Kyle Rittenhouse: Hero, Villain, or Neither?

Although it is difficult to know what the jury will ultimately decide, there is a broad consensus that the Kyle Rittenhouse trial went surprisingly well for the defendant. The last week or so of proceedings saw a number of unforced errors by the prosecution, and a series of important revelations have bolstered Rittenhouse’s claim to have acted in self-defense when he shot and killed two men during an August 2020 riot in Kenosha, Wis. But these are legal questions. On a moral level, what are we to make of Rittenhouse’s actions? What are we to make of Rittenhouse himself?

David French, for one, thinks Rittenhouse is a “foolish young man.” In The Atlantic, French argues that “no one should be surprised if Rittenhouse is acquitted on the most serious charges against him,” but he skewers “the Trumpist right” for “wrongly creating a folk hero out of Rittenhouse,” making him “a positive symbol” of “a young man of action who stepped up when the police (allegedly) stepped aside.”

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Nate Hochman

Nate Hochman was a staff writer at National Review.

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Kyle Rittenhouse

Although it is difficult to know what the jury will ultimately decide, there is a broad consensus that the Kyle Rittenhouse trial went surprisingly well for the defendant. The last week or so of proceedings saw a number of unforced errors by the prosecution, and a series of important revelations have bolstered Rittenhouse’s claim to have acted in self-defense when he shot and killed two men during an August 2020 riot in Kenosha, Wis. But these are legal questions. On a moral level, what are we to make of Rittenhouse’s actions? What are we to make of Rittenhouse himself?

David French, for one, thinks Rittenhouse is a “foolish young man.” In The Atlantic, French argues that “no one should be surprised if Rittenhouse is acquitted on the most serious charges against him,” but he skewers “the Trumpist right” for “wrongly creating a folk hero out of Rittenhouse,” making him “a positive symbol” of “a young man of action who stepped up when the police (allegedly) stepped aside.”