#Rittenhouse verdict should teach us not to trust instant analysis

Not guilty on all counts: That verdict comes as no surprise to anyone who’d paid close attention to the Kyle Rittenhouse trial but may shock those who relied on horrifically biased media accounts.

Nearly all the early media tropes proved false: He didn’t bring the gun across state lines; he had major roots in Kenosha including his day job and much of his family. He wasn’t a militia-wannabe but an aspiring cop/firefighter/EMT.

Absolutely nothing suggests he was a “white supremacist,” as no less than Joe Biden claimed right before last year’s election.

And the men he shot were all attacking him when he pulled the trigger; all were white, and at least two had histories of violence.

None of this makes him a “patriot,” as ideologues on the other side insist. But the evidence for self-defense was rock-solid.

But for months, and even as the trial exposed these facts, the haters stuck to their narrative. The worst — MSNBC’s Joy Reid, for one — will never let it go. You can see them practically begging for there to be riots, an incredibly irresponsible position for Kenosha and the nation. Let’s hope no one listens to them.

The rank, politicized distortions of fact here — and in so many other recent incidents — should teach everyone once and for all not to trust instant analysis or agenda-driven reporting. When the facts played out via the proper judicial process, common sense and truth prevailed.

May that lesson sink in widely, not least with the man in charge of upholding America’s institutions and leading the nation to unity.