MSNBC’s The ReidOut host Joy Reid could barely contain her hatred on Wednesday for Illinois teen Kyle Rittenhouse, complaining his Kenosha, Wisconsin murder trial was proof of “why critical race theory exists” and it’s needed in America. She also denounced him as the new George Zimmerman “using...cop speak” and currying favor with a nearly all-white jury by crying when the real “names” to honor are those he shot.
Not to be outdone, MSNBC legal analyst Paul Butler griped that he gave “the greatest performance of [his] life” in tandem with a biased judge to create a trial that’s “white privilege on steroids.”
After a tease kvetching about “what in the world is going on with the judge,” Reid flexed a heavy dose of race-hustling (click “expand”):
If you want to know why critical race theory exists — the actual law school theory that emphasizes that supposedly colorblind laws in America often still have racially discriminatory outcomes, then look no further than the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse. Earlier today, the teenager accused of murdering two men and wounding a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year, took to the stand in his own defense and the circumstances are almost built for an actual CRT course. The white, now 18-year-old faces an almost entirely white jury of his peers with the exception of one black man.
And then there is judge Bruce Schroeder, who has barred the prosecution from calling the people Rittenhouse killed victims. He’s barred the prosecution from introducing evidence of Rittenhouse posing with the Proud Boys while flashing white supremacists signs and denying the prosecution’s request to increase Rittenhouse’s bail after he failed to notify the court of his changed address, which he was required to do. In fact, the prosecution has been repeatedly hamstrung, but the judge at almost every turn. Into all that stepped Rittenhouse himself today, giving the jury his best sweet, innocent teen while describing the moment before he shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum with a semi-automatic rifle.
After showing a clip of the teen breaking down and having what looked like a panic attack, she incredulously starred into the camera before continuing on.
She then suggested this trial was akin to the Zimmerman trial while Butler said Rittenhouse worked with his legal team to perform in a way that would “disrupt his image as a trigger happy vigilante who went on a shooting spree” (click “expand”):
REID: Paul, I feel like it was flashbacks to the George Zimmerman trial, right? I mean, everything from Kyle Rittenhouse using sort of cop speak about trying to stop the threat, saying this sort of really dramatic thing the person he shot supposedly said that sounded like a gangster movie, you know, and then this whole thing of, you know, the whole breaking down and dry heaving in court — that was one thing we didn't see from Zimmerman but making himself the victim and sort of making himself seem more innocent, which Zimmerman trial also featured. And the judge was sort of almost — like it was his dad. Like, you know, I don't think I’ve ever — I mean, since the Zimmerman trial, I haven't seen anything like it, but it seems very similar to me. What did you see today?
BUTLER: Joy, today, the jurors saw what must be the greatest performance of Kyle Rittenhouse's life. He was well prepared by his defense attorneys to disrupt his image as a trigger happy vigilante who went on a shooting rampage at a Black Lives Matter protest. On the stand, he was polite and deliberate. When Rittenhouse got emotional, it may have come across to the jury as a genuine expression of remorse or, on the other hand, maybe it was crocodile tears designed to elicit sympathy. But, with the help of the judge, Rittenhouse did avoid most of the risk that defendants incur when they take the stand. He probably advanced his own defense in front of the jury.
Continuing the pity party (and proof that Rittenhouse excelled on the jury stand), Reid questioned the trial’s legitimacy by saying “the defense has managed to construct the jury that could be his uncles and aunts and his parents, right, where they can look at him and see perhaps their own son and that was what felt like his testimony was designed to do today, to take away all of the stuff about him throwing the white power sign and posing with the Proud Boys[.]”
Following Butler’s claim that Schroeder was “steering the jury towards an acquittal” while “conservatives...have made Rittenhouse a martyr,” the pair ended on a tangent about how Rittenhouse wanting to buy an AR-15 was something that would have ended poorly for anyone who isn’t white.
So disgusted by Rittenhouse discussing why he chose an AR-15 (upon being asked by Kenosha assistant district attorney Paul Binger), Butler called him “white privilege on steroids” and suggested he would have been mutilated by police bullets on the spot if he wasn’t white.
Going to break, Reid reiterated the need for CRT (even though she and her colleagues have insisted it isn’t real) and read aloud the names of the three Rittenhouse shot because they need to be “remember[ed]”:
Let me just remind people of the names of the victims. Joseph Rosenbaum was 36 years old, Anthony Huber, who was 26, Gaige Grosskreutz is only 27 years old was injured. These are the victims. These are the people that people ought to remember — are the people who were hurt here, not the person who was crying on the stand today.
Of course, Reid ignored Rosenbaum’s history as a pedophile.
Wednesday’s virulent racist smears were made possible thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as Chase and Fidelity. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from November 10, click here.
