Tucker Carlson excuses white vigilante accused of first-degree murder


Wisconsin authorities arrested a 17-year-old white boy named Kyle Rittenhouse for premeditated murder Wednesday. The Illinois resident had attended a protest in Kenosha Tuesday night, where there has been serious unrest for days following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who was shot in the back seven times in front of his children.
A very disturbing video of part of the events (as well as an account from a Washington Post reporter) shows Rittenhouse running along a street in Kenosha along with a handful of protesters. He trips, rolls into a sitting position, fires once, gets into a scuffle with someone carrying a skateboard, and fires again. Seconds later, sitting back up and with people standing several feet away, he appears to take deliberate aim and fires a third time. Two of the protesters are dead and another was seriously wounded.
Fox News' Tucker Carlson defended Rittenhouse on his show Wednesday evening. He argued that armed vigilante terrorism is simply to be expected when there are protests or riots:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It doesn't bode well that the most popular cable news host in American history is making excuses for accused vigilante murderers. That, apparently, is what conservatives like Carlson mean by "law and order."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.
-
August 23 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purge
Cartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?
In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Gavin Newsom's Trump-style trolling roils critics while thrilling fans
TALKING POINTS The California governor has turned his X account into a cutting parody of Trump's digital cadence, angering Fox News conservatives
-
Costco is at the center of an abortion debate
Talking Points The decision to no longer stock the abortion pill came following a pressure campaign by conservatives
-
What does occupying Gaza accomplish for Israel?
Talking Points Risking a 'strategic dead-end' in the fight against Hamas
-
Ghislaine Maxwell: angling for a Trump pardon
Talking Point Convicted sex trafficker's testimony could shed new light on president's links to Jeffrey Epstein
-
Does depopulation threaten humanity?
Talking Points Falling birth rates could create a 'smaller, sadder, poorer future'
-
Gavin Newsom mulls California redistricting to counter Texas gerrymandering
TALKING POINTS A controversial plan has become a major flashpoint among Democrats struggling for traction in the Trump era
-
The Supreme Court and Congress have Planned Parenthood in their crosshairs
Talking Points Trump's budget bill and the court's ruling threaten abortion access
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't