Kyle Rittenhouse: Furious reaction to verdict as ‘disgusted’ and ‘not surprised’ trend on Twitter

‘I knew Rittenhouse would be acquitted but it is gutting to witness the inevitable’

Twitter users shared their furious reactions to the not guilty verdict of Kyle Rittenhouse as words and phrases like “disgusted”, “sickening”, and “not surprised” trended on the social media platform.

Mr Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all five charges in the murder trial. Two men were shot dead and a third was gravely injured during protests against police violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last summer.

The jury announced the verdict on Friday after spending four days deliberating.

“I knew Rittenhouse would be acquitted but it is gutting to witness the inevitable, to know there will be no consequences for the judge, and to know Rittenhouse and others like him will be more emboldened to be openly white supremacist vigilantes. It’s hollowing,” Roxane Gay tweeted.

“Trying not to wade too deep into the poisoned well of Rittenhouse Discourse, but a number of people I follow seem to believe the people he shot were Black which I think says something about the level of engagement with the specifics of the case,” Matthew Yglesias wrote.

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“I knew it. Kyle Rittenhouse is proof that white people can still break the law, carry illegal weapons, shoot and kill people, and get away with it in America by shedding tears and claiming self-defence,” Keith Boykin tweeted.

“Kyle Rittenhouse was truly judged by a jury of his peers. God help us,” Clinton White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart wrote.

“The Kyle Rittenhouse verdict sends an important lesson to young white boys everywhere that murder is completely legal,” writer Bess Kalb tweeted.

Defence lawyer Mark Richards said during the trial that “every person who was shot was attacking Kyle”.

During the trial, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger challenged the narrative that Mr Rittenhouse shot two people, Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, in self-defence.

Mr Huber was seen hitting Mr Rittenhouse with a skateboard before the teenager fatally shot the 26-year-old protester, the Associated Press reported.

Mr Binger played a video on Monday that appeared to show Mr Rittenhouse putting down a fire extinguisher and raising his rifle.

“That is what provokes this entire incident,” he said. “When the defendant provokes the incident, he loses the right to self-defence. You cannot claim self-defence against a danger you create.”

Mr Binger said the people confronting Mr Rittenhouse were protecting themselves and not the other way around.

“I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that in this situation the crowd has the right to try to stop an active shooter,” he said at the time. “They have a right to protect themselves. The defendant is not the only one in the world who has the right to self-defence.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, Kyle was not an active shooter,” Mr Richards responded. “That is a buzzword that the state wants to latch on to because it excuses the actions of the mob.”

Mr Richards said that Mr Huber’s skateboard was a “deadly weapon”. He added that Mr Huber was swinging his skateboard at Mr Rittenhouse and “tried to take his head off”.

“Now a skateboard is a deadly weapon,” prosecutor James Kraus replied to Mr Richards’ assertion on 15 November. “Someone should tell the parents and grandparents and Santa Claus giving skateboards this Christmas about how they’re giving their children a deadly weapon.”

“I guess they should give them an AR-15 instead,” he added at the time.