Tucker Carlson scored the first interview with Kyle Rittenhouse and I highly recommend it. Before the trial, Rittenhouse was a human Rorschach test: We all saw what we wanted to see. Tucker’s interview revealed a real person: articulate, intelligent, principled, nuanced in his opinions, and even-tempered.
To the left, which is uninterested in facts, Rittenhouse became a slope-browed White supremacist who grabbed his illegal Illinois rifle and crossed state lines to Kenosha hoping to bag himself a few of those Black Lives Matter people and was forced to settle for shooting their White allies. Conservatives got the facts right (Kyle had ties to Kenosha; had a legal gun was helping to clean up graffiti, put out fires, and guard property; and found himself in mortal danger from three lifelong felons whom he then shot, killing two). However, conservatives also turned him into a plaster saint.
The real young man is…well, real. First, he speaks fluently, without the “like” and “you know” fillers that most young people use. I thought that his smooth, intelligent speech on the witness stand was because he was well-rehearsed (which is what all lawyers should do to prepare their clients for their testimony). It seems, though, that Rittenhouse really just speaks well.
He’s very angry at those who defamed him so badly. While he doesn’t curse or insult them, he made it clear that he has engaged top-flight lawyers to go after the people who labeled him a White supremacist, a racist, a vigilante, and a murderer. (I wonder if he has Nick Sandmann’s attorneys.) He politely suggested that Biden should watch the trial, if he hasn’t already, before calling Rittenhouse a White supremacist. I don’t know about other viewers, but I came away strongly inclined to believe that Biden will be served with a complaint.
By the way, regarding any defamation actions Rittenhouse does bring, some are suggesting that he’s a public figure which, under New York Times v. Sullivan, makes it virtually impossible for him to prevail. In essence, the defense to such a suit would be that, once the media and the Democrat political class made an unwilling Rittenhouse famous, they insulated themselves from a lawsuit. That argument perfectly fits the classic definition of the Yiddish word “chutzpah”—the man who kills both his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he’s an orphan.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.