Associated Press
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged the nation to show Daniel Penny that “America’s got his back.” Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley called for New York’s governor to pardon Penny, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy donated $10,000 to his legal defense fund.
Republican presidential hopefuls have lined up to support Penny, a 24-year-old U.S. Marine veteran who was caught on video pinning an agitated fellow subway passenger in New York City to the floor in a chokehold. The passenger, 30-year-old Jordan Neely, later died from compression of the neck, according to the medical examiner.
Penny has been charged with manslaughter. His attorneys say he acted in self-defense.
He’s already become a hero to many Republicans, who have trumpeted Penny as a Good Samaritan moving to protect others in a Democrat-led city that has seen crime rates rise. The support has been unwavering, despite the fact that Neely, who was Black, never got physical with anyone on the train before he was placed in the chokehold for several minutes by Penny, who is white.
The rush to back Penny recalls how then-President Donald Trump and other top Republicans fiercely supported Kyle Rittenhouse during the 2020 presidential election. Rittenhouse, a white teenager who killed two men and wounded a third during a tumultuous night of protests in Wisconsin over a Black man’s death, was acquitted.
More recently, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to pardon Daniel Perry, a white Army sergeant who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally shooting an armed man during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in the state’s capital of Austin.
Neely, known by some commuters as a Michael Jackson impersonator, had a history of mental illness and had frequently been arrested in the past. Bystanders said he had been shouting at passengers, begging for money and acting aggressively, but didn’t touch anyone aboard the train.
But the GOP defense of white people after Black people are killed is often very different from incidents in which white people are killed. A key example is Ashli Babbitt, the white former Air Force veteran who was shot to death by a Black police officer while trying to climb through a broken window at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Trump called Babbitt an “innocent, wonderful, incredible woman” and labeled the Black officer who shot her a “thug.” Other Republicans have mourned her as a martyr.
As for Democrats, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York tweeted before charges were filed that Neely’s “murderer” was being “protected” while “many in power demonize the poor.” New York Mayor Eric Adams called Neely’s death a “tragedy that never should have happened” but warned against irresponsible statements before all the facts are known.
There was no such hesitation from Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called Penny a “hero,” or Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, who dubbed Penny a “Subway Superman” and once offered an internship to Rittenhouse.
Trump, now running for president for a third time, said this week that he hadn’t seen the video but told The Messenger that he thought Penny “was in great danger and the other people in the car were in great danger.”
Helping fuel Republican anger is the fact that Penny’s case is being handled by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is leading the prosecution of Trump on charges he paid hush money to cover up an affair during his 2016 presidential campaign.
“We must defeat the Soros-Funded DAs, stop the Left’s pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law abiding citizens,” tweeted DeSantis, who is preparing to announce his 2024 presidential bid, repeating false claims that billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros orchestrated Trump’s indictment.
“We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny,” DeSantis wrote, including a link to a fundraising page for Penny. “Let’s show this Marine… America’s got his back.”
9 comments
Dont Say FLA
May 20, 2023 at 8:31 am
If it were legally defensible to fatally strangle crazy people for running their mouths and never backing down from running their mouths, Florida Gov Rhonda would not be among the living. Nor word Defelonious Javina Trump. They’d both have been strangled for infinite crazy talk that nobody, outside a very particular group that I won’t name as white nationalists, wants to hear.
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Central Park Five Again
May 20, 2023 at 8:33 am
The Rhonda Trump crowd learned nothing from Trump’s Central Park Five baloney. Or maybe they’re so old they can’t remember how that nonsense went down.
Earl Pitts American
May 20, 2023 at 8:56 am
Good morning dook 4 brains leftists,
If you still have the ability to think outside the box of dook 4 brains leftist group think, knee-jerk dook 4 brains leftist reactions, (I, Earl Pitts American already know the only one that may in your F. P. group is Ocean Joe), then think about “the situation on the subway which is the subject of the above artical for a few moments and your leftist leadership along with your leftist media reactions”.
OK thats your Jepordy answer which you dook 4 brains leftys are tasked with providing your response in the form of a question.
Queue Jepordy music for 30 seconds while dook 4 brains leftist attempt the epic task of thought…”ta ta ta ta daa daa daa ta ta ta ta daa daa daa daa daa daa daa”… OK dook 4 brains lefties…what ya got?
1. Nothing?
2. Nothing?
………….
24. Nothing?
25. Nothing?
Sigh…just as I, Earl Pitts American, suspected. Zippo.
OK Ocean Joe, go ahead and tell the lesser mental midgets what you think the Jepordy question is please.
OJ, “well incrediably intelegent and good looking, Earl Pitts American, what I fell the correct question to the Jepordy Game answer is”. “Why do normal Americans hate dook 4 brains lefties”?
DING DING DING!!!!
“Correct Ocean Joe you are as I, Earl Pitts American, predicted the smartest poster which identifies as a kinda sorta leftist here on F. P.”
I’m still working on your conversion from The Dark Side OJ”.
Thank you Dook 4 Brains Leftists,
Earl Pitts “America’s New Jepordy Host” American
Earl Pitts Klansman
May 21, 2023 at 7:25 am
Earl, you degenerate Nazi. You are an exemplary Christian. Thank you for being here as my proof of everything Florida is.
Bless your racist heart.
Earl Pitts American
May 21, 2023 at 10:31 am
Sorry Dude,
Your application to join The Earl Pitts American Fan Club can not be approved at this time.
APPLICATION DENIED
Earl Pitts American
ScienceBLVR
May 20, 2023 at 9:50 am
When Travon Martin’s murderer was found not guilty with a Stand your Ground defense in our lovely state, I knew we still had far to go as a society with respect to self defense and acceptance of the murder of black males. He was walking home from the convenience store, minding his own business and this nut kills him. Just like my grandkids walk home from the Rainbow mart near our house.. except they are white boys, so no worries there. Whatever threat this guy posed, he died as a result of this Marine’s actions. He is certainly culpable of manslaughter whether involuntary or not. And I respect our military to the utmost degree, but having served sure doesn’t give you a free pass to kill someone and should be irrelevant to the charges.
Michael K
May 20, 2023 at 10:17 am
DeSantis should read the Bible more carefully before he likens this vigilante to a “good samaritan.”
Snake Church of Palatka
May 21, 2023 at 7:23 am
Imagine if a Black man had killed a White homeless man ranting in the subway. He wouldn’t even get bail before Christians would condemn him.
Don’t pretend to be Christians; you’re deplorables.
Comments are closed.