What Donald Trump's refusal to condemn Kyle Rittenhouse reveals about his election strategy

Donald Trump will have known that the Kyle Rittenhouse case was likely to come up when he scheduled a White House briefing on Monday afternoon and went hard on his presidential rival Joe Biden’s stance on law and order. The story of a 17-year-old who went onto the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, to keep the peace but ended up accused of killing two protesters and injuring a third has dominated the US headlines since it happened last week. Which makes the US president’s response when asked if he condemned the actions of Mr Rittenhouse and other vigilantes all the more telling - he declined to say yes, instead mounting a defence for the accused’s behaviour. The remarks reflect not just the fractured debate about anti-racism protests and episodes of violence seen this year in America but also how, with two months to go, Mr Trump sees a message that could help win him re-election. Firstly, the complexities of the incident must be untangled. Numerous pieces of footage have surfaced which show snippets of what happened that night, videos which are sure to form a central part of the court battle to come. In one, Mr Rittenhouse is running, apparently being chased, before turning and shooting. In another he trips and is kicked and hit by a skateboard when down, after which he shoots multiple times again.

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