Republican Senator Ron Johnson rejected to condemn Kyle Rittenhouse for killing 2 people

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The US Republican Senator Ron Johnson has rejected to individually condemn the teenage gunman. The teenager has been alleged of shooting and killing 2 people in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Johnson said instead that he condemns all violence and economic destruction that has happened since protests against the police shooting there of Jacob Blake have turned to riots. Point to be noted that the 17-year-old alleged gunman, Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch, Illinois has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide attempted first-degree intentional homicide, and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, all with a deadly weapon. Dana Bash of CNN asked Johnson whether he condemned Rittenhouse and pointed out he was a Trump supporter.

Johnson responded, “It is a tragedy. Do you condemn”? When Bash persisted for an answer, Johnson tried to pivot to a more general statement about death. He said, “Listen, I don’t want to see any loss of life. It is a tragedy, and the way you prevent tragedies is your support. A tragedy could be a car accident. You allow for peaceful protesters, but you don’t allow, you don’t allow peaceful protests to turn into a siege”. He added, “Listen, I don’t want to see anybody lose their life. I don’t want to see the violence continue. I don’t want to see businesses burn down. I don’t want to see economic destruction. I condemn it all”. It is noteworthy that Rittenhouse’s case has been yet another issue that has divided Americans and politicians along ideological and party lines.

Democrats have denounced the boy as a white supremacist fuelled by Donald Trump’s rhetoric and Republicans saying more facts must emerge about the circumstances of the shooting. The president’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a Twitter post in which a user explains how Rittenhouse’s actions convinced him to vote for Trump in the 2020 US election. It says, “Kyle Rittenhouse is a good example of why I decided to vote for Trump. Violent extremists were destroying people’s lives for months, 30 people were killed. Democrats rejected Federal assistance every time Trump offered it. Media lied about Trump deploying secret police”.