the context of discussing Rittenhouse. CNN's Don Lemon (right) characterized the case as an example of white vigilantism
'President Biden don't know my son whatsoever. He's not a white supremacist,' insisted Rittenhouse's mother, Wendy Rittenhouse, on Sean Hannity's Fox News show on November 10.
'He's not a racist. And [Biden] did that for the votes. And I was so angry for a while at him and what he did to my son, he defamed him.'
An investigation by the Anti-Defamation League appeared to back-up Wendy Rittenhouse.
The ADL reportedly telling CBS News that they found no indication in Rittenhouse's social media footprint of any connection to extremist groups.
Additionally, the phrase 'white supremacist' or even the words 'extremist,' 'racist' or bigot' were not mentioned a single time in the prosecution's closing argument.
It was not part of their case -- presumably, there was no evidence to support the allegation.
Unfortunately for Rittenhouse, in the weeks and months leading up to his trial that ugly characterization stuck.
Democracy Now! drew a parallel between the Rittenhouse case and the trial of three white men accused of chasing down and murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a black man, in Brunswick, Georgia on February 23, 2020.
More than a year after Biden's tweet, the news outlet Democracy Now! ran the headline, 'White Supremacy on Trial: From Rittenhouse in Kenosha to Killers of Ahmaud Arbery, Will They Go Free?'
Perhaps activist, former Obama administration appointee and MSNBC regular Brittany Packnett Cunningham, summed up the left-wing narrative best on November 13.
According to Cunningham, a legal defense of Rittenhouse is in itself proof of white supremacy.
'There are only so many acceptable losses that white supremacy is willing to accept,' she said on MSNBC's The Cross Connection.
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