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."
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