I’m not sure I’ve ever seen someone more cynically turn a bad situation into something even worse.

After Kyle Rittenhouse killed two people and injured another during the Jacob Blake riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, we all started looking at facts. And the facts say that he crossed state lines with a gun that was illegal for him to possess in the state came from — Illinois — and that he was menacing and violent.

He went there not to “protect private property” and “provide medical assistance,” neither of which he’s qualified to do, but to kill some protesters.

His whole persona already was, and has only grown more to be, the poster boy for guns.

So after the victim that actually survived Kyle’s rage that night showed up to protest his appearance at Kent State University, courtesy of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA — an organization dedicated to turning young people into Republicans — Kyle had to respond.

And respond he did.

He jabbed back by posting a clip of his victim, Paul Prediger, admitting in court that he’d pointed a gun at Rittenhouse. Of course, if I had a gun and saw a chubby teenager with an assault rifle coming toward me, I might point it at him as well.

https://t.co/926ekAalqs pic.twitter.com/U7iTBbmhzO

— Kyle Rittenhouse (@ThisIsKyleR) April 17, 2024

Obviously the “chubby” descriptor was unnecessary. I just want to paint a picture in your head the way Kyle tries to paint a picture.

Now one of his former handlers regrets the “role [he played] in shaping him into whatever he has become.” Because for all of the grooming with haircuts and suits, for all of the legal coaching he got, for all of the advice, Kyle has failed to learn anything, and fully embraced the grifter Republican lifestyle.

He’s been on a tour of colleges and universities, speaking about gun rights and individual liberties. But it’s all from the perspective of a kid who killed some protesters because his mom drove him to a protest to kill protesters.

But check out this tweet from his former handler, David Hancock:

And Hancock was referring to this photo, an email revealing that Rittenhouse failed the USMC entrance exam so badly he would never be allowed to even apply to the Marines again:

That’s right, not only is Kyle a middle-school dropout who never made it past eighth grade, but he’s been banned from ever applying again to the military because he did so badly on his entrance exams.

As for his victim, Prediger, he’s become somewhat of a cynic himself, but in the opposite direction:

“What, because he shot a few people? I think it’s just dangerous to put somebody at the forefront who really doesn’t know what they’re talking about. He has no real-world experience apart from that night. And that doesn’t make you an expert talking about gun control. But people who do know what they’re talking about and do have an agenda to push, they understand that Rittenhouse will get the clicks, get the views, get the money going in. But I do not believe for one second that anybody takes him seriously.”

I certainly don’t take him seriously.