The city of Wilmington, Delaware. The acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse may have made it more difficult for President Joe Biden.
The electorate was worn down by the coronaviruses epidemic and was already facing sliding poll numbers. The president is caught between Democrats who are angry about Biden's inability to land police reform and voting rights legislation and Republicans who want to use the Rittenhouse case to exploit the national divide.
Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, said that this is one of the last things Biden wants to be doing at this moment as he tries to finish up the bigBuild Back Better bill and get that across the finish line through the Senate. Kyle Rittenhouse is not the space where he wants to be right now.
The Rittenhouse case has touched off new discussions about racial justice, vigilantism and policing in America. The teen from Illinois had a semi-automatic rifle in his possession during the August 2020 protest in Wisconsin. He came to the small city to help protect the car lot from vandals.
Two men were killed and a third was injured by Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse and his lawyers successfully argued that he acted in self-defense when he feared for his life.
At a time when Biden is trying to keep fellow Democrats focused on passing his massive social services and climate bill and hoping to turn the tide with Americans who have soured on his performance as president, the verdict in the case comes at a time when he is trying to get the attention of Americans
The president expressed respect for the jury's decision. He said in a statement that he was angry and concerned with the jury's decision.
Republicans won the Virginia election because they accused Democrats of promoting critical race theory in public schools, and they are now embracing 18-year-old Rittenhouse as their newest hero.
Gosar suggested they arm wrestle for the honor of hiring him as an intern. Lauren Boebert predicted that liberal outrage over the Rittenhouse trial would benefit her party.
Boebert said that liberals want self-defense to be illegal. Try running on that in 2022, and see how far you can go with the majority of the American public.
Donald Trump stood with Rittenhouse after the verdict. He accused the left of trying to fan hatred with its treatment of Rittenhouse and called the teen brave for testifying in his own defense.
Trump has spent a lot of his time stoking divisions with his criticism of Biden and any Republican who has not marched in lockstep with his views. Most Republicans have followed his lead through silence or direct endorsement.
The Republicans highlighted a message by Biden during his winning 2020 presidential campaign in which he appeared to suggest that Rittenhouse was a white supremacist.
A video of torch-bearing white supremacists was included in a video that was included in a September 2020 statement that excoriated Trump for failing to disassociate himself from white supremacists on the debate stage the previous night.
Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas have called on Biden to apologize.
He spread lies about the case to score political points. Biden's actions were dangerous and inflammatory.
When asked by a reporter if he stood by his social media posting, Biden replied that he stood by what the jury had decided.
The results of the Virginia elections show that Republicans can use cultural issues like race and gender to get people to vote for them, even if they are not as enthusiastic about Trump. Borick warned that the GOP's embrace of Rittenhouse wasn't without risk.
I don't know if it's a great place to be if you're trying to reach suburban voters and educated voters who might not fault the decision to acquit Rittenhouse because of the circumstances but are far from comfortable holding him up as a candidate.
Biden was under increased pressure from some Democrats over the lack of progress on passing voting rights and police reform legislation.
Biden urged supporters to keep the faith a day after Senate Republicans blocked a major voting bill for the second time this year.
Civil rights leaders are frustrated that Biden hasn't used the bully pulpit more to push for a police reform bill named after George Floyd, the Black Minneapolis man who was killed by police.
At an event earlier this week where he signed into law a trio of bills to increase aid to police, Biden only mentioned the George Floyd act, asking legislators from both parties to work together to make it law.
Biden said that was next.
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The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse is covered by the AP.
