RITTENHOUSE： “ACQUITTED”—STILL FIGHTING!
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Summary
On this episode of the Great America Show, host Lou Dobbs is joined by Kyle Rittenhouse, a former Marine who served in the Marine Corps and served as a member of the U.S. Special Operations Command. Kyle talks about how he became a hero in the eyes of the American public, and how his life changed forever in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2016.
Transcript
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Hello, everybody. I'm Lou Dobbs. Welcome to The Great America Show. It is great to have you with
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us. The Republicans in the House holding on to a majority by a slender thread after a series of
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events this week. The expulsion of George Santos, the soon-to-be departure of Bill Johnson, who's
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taking a job as president of Youngstown State University, and now former Speaker Kevin McCarthy
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announcing he will leave at the end of the year. He never seemed to quite get over getting fired.
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Congressman Matt Gaetz, who led the efforts to have McCarthy fired, took to his ex account the
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other day to get one last jab at McCarthy, telling the former Speaker that Nancy Pelosi at least had the
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guts to serve out her term after losing control of the House. I don't know anyone else who would
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just say, well, if I can't run the place, I'm going to leave. Nancy Pelosi, for all her flaws,
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and there are many, she at least stuck around. She didn't hurt her team by saying, well, if I can't
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be the quarterback, I'm just going to take the ball and go home. That seems to be what we're getting
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from Kevin McCarthy. This is not an act of patriotism or moving on to the next fight. It is an act of abject
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selfishness, and it is revealing that if Kevin McCarthy can't swing the gavel and be in charge
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and make the decisions, that he's not willing to be a team player. For all the criticism I've received
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about not being a team player, I'm here. I'm doing the work. I'm taking votes. And the Republican
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establishment might not like how I vote all the time, but I'm not facilitating a path to hand power
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to the Democrats. That would be more in line with what we see from the former speaker who is on his
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way out the door. Well, we often talk about the Republican Party and its many fractures.
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It seems the talk never ends, whether about the weak-kneed rhinos who oppose a Biden impeachment
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or most recently expelling Congressman George Santos without due process. It is simply an expression
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of a huge problem within the Republican conference. The Marxist Dems Supreme, that is President Joe
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Biden, his approval rating has hit a brand new low. How much lower can it go, really? According to a new
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CNN poll, Biden's approval rating in November was 37 percent, down two points since October, the lowest
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since he assumed office in 2021. And his polling on voters' top issue, that is the economy, not much
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better. Coming in at 33 percent, the man is absolutely struggling, cognitively, physically,
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and in the polls. Well, our guest today is Kyle Rittenhouse. In August of 2020, when Kyle was 17
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years old, his life changed forever. Black Lives Matter and Antifa rioting in the summer of love all
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across the country, costing America hundreds of millions of dollars as they burned down buildings,
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destroyed cities all over the death of George Floyd. On August 25th of that summer, in the midst of
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protests and riots that got out of hand, Kyle had to defend himself. He shot three men, killing two of
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them, as he was on an armed citizen's peacekeeping watch in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was acquitted,
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but his life, he says, will never be the same. And Kyle is with us here today. Kyle, I have to say it's
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great to have you with us here, young man, and to have you on the show and to talk about your life
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since, well, 2020, and frankly, the country's life as well. I'm thrilled you've come out with a new
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book. It's called Acquitted, folks. It's available for pre-order at writtenhousebook.com. I want to get
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that out there right away, writtenhousebook.com. And I think people are going to really support your
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book. I think learn a lot from it. We recommend it to you highly, folks. Let's turn to, right now,
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what is probably on the minds of most of our audience. Just what is a 20-year-old Kyle
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Rittenhouse doing after the past three years right now?
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Well, I work nine to five, wake up in the morning, go to work. Right now, I'm on a little bit of a media
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tour, helping promote my book. You can get that book at writtenhousebook.com. It's available for
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Pre-Order Today. That's what I'm doing. I'm just trying to live as normal as a life as possible.
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Not very normal. I would say it's not very normal. It's hard to go out. I get recognized a lot. I get
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a lot of people that want to take pictures with me. I get a lot of messages on social media, death
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threats, and a bunch of other type of messages of people saying, hey, we're going to come find you.
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We know where you're at. Stocker type stuff. That's just some of the stuff I deal with on a
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daily basis. And I don't think that's a normal thing I deal with. No, it really isn't. It really
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isn't normal. And I suspect it's about as normal as it's going to be for you
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through your life. But I think also on the positive side, you're running into a lot of
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very good people. Patriots, good Americans, working men and women and their families,
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a community wherever you are that I think will embrace you in most cases. There are exceptions,
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and usually those are in big cities, as we all know. Have you found that to be your experience?
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Oh, absolutely. I've found a lot of support and a lot of great patriots I've met. I made a lot of
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good friends through this whole ordeal. And it's taught me who to really trust and who I can count on
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when I need to count on somebody. That's one of the toughest lessons for anybody in life to learn,
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anyone, irrespective of their experiences. Trust is a huge issue in our society right now.
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It's very difficult for any of us to trust anyone right now. Would you agree with that?
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A hundred percent. Absolutely. Everybody has an ulterior motive, and you don't know what that
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motive is. You don't know if they just really genuinely want to support you or if they want
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to make money off of you or what. Right. And the idea that there is so little trust,
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it's getting worse year by year. During the pandemic, everyone was more insular. Our kids
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in schools. I mean, the teacher unions have so much to answer for. The Marxist Dems that run the
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Democrat Party have so much to answer for, because the impact of that is going to be lasting for these
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kids who were in school at that point through. It's going to take them a long time to catch up.
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I'll put it that way. But I think it's also going to take time for American society to catch up with
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where it was before then as well. We went through in 2020, as you well know, a devastating period in
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this country's history, and it's ignored. We have election that were called election deniers because
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the election was rigged. But no one wants to talk about Antifa, BLM, the summer of love, the rioting,
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the arson, the protests and demonstrations. It's as if that was the strategy by the Marxist Dems for
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a six, seven-month period. That goes away, and up comes the next level of agitation and
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provocative conduct on the part of the left, including murders and riots and burning buildings
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to the ground. Your thoughts about that period and how much of it stays with you?
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Well, absolutely. 2020 was a very difficult year for all of us. I was forced to defend myself
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against the rioters, people trying to kill me, people who threatened to kill me. But I also see
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the effects that it had on our country of what happened in Minnesota, what happened in Wisconsin,
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Chicago, New York, Washington, of these cities just being torched and burned down. Look at Seattle,
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Portland, for an example. You can't even go to Portland anymore because they look for an excuse
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to riot for almost anything. It's just, it's not. I'm sorry, go ahead.
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It's not the same world that I grew up in. It's not the world to where you could actually walk down
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the street and not have to worry if a riot's going to kick off.
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Yeah, it's hard to believe sometimes it's the same country. It's difficult for all of us,
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in particular folks in my generation, baby boomers who've seen so much over the course of their lives.
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To see this particular moment is disappointing. It's sickening in point of fact. And to look at
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the government that is so divided over basic things like the constitution, give us your sense
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from that night back in August of 2020, what you've learned in just those few years that you've
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traveled, because it's been a remarkable journey that you've been on.
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Oh, absolutely. I'm still, I'm still growing up. I'm still learning. I'm only 20 years old.
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Some of the lessons I have learned is one, don't trust, don't trust anybody you just met that comes
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out and promises you the world because most likely they aren't going to give you the world if they
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promise it. A lot of politicians, they're only telling you what you want to hear, but then you
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look at their voting records, you look at their voting history of what they voted on and the bills
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they supported and they suck. A lot of people enjoy being told like, I'm going to do this,
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that, and that for, to help you. And then you look and you see they voted. Oh, well, if you read this
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bill, it really supported banning that. And it does this and it takes away that right. Not a lot of
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people want to look into that or do the hard research. Yeah, it's true. And covering, by the way,
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those folks you're talking about for a good long while now, as a journalist of one sort or the
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other, I can tell you, it's not getting any better. It didn't start. We didn't start in very good shape,
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but it actually did get worse. We're talking with Kyle Rittenhouse and he's got a brand new book.
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It's acquitted. We recommend it to you highly. We're going to take a quick commercial break
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and we'll talk about the lasting impressions of 2020 with Kyle Rittenhouse, the impact on his life.
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We're back now talking with Kyle Rittenhouse and he has a new book, Acquitted. We recommend it,
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as I said, highly to you. And Kyle, the book, you're 20 years old. You've seen a lot and you've
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experienced a lot and you've been beat up pretty good at various points, put in situations that no
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one would envy, including having to defend yourself in the midst of a riot or in court, for that matter.
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Give us your sense in the book, the reason for writing it and the point that you want to make with
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it. Well, Lou, there was just so many stories about me that weren't true. There was media stories
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that people were believing in and just people were saying things that were just false. And I just
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wanted to come out there and set the record straight. A lot of people say that I grew up
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privileged and I had everything handed to me, which is just not true. I grew up in government
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subsidized housing and homeless with a mom working 80 hours a week to put food on the table and having
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a drug addict dad. It wasn't easy to grow up. Well, that's, you know, I think that right now
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there are people saying, my gosh, I had no idea because they assumed a middle class life for you
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out in the Midwest. And I would guess, and I'll speak only for myself, I would never have guessed
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that was your background. But I know it's often hard to guess backgrounds, but even harder when
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the national left wing media goes after a narrative and wants to identify you for that
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narrative. And certainly that was, you know, if that had come out largely and brightly in the moment
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in 2020, I think history would have been a little different for Kyle Rittenhouse. I think you wouldn't
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have had quite the same treatment. Do you? I don't know. I don't know how it would have treated.
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The treatment would have been, I know the government, the prosecuting agency knew that I wasn't rich and
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that I grew up on government subsidized housing. They knew my entire background. The media could
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have figured it out. It's not that hard to figure out that my dad was a drug addict if you just do a
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simple background check. Right. Well, when I said it would have been different, I'm talking about if
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people had known that. We now know what the government chooses to let the American people
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know is very seldom the truth and very seldom even remotely motivated by the public interest.
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Your thoughts about, do you get into this in the book, your view about what the role of government
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and the way government has treated you and those you care about?
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I don't get too much into it. I talk a little bit about political persecution and how, like,
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I spent 87 days in jail for defending myself and how I was put on trial for also defending myself.
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And I talk a little bit about that and how it was a scary, dark time in my life.
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Are you over it? Does the pain still stay with you?
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Absolutely. I have nightmares almost every night about it. And there's nights where I'll be a good
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night. There's nights where I'll be a bad night. But the fight still isn't over. I'm facing three
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civil lawsuits in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. So I'm still being sued for defending myself.
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That's really the way to say it, too, isn't it? You're being sued for defending yourself.
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Can you tell us a little bit about the plaintiffs in those suits? Who are these people
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who want to take another pound of flesh from Kyle Rittenhouse?
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Well, I'm being sued by the state of Anthony Huber, by his father, John Huber. And they're suing me for
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a list of things. Half the charges that they put on the complaint don't even make sense.
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They're suing me for I don't know why they're suing me, but it's on video that I was attacked
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by Anthony. He hit me in the head with a skateboard twice. Being sued by Gage Grosskreutz in the Eastern
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District of Wisconsin as well for a bunch of other charges that don't make sense. And he's the one who
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pointed a gun in my face. In his complaint, it's kind of funny because in his civil lawsuit complaint,
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he doesn't mention the fact that he had a gun at all. There's not one mention of it.
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They just magically left that part out. And I think that's a pretty important part.
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I'm also being sued by Joseph Rosenbaum. I can't talk too much about that case at the moment, though.
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Joseph Rosenbaum, the first guy who attacked me.
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Right. I can't talk too much about that because we're doing some investigation into that lawsuit to
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Well, that's understood. And your legal team, how do you feel about them? How good are they? And
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how good do you feel about your chances of prevailing?
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Well, Mark got me acquitted in the criminal trial. He's representing me in the civil. So I feel pretty
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good about it. Truth always comes to light. And no matter what happens, I know God will always be
00:17:47.300
You know, you just said two important words, truth and God, and they go together. And they're
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an unbeatable combination. Kyle, we're going to come right back with you, folks. We're going to
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take a quick break. We'll be right back after these few quick words. Stay with us.
00:18:04.340
We're back. We're talking with Kyle Rittenhouse. And Kyle, I want to just remind everybody in the
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audience, or perhaps for the first time they may know this, you were acquitted in November of 2021,
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almost a year and a half after the incident. President Biden issued a statement saying he was
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angry about that innocent verdict. You were what? Were you 18 at that point?
00:18:38.080
Yes, sir. I was 18. And I saw that statement. Joe Biden issued two statements. He, his first
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statement, I think he was clueless as normal. And then his press people yelled at him. His first
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statement was, we must stand with the jury's decision and the verdict. And that was the correct
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statement that should have been stayed. And then he came out with the second statement saying he was
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angry and disappointed. That sort of went in the wrong order. But as you suggest,
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perhaps a predictable order for President Biden. With all of this going on, the media after you in
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every way, what is your sense of where the country is headed? Our media is failing us. The government is
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failing us. We are watching the Marxist take over. Well, the Marxist Dems and the Democratic Party and
00:19:26.860
deep state are in control of the federal government from, I mean, across the board. What are the odds,
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one, that we can get President Trump back in the White House to clean up this vast, deep mess in the
00:19:41.480
swamp? You know, honestly speaking, Lou, I don't know if Trump is going to get back in the White House.
00:19:48.520
I think that our political system is so rigged. And there's just so many things that you see what
00:19:56.220
they're doing to him right now. They're putting him on trial right now. And I know God's going to
00:19:59.680
stand with him. But I think a jury is going to be so scared to acquit him. I think the judges are going
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to drown him in legal, legal bills. And I think they're going to try to throw him in prison. I don't
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know how that will work with a former president being put in prison. But I just don't see. I try
00:20:19.500
to find a little bit of hope. But sometimes it's very difficult where you see the political
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atmosphere we're in. I don't think it's going to be easy for President Trump or any conservative to
00:20:30.380
win this election. Well, I have to say I agree with you about my concerns that he can be elected
00:20:36.560
in a country that permits a president to be politically persecuted for eight years with
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not one finding of wrongdoing against him at any one point, and all of it motivated by
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that president's political enemies and opposition, the Democrat Party, the deep state. And to imagine
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that the Marxist Dems won't try to rig this election in every way possible, I just can't
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get there. I think for them, it's a 24-7 enterprise to protect Joe Biden so that they can protect
00:21:14.240
their power that they hold over the federal government, our Congress, our Senate. One way or
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another, the Dems are winning out, don't you think?
00:21:25.420
Oh, absolutely. And this is an unpopular belief, but I think the Democrats, specifically Joe Biden,
00:21:32.560
is trying to drive us into a state of war. We already see that with Israel and Ukraine.
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I think they're trying to drive us into a state of war with someone just so they can be like,
00:21:43.960
oh, we can't have a presidential election. It's not safe to go outside. President Biden,
00:21:49.060
One of the things that people were talking about is sort of sardonically, sarcastically,
00:21:57.160
but Biden was very upset with the Israel war because that was taking attention away from his
00:22:04.060
preferred war, which was Ukraine. I have to say, to listen to people like Lloyd Austin, the Secretary
00:22:13.220
of Defense, admonishing Israel for the way it's fighting a war to save that nation after being
00:22:21.320
attacked brutally by Hamas on October 7th. And this idiot that we have as Secretary of Defense
00:22:30.700
is telling them that they're making strategic mistakes and doing so in public. I haven't heard
00:22:36.480
him say anything to the Ukrainians, have you? Don't you find it interesting the way things mix and match for
00:22:42.820
this Biden regime? It's outrageous. Absolutely. I see a lot of things with the Israel-Palestinian
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war against the Hamas. And I just can't see how anybody can come to the defense of these terrorists
00:22:59.100
who are killing innocent Israelis. On October 7th, they came over and they killed a bunch of
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innocent people. They stormed their houses. They killed their children. And Israel took a stand back
00:23:10.420
and they're defending their country and their nation. If Palestine just called a ceasefire,
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this war would be over and Israel would stop defending itself.
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It is truly amazing to watch. And without comment from the national media,
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no comment from scholars in the so-called academia, the indoctrination centers that are actually
00:23:33.620
that we call often colleges and universities. It's a shame that what has happened there as well.
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We wish you all the very best, Kyle. I hope you'll come back. We wish you the best and talk further.
00:23:46.000
And I think it's probably hard for some of the folks and maybe just a little bit me to think I'm
00:23:52.560
talking to a man who's 20 years old and who's gone through all that you have and have carried
00:23:58.260
yourself proudly in the way anyone would want a young man like you to carry himself and to conduct
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himself. You represent, in my judgment, the best of youth in this country. Give me, if you will,
00:24:17.020
here, we always give our guests the last words, but I'd like to ask you to give us your sense
00:24:21.420
of the young people, your generation right now, young Americans, and your thought about the future.
00:24:29.420
Well, we can only pray for the future and we can only pray for our youth today, including my peer
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group. I feel like my peer group is absolutely corrupted into the false politics and believing
00:24:41.760
things that they are told and voting for politicians they shouldn't be voting for that are just going to
00:24:48.560
damage our Constitution and our future. Our founding fathers were very intentional when they wrote the
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Constitution. It's our duties as voters to go out there and vote for politicians who are going to
00:24:58.900
protect our constitutional rights and what our founding fathers put out for our great country.
00:25:04.540
Kyle Rittenhouse, his book is Acquitted, and we recommend it to you highly.
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RittenhouseBooks.com, and God bless you. Thanks for being with us here today, Kyle.
00:25:18.420
Thanks, everybody, for being with us here today. Kyle Rittenhouse, quite a young man.
00:25:22.540
We urge you to buy his book, Acquitted, RittenhouseBook.com.
00:25:28.900
Our guest here tomorrow on The Great America Show will be Trump attorney, Alina Habba,
00:25:33.940
will be taking up, of course, the political persecution of President Trump now in its eighth
00:25:39.080
year, and it doesn't show any signs of letting up, folks. Please join us for that. Thanks,
00:25:44.880
everybody. God bless you, and may God bless America.