Tucker Carlson says teen charged with murder decided to 'maintain order' amid Kenosha 'anarchy'
Fox News host Tucker Carlson has waded into the tension surrounding events in Kenosha, Wisconsin, sparking anger by saying that a teen now charged with murder after allegedly shooting demonstrators had taken it upon himself to “maintain order.”
In an Aug. 23 police shooting that has sparked outrage, Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year veteran of the Kenosha police force, fired seven times at Jacob Blake’s back, striking him four times as he walked away from police and entered his car. Blake, 29, survived despite injuries to his spine and multiple organs, and he may be permanently paralyzed, his family lawyers said.
Since that shooting, protests and violence have engulfed Kenosha. Recent nights have seen an array of rifle-toting civilians in the city, such as the 17-year-old, pro-police advocate arrested on Wednesday and charged with homicide for a shooting outburst that killed two and wounded another.
Viral videos showed that the person who had just fired on protesters was able to walk past a battery of police without getting arrested. Authorities later caught up to the suspect, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, in his hometown of Antioch, Illinois, about 20 miles (30 km) away.
Business Insider reports that on Wednesday, Carlson said local authorities, and the press, hadn’t taken the situation in Kenosha as seriously as they should have, and said the teen in the video decided to “maintain order when no one else would.” Carlson said:
“So are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder? How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?”
“What does that amount to? We’re unsure, a court will decide whether what you just saw qualifies as self-defence,” Carlson said of the video clip.
“We don’t have more details. We do know why it all happened, though. Kenosha has devolved into anarchy, the authorities in charge of the city abandoned it. People in charge from the governor of Wisconsin on down refused to enforce the law. They stood back and watched Kenosha burn.”
On social media, reaction to Carlson’s segment came thick and fast, with one user accusing the host of giving a “thumbs up to murder.”
How shocked are we that Tucker Carlson decided he had to maintain his fussy depravity when no one else would dare by giving a thumbs up to murder. No one, since being surprised at the latest bile to spew forth from this wanna-be man/persistently piqued desk jockey is redundant https://t.co/IXzWu7O2mM
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) August 27, 2020
Meanwhile the Wisconsin Department of Justice revealed on Wednesday that investigators found a knife on the driver’s side floorboard of Blake’s car.
Investigators also said police had tased Blake during an attempt to arrest him as part of a domestic dispute, and that Blake had admitted to them that he had a knife.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Blake family, disputed the claim he had a knife.
“Jacob Blake didn’t harm anyone or pose any threat to the police, yet they shot him seven times in the back in front of his children. But when a young white supremacist shot and killed two peaceful protesters, local law enforcement and National Guardsmen allowed him to walk down the street with his assault weapon,” Crump and his co-counsels said in a statement.
With protests elsewhere in America still lingering over the May 25 death of George Floyd, whose neck was pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer, the Kenosha events revived debates about racism in the criminal justice system.
Following three nights of civil strife, peace returned to Kenosha for a night on Wednesday but shockwaves from the police shooting that paralyzed Blake reverberated across the United States, further polarizing the presidential election campaign and bringing major sports to a halt.
About 200 protesters who defied a curfew marched peacefully through city streets, chanting, “Black lives matter” and “No justice, no peace.”
Law enforcement kept a low profile during the demonstration, and notably absent were any counterdemonstrators or armed militia figures.