The Significance of Kyle Rittenhouse, an Invited Guest at the Kirk Funeral
"Either this nation shall kill racism, or racism shall kill this nation." (S. Jonas, August 2018)
"How do you spell ICE in German? GESTAPO."
First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.
Pastor Martin Niemoller (c. 1946)
One Kyle Rittenhouse (you may remember him --- more on him below) was seated with at least some of the celebrities (in the rank, for better or for worse, with Elon Musk) at the Kirk funeral. I find it fascinating that he was there and also fascinating (I admit to having missed this one) that he is regarded as something of a hero on the generic Right, that is hero enough to have been given a place of some level of honor at the funeral. To fill you in on, at least from my perspective, who he is, and was, I am reposting here, edited modestly for language, not content, a column that I published on him, close to four years ago, on December 9, 2021 to be exact. Its title was: Kyle Rittenhaus, the 'Trial,' and the formation of the U.S.S.A. (Original: 'Die Sturmabteilung').
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To begin, in 2020, out in the open, Kyle Rittenhouse killed two men during a George Floyd's assassination protest (which protest he was protesting). Like many other observers, when Kyle Rittenhouse went to trial, in the location of the dreadful events, given that location and what was known about it politically, I came to the conclusion that it was highly likely that he would get off. There was the judge, Bruce Schroeder who was known to have a "God Bless the USA" ringtone on his cell phone. Not that anyone could have that ringtone, but in the U.S. culture it is most often associated with the Christian Right. Also, on one news show I heard that among randomly selected local Blacks interviewed about the choice, Schroeder was considered the worst possible choice for a trial like this. Then there was the jury selection, done by the hired hand who did wonders for O.J. Simpson.
Then after the trial, I learned that Schroeder is an elected judge (party indeterminate). But what? You think that his donors (surely neither left-wing, nor Black, nor both) did not call him during the trial, so that such things as the appearing-to-be-random (ho, ho, ho), as in the dropping of the illegal-gun charge against Rittenhouse --- the one on which he was clearly guilty (given his age if nothing else), would almost certainly occur? And then there was the "you can't use the word 'victim' " for the men who were shot, coming from the judge. Obviously not prejudiced nor given to making prejudicial statements (ho, ho, ho) (to say nothing of his screaming at the prosecution, but not because he thought that they were doing a bad job).
But then, as the trial wound on, it indeed became clear that the prosecution was indeed doing a terrible job (although not from Rittenhouse's perspective). Why? Because they didn't raise the most obvious way (to me at any rate) to attack the "self-defense" defense, to wit: A) Rittenhouse voluntarily placed himself in a dangerous situation. B) Forgetting about the illegality of "under-age-toting-a-gun" and the "transporting-a-certain-kind-of-weapon-across-state-lines" stuff, Rittenhouse had absolutely no legal standing or legal authority to do what he was doing: acting as "an armed guard" for some random business. C) There were plenty of police in the area. And D) if that weren't enough for the owner of the property, he/she could have hired authorized, licensed, of-age guards for his/her property, rather than relying on some unlicensed kid carrying a semiautomatic rifle, with no training/experience in guarding property while armed, Rittenhouse chose to put himself in danger.
By being there armed, with no authorization from any law-enforcement agency, Rittenhouse took the law into his own hands, again with no authorization from any law-enforcement agency to be an armed guard. He had only his self-determination to be where he was. My first reaction to the outcome was that despite the skin colors of the perpetrator and the victims (both white), this was just another waystation on the long, long road of "mis-justice" in the United States for both Blacks (and other minorities) and Progressives. But then, within a day-or-two, seeing the response to the acquittal of Rittenhouse by Republicans, [what even then I was calling] the Republo-fascist Party, and those even further to the Right (although that is now getting to be a very small space). Combined of course with the apparently Trump-organized mob-assault on U.S. bourgeois Constitutional democracy that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021, I believe that something rather different is now underway. (END of the excerpt from my earlier column.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the time of the killings, Rittenhouse was being hailed as a hero, someone who, for example, should receive a Congressional honor. Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a motion to do so. It read in part: "[a]ward a Congressional Gold Medal to Kyle H. Rittenhouse, who protected the community of Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a Black Lives Matter (BLM) riot on August 25, 2020." (Actually, there wasn't any "rioting," organized or other, led by BLM or anyone else. But facts of course don't matter to such folk when a racist trope is readily at hand. And of course, there was a major police presence there, presumably prepared to act if a riot, or "riot," had actually happened.)
As of the time of writing of the original version of this column, a permanent U.S. Right-wing civilian militia had not yet been formed (and neither has one yet been formed [at least as far as we know]). But there are clear indications going back to Charlottesville and before that, and now with the acquittal of a person such as Rittenhouse, it might well be, especially as such an eventuality could receive the blessing of, shall we say, Trump, and Vance, and Stephen Miller (who gave quite a, shall we say rousing, speech [.facebook.com/watch/?v=1132997905433410]) at the funeral, and not-yet-left-holding-the-bag Tom Homan.
Historical Precedents
There are a variety of historical precedents for such an organization. One of the most prominent ones was the German/Nazi armed private militia known as the "Sturmabteilung," the "Storm Division," shortened to the "SA." During the post-World War One period in the Germany of the Weimar Republic, following the defeat of the Prussian Empire in World War I, beginning in the early 1920s the Nazis had gradually enlarged this organized-but-unofficial army that supported the Party in the streets of Germany.
And then, as is well-known, the Party slowly blazed its way to power, in a politico-violent process that culminated in the passage by the German parliament, the Reichstag, of the "Enabling Act" on March 23, 1933, which established the Hitlerian dictatorship. Not coincidentally, when the vote on the Act was taken, the Reichstag auditorium was surrounded by S.A. troopers in full uniform.
The S.A. played a key role in the developments over the years that led to these outcomes, from battling and attempting to intimidate German trade unionists, to trashing the offices of anti-Nazi newspapers and threatening their staffs, to intimidating ordinary German citizens on the streets, to engaging in repeated pro-Nazi, often anti-Semitic, demonstrations, in their brown-shirted uniforms.
Could Rittenhouse, now, given his spot at the Kirk funeral, become a role model for them? After all, the "Proud Boys" and etc. are presumably being refurbished, after they received their pardons for the President after their Jan 6 Insurrection convictions. One might suggest a name-at-the-ready for them: the U.S.S.A., the "United States Sturm Abteilung." A variety of military and non-military Right-Wing Republicans could well be ready to take over the leadership of such a group. (You could think of the names as well as I can.) Your guess is as good as mine. But I would not be surprised if this were to happen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post-script I: And now, in 2025, there is Rittenhouse, his reputation or his notoriety (depending upon one's political perspective) having been established ONLY by the series of events described above, being part of the formal, recognized, Republican delegation attending the Kirk funeral. That is some message, loud and clear, being broadcast far and wide, about what the modern Republican Party truly stands for at least in part, don't you think?