When Kyle Rittenhouse was charged with killing two protestors and injuring a third in 2020, President Donald Trump defended him, declaring that his actions were self-defense.
After Alex Pretti was killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),Trump said he should not have been carrying a gun, marking a drastic and concerning change in the president’s stance on the Second Amendment, showing the hypocrisy in the Republican party.
Trump has frequently been accused of lawbreaking and lying during his time as the president, and his inconsistent stance on gun rights at protests is the latest and most concerning example against him.
The general support for Rittenhouse from conservatives, including Trump, in contrast to the response toward Pretti’s killing risks a compelling argument that the Republican party only believes in upholding the law and applying rules when they suit them.
Yet, fractures within the Republican party have also emerged over the government’s response to Pretti’s death. Several gun rights groups, which typically lean conservative, along with some Republican politicians have broken ranks to criticize the Trump administration.
“I do wonder whether the events of the last couple of weeks on immigration have actually shown the outlines of some kind of consensus,” Greg Elinson said, an associate professor of law at NIU. “You could read the results of the 2024 election as people being frustrated with a too liberal immigration policy, and you can read whatever is happening in response to whatever is happening in Minnesota as people being frustrated with a too hard-edged immigration policy.”
Still, the U.S. remains dangerously polarized, and when one side of the political spectrum experiences tyranny, perceived or otherwise, relations between both political parties will only fracture further.
After the U.S. suffered the longest government shutdown in its history not even half a year ago, it is already facing the prospect of another government shutdown over Democratic and Republican differences regarding transparency with ICE agents’ identities, which have been further inflamed by Pretti’s killing.
Even so, the collective outcry against the government from opponents and allies alike is the beginning of a bridge between both political parties. The U.S. must take this opportunity to remember that we all live in a democracy, and that if half the country is determined to hurt the other half, the entire country will function poorly, if at all.
