As the country awaits the verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, Ed Martin, a right-wing operative with the so-called Stop the Steal campaign and president of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, took to his “Pro America Report” radio show Monday to claim that the mainstream media is trying to prompt “race riots” with its coverage of the Rittenhouse homicide trial.
Rittenhouse, whom Martin has called “a hero,” stands trial for shooting three protesters, killing two, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during protests against police brutality last August following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man. Rittenhouse, then 17, came to the city armed with an AR-15-style rifle heeding a local militia group’s call to protect local businesses. Karim Zidan reported for Right Wing Watch how since then, far-right groups and white supremacists—from the Proud Boys to the International Conservative Community—have hailed Rittenhouse as a hero, using his image for propaganda purposes.
In a segment titled “The Narrative Machine is Fomenting Racism,” Martin insisted that racism does not play a role in the homicide trial, alleging that the mainstream media and Big Tech want viewers to believe white supremacy is responsible for the deaths of two antiracist protesters because “race riots” would drive up ratings.
“The set up that is happening in the mainstream media, the fake news media, big media, and the narrative machine is to set us up for race riots,” Martin said.
“Now, I’m a little surprised that they’re going to do this under Joe Biden because if you noticed, all the race riots stopped when Joe Biden ‘won the election,’” Martin said. “Everybody stopped doing that. But what you need to know right now is that they’re doing everything they can—the media and big tech, and of course the government, which is our narrative machine—to drive the narrative that this is somehow racism, structural racism, white supremacy. And did you know—let me tell you some facts. Did you know that the guys that were killed that were attacking Rittenhouse [were] all white?”
Martin went on to claim that an unnamed liberal commentator was unaware the victims were white before continuing his argument that racism couldn’t be a factor in the case.
“Two people were killed, one was wounded, and they were all white,” Martin said. “Rittenhouse is white. The prosecutors are white. The judge is white, everybody’s white. I’m not sure where the white supremacy is coming in, except that now we have the media—big media and Big Tech—tying together the homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse.”
“I think this could be setting up for more race riots,” he continued. “And what you need to know is it is completely and entirely the fault of the three components of the narrative machine in this case. Big Media for not telling the truth.”
“And then big government,” he said. “Big government in this case is the prosecutors, they’re, they’re ignoring any of the facts, any of the truth. They’re just trying the case because they want to be on TV. And here’s the trick. When they’re done, if they get riots, you know what Big Tech and big media get? Better ratings. People will tune in to see burning buildings, clashes between protesters and law enforcement with tear gas. Trust me, what you need to know is: you have the narrative machine ... aimed towards what? More money for cable TV, more money for Facebook, more money for big media, more money for Big Tech. That’s what they’re doing. And they’re tearing the country apart, literally.”
