The mechanisms are already in motion. By the time a jury cleared Rittenhouse, he had already become a laudatory figure, perhaps even a role model, to the right. Donald Trump defended him. Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance told Tucker Carlson that the trial was “child abuse,” and added, “It’s an indictment of our disgusting president who called him a white supremacist even though he only shot other white people.” (The media, Vance said, “slandered and bullied a 17-year-old boy.”) A Christian fundraising site, GiveSendGo, raised money for his legal case; Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted a link to another fundraiser for him. Ed Martin, the president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, called Rittenhouse a “hero.” Rittenhouse cried on the stand, but earlier appeared almost triumphant: In January, when he was out on bail awaiting trial, he posed with Proud Boy supporters in a bar wearing a shirt that read “Free as Fuck.”…

We should be honest about the implications. To some on the right, it’s evident the left is dangerous and must be put down, “like a dog,” as Trump might say. Violence is so easily justified, and the consequences are so inconsistent. By absolving Rittenhouse of wrongdoing, the jury exposed the great lie of the courts. The system pretends fairness while it delivers different tiers of justice, one for boys who look like Rittenhouse and another for boys who don’t. Self-defense, as the courts define it, is a luxury. See the case of Marissa Alexander, who spent years in prison and home confinement because she fired a warning shot at her violent husband. Jurors left this unfair system intact, preserving the very social structure that pushed demonstrators into the streets. Today’s verdict will not, by itself, produce another Kyle Rittenhouse. Vigilantes would have followed him into the street no matter what the jury decided, because that is where we are. This is the United States: Property matters more than human life, and protesters are considered combatants in a street war, and one side gets impunity. The future looks like a white boy with a gun.