By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: September 1, 2020 ~
President Donald Trump
Yesterday, two ominous events occurred. Gina Barton, writing for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA Today Network, published an in-depth report on what eyewitnesses and journalists had seen occurring on Tuesday evening, August 25. That was the night that 17-year old Kyle Rittenhouse gunned down three protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, two of them fatally. Before the killings, Rittenhouse was openly carrying an assault rifle when police provided him with bottled water and stated “We appreciate you guys.”
Rittenhouse, a Trump supporter, had traveled to Kenosha from Antioch, Illinois to counter Black Lives Matter protesters who have been in the streets protesting since police officer Rusten Sheskey fired seven bullets at point blank range at the back of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, on Sunday, August 23. According to Blake’s attorney, Blake is currently paralyzed from the waist down.
The shooting of Blake came just three months after George Floyd’s May 25 death at the hands of police triggered Black Lives Matter protests across the nation and worldwide attention.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s report indicates that protesters did not go after Rittenhouse until he had already gunned down his first victim, Joseph D. Rosenbaum, 36.
According to the official police report, one of those attempting to stop Rittenhouse from shooting others was Anthony Huber, 26, who hit Rittenhouse with his skateboard and was shot dead by Rittenhouse according to the police complaint. A third man, Gaige P. Grosskreutz, was also shot by Rittenhouse but survived.
Rittenhouse has been officially charged with one count of first-degree intentional homicide; one count of first-degree reckless homicide; one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide; two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment; and a misdemeanor charge for possession of a dangerous weapon under the age of 18.
Despite five felony counts and a misdemeanor charge, President Donald Trump attempted to justify Rittenhouse’s actions at his press conference yesterday as self-defense. Trump stated:
“I guess he was in very big trouble. He would have been, he probably would have been killed. But it’s under – it’s under investigation.”
In fact, it wasn’t still under investigation. Rittenhouse had already been formally charged by prosecutors with the above six criminal counts. The charging document indicated that Rittenhouse had already shot and killed Rosenbaum before the protesters went after him.
The second ominous event yesterday is that Trump announced that he will be visiting Kenosha today, despite requests from the Mayor of the city, John Antaramian, and the Governor, Tony Evers, for Trump to delay his visit until things have calmed down in Kenosha.
Why would the Secret Service allow the President of the United States to visit a city where two people have been seriously wounded and two shot dead in the streets of that city in the past 10 days; where there is raging anger at the President’s defense of Rittenhouse; and where self-styled militia are allowed to openly carry assault rifles on the streets.
Not only is the President putting his own life at risk, but if his presence incites more violence and more conflict between the opposing sides, he will have played a central role in escalating the situation.
Perhaps that’s the plan so that Trump can then order in federal troops and denounce Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers as a Biden-Democrat who can’t get law and order under control in his state as Trump pounds his chest and declares that he is the law and order President.
It’s peculiar that a man professing to be all about law and order has had so many of his associates convicted of crimes. It’s peculiar that when someone is charged by his own federal prosecutors, like Ghislaine Maxwell and Steve Bannon, Trump wishes the defendants well from the podium of his press conferences.
Trump actually is the law and order President: his laws, his orders; his demands for an oath of loyalty to him personally, rather than the country. In a more enlightened age, most Americans called that authoritarianism.
