‘Be armed, be dangerous’: Madison Cawthorn horrifies viewers with his celebration of the Rittenhouse verdict

A Wisconsin jury acquitted teenage vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse on homicide charges on Friday, and one of the far-right MAGA Republicans who is celebrating the verdict is Rep. Madison Cawthorn. The North Carolina congressman is even offering the 18-year-old Rittenhouse an internship, inspiring plenty of negative reactions on Twitter.

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida has offered Rittenhouse an internship as well.

Cawthorne, sounding delighted, declared, "Kyle Rittenhouse is not guilty, my friends. You have a right to defend yourself. Be armed, be dangerous, and be moral."

Armed with an AR-15-style weapon, Rittenhouse shot three people during Black Lives Matter demonstrators, two of them fatally in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020. During his trial, the defendant maintained that he acted in self-defense — and the jury found him "not guilty."

Many observers found Cawthorn's open celebration of being "armed" and "dangerous" to be disturbing. He previously drew criticism for telling a crowd to raise their boys to "be a monster." One might argue his admonition to "be moral" softens his plea to "be dangerous," but people can do a lot damage and harm even when they think they are morally right.

In response to the 26-year-old Cawthorn's remarks, progressive MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan tweeted his horror. Hasan implied that Cawthorn, as a far-right Republican, gets a pass when he openly promotes violence:

Here are some more responses to Cawthorn's 'be armed, be dangerous" remarks: