The most compelling moments from the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse yesterday were his testimony about shooting boy rapist Joseph Rosenbaum, and Judge Bruce Schroder’s angry correction of prosecutor Thomas Binger for pursuing questions of Rittenhouse the judge had ruled out.
Rittenhouse said nothing unexpected in recounting the events of August 25 last year, the night he shot and killed Rosenbaum, convicted strangler Anthony Huber, and gun-wielding criminal Gaige Grossekreutz. All had attacked him. Rittenhouse defended himself.
But Rittenhouse broke down on the stand as he told the story about Rosenbaum. That, unsurprisingly, gave leftist Twitter and its fellow-traveling GOP auxiliary the chance to ridicule the young man for crying “crocodile” tears.
GOP Leftists
Over a picture of an anguished Rittenhouse, Ana Navarro-Cárdenas, a leftist who masquerades as a conservative on CNN, fretted about the grief of Rosebaum’s and Huber’s “loved ones.”
“Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and injured Gaige Grosskreutz, now 27,” she tweeted:
Think about how much their loved ones have cried, real anguish and grief, not crocodile tears.
We may assume “loved ones” does not mean the five boys Rosenbaum raped, or the woman Huber strangled and beat up, or the victims of Grosskreutz’s myriad crimes.
“Veteran conservative columnist” Quin Hillyer put it this way over a similar photo: “Don’t cry for Kenosha killer Kyle Rittenhouse. He should have minded his own business. Two people are dead, and a third lost his bicep.”
That tweet leads to Hillyer’s ridiculous column in which he called Rittenhouse a “vigilante,” which is, of course, entirely false.
Hillyer also included this amazingly sanitized version of what happened:
The first man Rittenhouse killed was a homeless fellow who ran at him, yelling curses and threats while throwing at him an empty plastic bag. After killing him, Rittenhouse ran down the street with several people in furious pursuit. Rittenhouse tripped and fell, and then what happened after that is a matter of dispute and differing interpretations. One more man died, and another was shot in the arm — after which, Rittenhouse quickly and admirably tried to turn himself in to police.
Rosenbaum, a unhinged sociopath who threatened to kill Rittenhouse, was a “homeless fellow.” Perhaps Hillyer might have explained why Rittenhouse shot the three criminals: They attacked him.
But back to leftist Twitter.
NBA star LeBron James offered this assessment of Rittenhouse:
What tears????? I didn’t see one. Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads before walking into court.
Jack Posobiec of Human Events helpfully reminded everyone that James is a cry-baby himself.
That aside, the hate-Rittenhouse bile spilled out.
“I’m noticing a trend,” one tweet said over a photo of Rittenhouse and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who famously broke down when defending himself against false charges of sexual assault and gang rape.
Another leftist is “hopeful Kyle Rittenhouse goes to prison” and “gets engaged to Derek Chauvin & has a prison wedding. Everyone cries at weddings Kyle…it’s okay.”
Three more rational sentiments:
• “Rittenhouse cries like a porn star moans.”
• “Kyle Rittenhouse will forever be the GIF when you search for: pathetic, little pansy-ass mother-f***er who cries like a bad actor in a B movie.”
• “My toddler cries like Kyle Rittenhouse when she isn’t getting what she wants,” said another. “All face no tears.”
No tears was a running theme in the non-stop ridicule:
• “Rittenhouse ‘cries’ without tears? B-movie quality. He didn’t practice enough”
• “That racist little murderer’s eyes are drier than chalk dust.”
• “LMAO at this fake-ass crying from Rittenhouse. Dry as a bone.”
Toobin Speaks
One unintentionally amusing performance came from commentator Jeffrey Toobin, CNN’s rehabilitated commentator:
“What kind of idiot 17-year-old gets a giant gun and goes to a riot?” Toobin huffed:
He has no license, he has no training, he thinks he’s going to scrub graffiti off with his AR-15? I mean, the stupidity of this. What could possibly go wrong? Well a lot went wrong. The good news for Kyle Rittenhouse is that he’s not on trial for being an idiot, he’s on trial for homicide.
Toobin is the same man who, a year ago, thought masturbating during a Zoom meeting was a good idea.
But Rittenhouse is the “idiot.”
