The Kyle Rittenhouse verdict has The View cohosts divided on how the verdict could shape future cases involving white vigilantes.
Rittenhouse, who was on trial for killing two protestors and injuring a third during a 2020 Wisconsin rally against police brutality. He claimed his actions were in self-defense, while prosecutors pushed for first-degree intentional homicide and four felonies. He was found not guilty, which has people worried about how the case will serve as a precedent for future attacks against protestors.
Joy Behar said during Monday’s episode of The View, “This is gonna have serious repercussions,” as reported by Decider. “I can’t go and protest now without worrying that some nut case is gonna have a gun, cross the state line, and shoot me…That is my fear now. That he has opened Pandora’s Box for crazies out there.”
Guest host and conservative commentator Kristen Soltis Anderson argued that most people wouldn’t be able to imagine themselves in Rittenhouse’s positions, many others might not be able to understand the position of the protesters. She also claimed that many watching the case might not have been given all of the facts about Rittenhouse, saying that one of Rittenhouse’s victims threw a plastic bag at him and “instigating some violence toward him.” Sara Haines also added that she was “shocked” at how the public “jumped to a certain story,” stating that in her opinion the case was a “cut and dry case of self defense.”