MAGA’s Reaction to Daniel Penny Verdict Reveals Its Sick Nature

The far right is rejoicing at Daniel Penny being found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 New York City subway strangling death of Jordan Neely.

Penny, who is white, put Neely, a Black man, in a chokehold for six minutes while other train passengers captured the incident on film. Penny’s lawyers argued that he believed Neely was a volatile, mentally ill man who posed a threat to the public. Neely was unarmed and had a muffin in his pocket, but Penny quickly became a hero to the right wing. 

Right-wing figures, including one Donald Trump staffer, immediately took to social media and rejoiced at the verdict on Monday.

Some took aim at the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, for bringing charges against Penny in the first place. Bragg is also hated by MAGA for successfully prosecuting Donald Trump for paying off an adult film star to hide their affair before the 2016 election.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Penny’s acquittal was “clearly the just and correct verdict.

“I must admit I was skeptical that a jury in New York City would reach a unanimous not guilty verdict, and the jury deserves credit for doing the right thing,” DeSantis said. “Meanwhile, is there a worse prosecutor in America than Alvin Bragg?”

The right-wing reaction to Penny’s acquittal seems to echo the rulings exonerating Kyle Rittenhouse for shooting demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020, and George Zimmerman for shooting unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, in 2012. In all three cases, the perpetrator was lionized by the far right as making justified killings against criminals, rather than enacting vigilante justice fueled by racism.