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Kyle Rittenhouse Bridged The Divide Between The Far Right And Mainstream Conservatives

Kaleigh Rogers - Five Thirty Eight | Published on 12/16/2021
Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial may have ended, but his veneration is only beginning.

On Friday, a jury acquitted Rittenhouse on all charges after he shot three men, killing two and injuring one, during protests against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020. Ever since the shootings, far-right groups online have fixated on Rittenhouse as a hero who was being unfairly tried, essentially turning him into one of their many living martyrs. A far-right group with 12,500 followers on Telegram, a chat-messaging app, posted daily updates on what it dubbed “the trial of Saint Kyle.” These groups also fixated on the criminal backgrounds of the men Rittenhouse shot, mocked their deaths and celebrated the verdict by calling for more violence.