The View hosts pretended they were judge, jury, and executioner today of Kyle Rittenhouse--the teenager who shot and killed two men attacking him at a Kenosha riot last year in what he said was self-defense. As the jury deliberated his fate, the liberal talk show panel had already determined he was a “vigilante murderer” who was “looking for trouble."
Before playing clips from the trial, Whoopi Goldberg had sympathy for rioters who tried to burn down the city of Kenosha last Summer, calling them “social justice protesters.” But she suggested Rittenhouse was a vigilante murderer:
So let's get to all of this because some of this is just mind-boggling. All eyes are on Wisconsin after lawyers made closing arguments on whether 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse traveling across state lines to take up arms before killing two men and wounding a third during a night of social justice protests and unrest were acts of self-defense or was it vigilante murder?
With that loaded question, Whoopi revealed this was only a one-sided debate.
Because everything boils down to race for the left, the View host claimed even white Black Lives Matter “protesters” would now be open targets if Rittenhouse was found innocent:
“I think it's really a red light for white folks coming to help at social justice protests because basically what they're saying is, oh, it's okay to shoot white people too,” she sneered.
After that nastiness, guest host Tara Setmayer, a former CNN “Republican” analyst and a senior advisor with the corrupt Lincoln Project (which ABC didn't mention), chided the judge for throwing out the gun charge and confidently claimed Rittenhouse was “not a martyr” but a “murderer.”
Like Hostin did last week, Setmayer also feared we would see violence from “rabid 2nd Amendment advocates” taking the law into their own hands. (Click "expand"):
Because back in, you know, in Wisconsin, you know, every state has different gun laws, and unfortunately, and this is I think one of the several missteps by the prosecution. They should have anticipated this, but it has to do with the size of the weapon. It stems back to a gun law from the 1990s that was supposed to counter gang violence when they were using sawed off shotguns, things like that and it’s a bit of an antiquated law and it's for people under 16. So this is something -- this was the weapons charge that was an aspect of the case that people thought was a slam-dunk. Here he was, under 18 carrying this weapon, but then the judge who has been a bit controversial to say the least in this case, threw that out too, and I'm, you know, I'm concerned. I mean, I'm a gun owner and my family, we are pro Second Amendment in my family and I look at the way this case -- because I think this guy is going to get off, unfortunately. It's vigilante justice gone wrong. But I also think it’s going to embolden some of the more rabid 2nd Amendment advocates. And make it--you know its difficult for people who are responsible gun owners. This guy is not a martyr. He's not a martyr. He's a murderer. He should not be empowered by technicalities like this...
Wait, isn’t that what Kenosha rioters did last year after the shooting of Jacob Blake?
Co-host Joy Behar then lied, saying that despite his testimony, Rittenhouse “went looking” to commit violence. “But what about the fact that he went looking for trouble. He shot ‘em dead, a couple of people!” she decried.
This was a “fact” apparently.
Fellow co-host Sunny Hostin, a lawyer, didn’t correct her but claimed Rittenhouse reminded her of George Zimmerman. “Two people, and wounded another. That's the thing. This has sort of remnants of the George Zimmerman trial, right? I think a lot of people are thinking, he's going to get off again for killing, and wounding another person!” she fretted.
This fact-free smear session was paid for by sponsor McDonald’s, whom you can contact them at the Conservatives Fight Back page linked.
Read the transcript below:
The View
11/16/21
11:32 a.m. EasternWHOOPI GOLDBERG: So let's get to all of this because some of this is just mind-boggling. All eyes are on Wisconsin after lawyers made closing arguments on whether 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse traveling across state lines to take up arms before killing two men and wounding a third during a night of social justice protests and unrest were acts of self-defense or was it vigilante murder? Let's take a look.
[plays clips from trial]
So the jury is deliberating as we speak. So I mean, how do you see this ending? I think it's really a red light for white folks coming to help at social justice protests because basically what they're saying is, oh, it's okay to shoot white people too.
...
SARA HAINES: The technicality about the weapon, that's weird to me because he's underage, he's open carrying. It's an AR-15 --
BEHAR: Style weapon.
HAINES: Yeah. How is that okay? They said there was a legal technicality.
TARA SETMAYER: Because back in, you know, in Wisconsin, you know, every state has different gun laws, and unfortunately, and this is I think one of the several missteps by the prosecution. They should have anticipated this, but it has to do with the size of the weapon. It stems back to a gun law from the 1990s that was supposed to counter gang violence when they were using sawed off shotguns, things like that and it’s a bit of an antiquated law and it's for people under 16. So this is something -- this was the weapons charge that was an aspect of the case that people thought was a slam-dunk. Here he was, under 18 carrying this weapon, but then the judge who has been a bit controversial to say the least in this case, threw that out too, and I'm, you know, I'm concerned. I mean, I'm a gun owner and my family, we are pro Second Amendment in my family and I look at the way this case -- because I think this guy is going to get off, unfortunately. It's vigilante justice gone wrong. But I also think it’s going to embolden some of the more rabid 2nd Amendment advocates. And make it--you know its difficult for people who are responsible gun owners. This guy is not a martyr. He's not a martyr. He's a murderer. He should not be empowered by technicalities like this um and then--
JOY BEHAR: What is the technicality exactly?
SETMAYER: The way they charged him.
SUNNY HOSTIN: He's facing several charges including murder, but I think Sara's question is the about the fact that this judge flew out what many people believed he would be convicted of, which is open carrying a short barreled gun, and this judge found that the barrel wasn't short enough, and kicked it out. People were surprised at that.
JOY BEHAR: But what about the fact that he went looking for trouble. He shot ‘em dead, a couple of people.
HOSTIN: Two people, and wounded another. That's the thing. This has sort of remnants of the George Zimmerman trial, right? I think a lot of people are thinking, he's going to get off again for killing, and wounding another person. Three people. I think that the issue here is that the self-defense law in Wisconsin is pretty broad and very, very generous, and so even though he went there allegedly to help people, he not only killed one person who he said was reaching for his gun. He again fled that scene and people were chasing him to really catch him to bring him to the police because he had just killed someone and he had a gun and then he shot that second person allegedly in self-defense. So I can see him perhaps using the self-defense argument for the first shooting, but the second shooting, I don't know how you can claim self-defense when someone is trying to catch you after you killed someone. I just don't understand, but because that law is so very generous --
JOY BEHAR: That happens with police chasing perps all the time. If he turns around and shoots the cop, that's also self-defense? No.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: If a cop is chasing you, that's a different thing because thats policing, that's their job, but just John Doe walking around, I mean -- the fact that the guy had the gun and was walking around with it and, you know --
SETMAYER: And he crossed state lines.
GOLDBERG: He crossed state lines with it, I thought it was going to be a stink.
