Kyle Rittenhouse gets sideways with MAGA; Reverses Course

[1moretimeagain]

And I doubt he had any “productive conversations” with anyone.

I don’t know why the Trump campaign would bother wasting time with Rittenhouse. He’s an avatar, not influencer. MAGAs would just immediately toss him out with the trash.

 

[Zoo_View]

Now he’s walking it back.

He’s the coward he’s always been.

He’s a tough guy when he has a gun and the other guy doesn’t.

 

[Icky Mettle]

I don’t know what the “across state lines” bit has to do with anything. He went like 10 miles from the city that he lived in to the city that he worked in. While it was dumb to do that in the first place, every time he shot it was in self-defense. No one would have been shot that night had the crazy pedophile dude who just got out of prison left Rittenhouse alone.

Come on. No one gets killed/shot if Rittenhouse doesn’t go down there and walk around with his AR-15. Nothing good was going to come of that. If you want to stir up some real trouble, go walk around somewhere with your AR-15. People aren’t going to assume you have good intentions.

First victim probably tried to play hero, thinking Rittenhouse was about to be another one of those mass shooters we have to deal with in this country from time to time. No reason for him to think Rittenhouse didn't have bad intentions. Wouldn’t have happened if Rittenhouse hadn’t come down there with his AR-15.

Then after Rittenhouse shot the first guy, the two other shooting victims were trying to stop someone who they just saw shoot a guy. And he shot them. None of that would have happened if he didn’t go down there carrying his AR-15. That was all 100% on him.

 

[ChapelHillSooner]

Come on. No one gets killed/shot if Rittenhouse doesn’t go down there and walk around with his AR-15. Nothing good was going to come of that. If you want to stir up some real trouble, go walk around somewhere with your AR-15. People aren’t going to assume you have good intentions.

First victim probably tried to play hero, thinking Rittenhouse was about to be another one of those mass shooters we have to deal with in this country from time to time. No reason for him to think Rittenhouse didn't have bad intentions. Wouldn’t have happened if Rittenhouse hadn’t come down there with his AR-15.

Then after Rittenhouse shot the first guy, the two other shooting victims were trying to stop someone who they just saw shoot a guy. And he shot them. None of that would have happened if he didn’t go down there carrying his AR-15. That was all 100% on him.

If anything, that situation demonstrates the folly of the rights view on guns and stand your ground.

If you see someone shoot someone and you try to stop the shooter, not only might you be shot but the law will protect your shooter.

The laws only work if there is no fog of war which is rarely the case.

 

[8992Tiger]

Thanks UaT. Same here with not getting along great with some of the other posters on the ZZLP, but as I posted about several times over the last week, it kind of wears on you after 8 years, especially if you have many of the MAGA types in your family as I do. Nevertheless, I'm determined to do better here and be more tolerant of even the MAGA people. I used to be a conservative until the Iraq war, and then when McCain nominated Palin, I was like, "okay, I'm out."

Interesting. A lot of us have similar stories. I was a Pub, but my first third party vote was when McCain picked Palin. I stayed Pub, begrudgingly due to all of the vile directed at Obama, and then tapped out when they nominated Trump.

 

[2ManyBlueCups]

Come on. No one gets killed/shot if Rittenhouse doesn’t go down there and walk around with his AR-15. Nothing good was going to come of that. If you want to stir up some real trouble, go walk around somewhere with your AR-15. People aren’t going to assume you have good intentions.

First victim probably tried to play hero, thinking Rittenhouse was about to be another one of those mass shooters we have to deal with in this country from time to time. No reason for him to think Rittenhouse didn't have bad intentions. Wouldn’t have happened if Rittenhouse hadn’t come down there with his AR-15.

Then after Rittenhouse shot the first guy, the two other shooting victims were trying to stop someone who they just saw shoot a guy. And he shot them. None of that would have happened if he didn’t go down there carrying his AR-15. That was all 100% on him.

The first victim didn’t try to play hero. The first victim was a convicted serial child rapist who got fixated on Rittenhouse after he (the victim) lit a dumpster on fire and tried to push it into a building. Rittenhouse extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher which prompted the victim to threaten multiple times to kill Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse tried to flee (captured on video) and only opened fire when Victim 1 cornered Rittenhouse and grabbed his gun (confirmed by video and forensic evidence). Victim 1 had a very violent criminal history. None of this would have happened had Victim 1 not attempted to burn a building down and had he not attempted to chase down Rittenhouse. My own speculation is that the victim, who had forcibly raped multiple young boys, was drawn to Rittenhouse due to his age.

 

[korgguy1971]

Interesting. A lot of us have similar stories. I was a Pub, but my first third party vote was when McCain picked Palin. I stayed Pub, begrudgingly due to all of the vile directed at Obama, and then tapped out when they nominated Trump.

Very cool, 8992. And I empathize with everything you said. I think (and I've poasted about it before too) that a lot of the MAGA folks don't seem to realize that many of us are (former) conservatives, even if moderate, or have conservative leanings and were like "WTF" when our party nominated DJT. I can understand voting for "conservative policies" without regard to the candidate, but that falls short in practice with Trump. There is too much risk of throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater, and they're not even trying to hide it anymore. But I digress.

I was a registered Republican from the time I was able to vote as a young person until 2008. I was always against going into Iraq and when we went there in March of 2003, that was the last straw for me. Although I was still a registered Republican, I voted for Kerry in 2004 - but for a short time leading up to the 2004 election, I was Ron Paul libertarian-curious but ultimately abandoned that endeavor when I looked further into his positions. I also recall driving all the way to Charlotte to see Reagan stump for HW in 1992 at Independence Arena, which at the time was like going to a rock concert. After 2008 (voted Obama x2, though did briefly consider Romney in 2012), I'm registered as unaffiliated. I voted for Killary in 2016 because Palin 2.0/DJT was not an option.

Maybe one day our (former) party will right itself, but sadly, that doesn't appear poised to happen inside of a decade.

 

[EyeballKid]

I don’t know what the “across state lines” bit has to do with anything. He went like 10 miles from the city that he lived in to the city that he worked in. While it was dumb to do that in the first place, every time he shot it was in self-defense. No one would have been shot that night had the crazy pedophile dude who just got out of prison left Rittenhouse alone.

No one would have been shot that night had an underaged tool not tried to play Rambo by illegally bringing a weapon across state lines.

Dude wanted to use his weapon. You know it. And unfortunately he found an occasion.

 

[Bigs23]

The first victim didn’t try to play hero. The first victim was a convicted serial child rapist who got fixated on Rittenhouse after he (the victim) lit a dumpster on fire and tried to push it into a building. Rittenhouse extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher which prompted the victim to threaten multiple times to kill Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse tried to flee (captured on video) and only opened fire when Victim 1 cornered Rittenhouse and grabbed his gun (confirmed by video and forensic evidence). Victim 1 had a very violent criminal history. None of this would have happened had Victim 1 not attempted to burn a building down and had he not attempted to chase down Rittenhouse. My own speculation is that the victim, who had forcibly raped multiple young boys, was drawn to Rittenhouse due to his age.

Bo gonna Bo.

 

[2ManyBlueCups]

No one would have been shot that night had an underaged tool not tried to play Rambo by illegally bringing a weapon across state lines.

Dude wanted to use his weapon. You know it. And unfortunately he found an occasion.

You can play that game a lot of different ways. No one would have been shot that night had a grown man not decided to attempt to burn a building down and then chase a teenager around. No one would have been shot that night had people actually heeded the law and gone home at dark when the curfew started. A lot of bad decisions were made that night.

Should Rittenhouse have been there? Absolutely not.
Did he act in self-defense when he opened fire? Yes.

Both can be true.

 

[EyeballKid]

You can play that game a lot of different ways. No one would have been shot that night had a grown man not decided to attempt to burn a building down and then chase a teenager around. No one would have been shot that night had people actually heeded the law and gone home at dark when the curfew started. A lot of bad decisions were made that night.

Should Rittenhouse have been there? Absolutely not.
Did he act in self-defense when he opened fire? Yes.

Both can be true.

It’s not just that he shouldn’t have been there.

(A) He shouldn’t have been there (B) with a gun (C) that he was not legally allowed to possess.

If he hadn’t had the gun, it’s highly probable that the incident doesn’t escalate. No one else shot and killed anyone that day.

 

[UNCatTech]

It's very sad that they see calling a male a girl as an insult...
I recall when I was younger it was an insult to call someone gay.

 

[8992Tiger]

Very cool, 8992. And I empathize with everything you said. I think (and I've poasted about it before too) that a lot of the MAGA folks don't seem to realize that many of us are (former) conservatives, even if moderate, or have conservative leanings and were like "WTF" when our party nominated DJT. I can understand voting for "conservative policies" without regard to the candidate, but that falls short in practice with Trump. There is too much risk of throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater, and they're not even trying to hide it anymore. But I digress.

I was a registered Republican from the time I was able to vote as a young person until 2008. I was always against going into Iraq and when we went there in March of 2003, that was the last straw for me. Although I was still a registered Republican, I voted for Kerry in 2004 - but for a short time leading up to the 2004 election, I was Ron Paul libertarian-curious but ultimately abandoned that endeavor when I looked further into his positions. I also recall driving all the way to Charlotte to see Reagan stump for HW in 1992 at Independence Arena, which at the time was like going to a rock concert. After 2008 (voted Obama x2, though did briefly consider Romney in 2012), I'm registered as unaffiliated. I voted for Killary in 2016 because Palin 2.0/DJT was not an option.

Maybe one day our (former) party will right itself, but sadly, that doesn't appear poised to happen inside of a decade.

Yep. I can't see voting for anyone who endorsed Trump, so that pretty much wipes out a generation of Pubs for me. Unless a new wave of never Trumpers rolls in, I am probably done with them for my lifetime.

 

[2ManyBlueCups]

It’s not just that he shouldn’t have been there.

(A) He shouldn’t have been there (B) with a gun (C) that he was not legally allowed to possess.

If he hadn’t had the gun, it’s highly probable that the incident doesn’t escalate. No one else shot and killed anyone that day.

To be fair, no one else was attacked like Rittenhouse was that day. There were armed people on both sides of the protest movement and the only person that opened fire on either side was the one that only did so after he was attacked and tried to run away. If Victim 1 had not tried to attack Rittenhouse, no one would have been shot and killed either.

 

[2ManyBlueCups]

Bo gonna Bo.

Criticize me all you want, literally no one was surprised that he was found not guilty. I’m not defending Rittenhouse as a person, but the law was crystal clear here. If you want to personally attack me for agreeing with the legal consensus around the shooting, that is up to you.

 

[Bigs23]

Criticize me all you want, literally no one was surprised that he was found not guilty. I’m not defending Rittenhouse as a person, but the law was crystal clear here. If you want to personally attack me for agreeing with the legal consensus around the shooting, that is up to you.

How did I criticize? You 100% Bo’ed it.

 

[2ManyBlueCups]

How did I criticize? You 100% Bo’ed it.

What part of what I said was incorrect?

 

[EyeballKid]

To be fair, no one else was attacked like Rittenhouse was that day. There were armed people on both sides of the protest movement and the only person that opened fire on either side was the one that only did so after he was attacked and tried to run away. If Victim 1 had not tried to attack Rittenhouse, no one would have been shot and killed either.

To be fair, no one else was attacked like Rittenhouse was that day. There were armed people on both sides of the protest movement and the only person that opened fire on either side was the one that only did so after he was attacked and tried to run away. If Victim 1 had not tried to attack Rittenhouse, no one would have been shot and killed either.

No. Just no.

To be fair, there were in fact other fights that day. Just like many other Floyd protests that summer, there were some right-wing MAGA types who went with the intention of picking fights. There were punches thrown, along with other objects.

Kyle was one of those people spoiling for a fight. And when he found one, he shit the bed. He wasn’t trained in how to handle his weapon in such situations, and he fired and killed people.

 

[2ManyBlueCups]

No. Just no.

To be fair, there were in fact other fights that day. Just like many other Floyd protests that summer, there were some right-wing MAGA types who went with the intention of picking fights. There were punches thrown, along with other objects.

Kyle was one of those people spoiling for a fight. And when he found one, he shit the bed. He wasn’t trained in how to handle his weapon in such situations, and he fired and killed people.

I would argue that the only person spoiling for a fight was the one who literally tried to burn a building down, threatened numerous times to kill people, and got killed while chasing Rittenhouse and grabbing his gun. Standing by handing out bottled water and extinguishing fires does not exactly scream “itching for a fight”, and he did not open fire until he was attacked, tried to flee, and was cornered by a very violent criminal.

 

[Icky Mettle]

The first victim didn’t try to play hero. The first victim was a convicted serial child rapist who got fixated on Rittenhouse after he (the victim) lit a dumpster on fire and tried to push it into a building. Rittenhouse extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher which prompted the victim to threaten multiple times to kill Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse tried to flee (captured on video) and only opened fire when Victim 1 cornered Rittenhouse and grabbed his gun (confirmed by video and forensic evidence). Victim 1 had a very violent criminal history. None of this would have happened had Victim 1 not attempted to burn a building down and had he not attempted to chase down Rittenhouse. My own speculation is that the victim, who had forcibly raped multiple young boys, was drawn to Rittenhouse due to his age.

That last sentence is crazy. He got fixated on a guy carrying an AR-15 while a lot of other people were out and about during a period of unrest? Also, that’s not how it works with people who commit sex offenses against children. They don’t become fixated on every young person they see (or even have tendencies to become fixated on young people). (I know this because I work with people facing/convicted of sex offenses, keep up with research regarding sex offenders, work with forensic psychologists who examine sex offenders, etc.)

In addition, while he was charged with raping a child, he wasn’t convicted of such. Not that his convictions were okay, but he wasn’t a convicted child rapist. And regardless of his prior convictions, Rittenhouse wasn’t aware of them, and it didn’t provide a justification for Rittenhouse to go walking around an area of unrest with an AR-15. The fact is this: if he’s not there, no one gets shot. Period. Regardless of whether Rosenbaum was being aggressive toward him, had he not been there with the gun, he would not have shot Rosenbaum, the other two victims would not have tried to stop a shooter who for all they knew was just shooting random people and could possibly shoot more, and they would not have been shot. It’s as simple as that. People who go around carrying AR-15s are going to cause problems. And that’s exacerbated when they take them into areas of unrest.