OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump have had vastly different reactions to the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse.
After the trial, a reporter asked Biden about past comments equating Rittenhouse to a white supremacist.
Biden didn’t directly answer the question, CNN reports.
Biden that he is “angry and concerned” following the verdict but urged Americans to protest peacefully.
“Look, I stand by what the jury has concluded,” Biden said. “The jury system works, and we have to abide by it.”
Trump, on the other hand, was pushing back against the criticism of Rittenhouse long before the jury acquitted him.
Rittenhouse was found not guilty of homicide as well as four other charges. The jury agreed that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense against violent rioters, some of whom were career criminals.
A “Black Lives Matter” riot erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin for three nights and caused roughly $50 million in damages.
Businesses were destroyed as law enforcement is accused of failing to protect people’s property. 17-year-old Rittenhouse arrived to assist a local business owner in defending his car dealership that suffered $1.5 million in damages.
The riots were sparked after a police officer shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake. Blake was armed with a knife and ignored orders from law enforcement.
Blake had a warrant for his arrest for charges of third-degree sexual assault and other charges.
“We’re looking at all of it,” Trump responded at the time. “That was an interesting situation. You saw the same tape as I saw,” Trump said.
“He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like, and he fell,” Trump said about Rittenhouse.
“And then they very violently attacked him, and it was something that we’re looking at right now, and it’s under investigation,” Trump said.
“But I guess he was in very big trouble,” Trump added. “He would’ve been — he probably would’ve been killed, but it’s under, it’s under investigation.”
Trump offered these remarks as he was asked to condemn the actions of “vigilantes” like Kyle Rittenhouse.
The liberal media as well as major mainstream media outlets like The Washington Post attacked Trump over the comments.
The Post wrote, “Instead of denouncing lawlessness, Trump presented an excuse for it — and, implicitly, encouragement of it.”
Joe Biden reacted to Trump’s remarks by suggesting Rittenhouse was a white supremacist.
“There’s no other way to put it,” Biden said in September 2020. “The President of the United States refused to disavow white supremacists on the debate stage last night.”
There’s no other way to put it: the President of the United States refused to disavow white supremacists on the debate stage last night. pic.twitter.com/Q3VZTW1vUV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 30, 2020
Trump was proven right as the jury has found that Kyle Rittenhouse is not guilty on all charges.
The five charges against Rittenhouse included first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree recklessly endangering safety, first-degree recklessly endangering safety, first-degree intentional homicide, and attempted first-degree intentional homicide.
The verdict is read shortly after the 10-minute mark in this video below. WATCH:
More from Western Journal:
Although Trump was denounced at the time in The Washington Post for “justifying vigilantism,” his comments about the shootings during an Aug. 31, 2020, news conference have stood the test of time…
Trump’s comments foreshadowed what would be presented at Rittenhouse’s trial — that if the teenager had not defended himself, he likely would have been a casualty of the violent demonstrations that formed the flaming backdrop to the night Rittenhouse shot and killed two men while wounding another…
During that same news conference, Trump noted that it was leftists who were endangering Americans.
“In America, we will never surrender to mob rule because if the mob rules, democracy is indeed dead. The reason we’re continuing to see violence in left-wing cities today is that liberal politicians, mayors, prosecutors, and judges are refusing to enforce the law and put the rioters in jail,” Trump said then, according to a transcript.
President Joe Biden, unlike Trump, painted Rittenhouse as a white supremacist in a campaign ad — a reference Judge Bruce Schroeder pointedly told the jury to ignore as deliberations in the trial began.
