CNN Still Calling Kyle Rittenhouse a 'Vigilante'

bradwilmouth | September 2, 2020
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7:26 a.m. Eastern

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: When it comes to what is happening on the streets in Kenosha -- and by that, I actually mean armed white militias -- one person who seems to have murdered two people -- this is Trump's America -- he's not keeping us safe. But let's talk about Kenosha -- that trip was essentially the same kind of stunt was we saw him pull when he walked across Lafayette Park, walked up to a church, and held up someone's Bible. As he says, he couldn't even tell you whose Bible it was. That was a stunt. Thank God this time no one was gassed, but he was gaslighting the American people about what the truth of what is going on in this country -- and the truth of what is going on in this country.

He also denied that there is systemic racism that exists. I, as a black woman, am here to tell you it's real. It's alive and real, and the best example of that that we have is, again, this young man who had the AR-15 long gun as he approached a police vehicle was waved off after he had just shot two people. Compare that to a black man being held by the scruff of his T-shirt being shot seven times in the back in front of children. The President -- none of this matters to the President because to him it is about these political stunts. He is using our pain, frankly, as part of his political game to try to win the election. It is not in his interest to talk about what is really happening. It is in his interest to foment violence...

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8:45 a.m.

JOHN BERMAN; President Trump has not denounced violence coming from the right, sticking only to the left. Why? John Avlon with a "Reality Check."

JOHN AVLON: Let's not get numb to this. The President of the United States refused to condemn an accused killer because he thought he might be a political supporter.

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So now we get to the case of Kyle Rittenhouse -- the 17-year-old caught on camera shooting at protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Two were killed, another wounded. It turns out Rittenhouse is a big Trump fan, sitting in the front row of a recent rally. So, rather than condemn the vigilante violence, Trump rationalized it.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed, but it's under investigation.

AVLON: Before you buy into the line that Trump was just suspending judgment, remember that this is the guy who instantly judges everybody -- like the Pope, Merrill Streep, Mitt Romney, Miss Universe, John McCain, his own attorney general -- but by refusing to clearly denounce right-wing extremists, Trump is offering a chorus of dog-whistling encouragement.

 

 

As Avlon called out the President for having a double standard with regard to withholding judgment, he seemed to have no self-awareness that journalists like himself who claim to be fact-based and unbiased are supposed to have higher standards than political figures on either the left or the right.

CNN's Avlon seems to think it's fine for media outlets like his own to rush to judgment to undermine politicians or political movements -- always on the right -- that they disagree with.

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