Florida State Legislator Anthony Sabatini started a firestorm on Twitter this past Saturday, November 21.
The Republican lawmaker tweeted that Kyle Rittenhouse—the 17-year-old charged with crossing states lines and murdering a mentally ill homeless man, a protester and injuring a third man with an AR-15—should be in Congress.
Rittenhouse is currently out on bail thanks to donations from conservatives like Ricky Schroder and the My Pillow guy.
Twitter didn't waste any time calling out the supposedly "pro-life" state congressman.
Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., wrote that Sabatini's tweet was "inhumane" and "dangerous."
The Orlando Sentinel, who have previously said that Sabatini is "the worst person in the Florida Legislature," wrote of Sabatini's tweet:
"Anthony Sabatini has always been desperate for attention. So earlier this month, the 32-year-old Republican legislator from Lake County called for the imprisonment of Joe Biden."
"The tweet earned him 596 'likes'—not as many as when Sabatini called Biden a 'POS' (piece of sh**)—and was quickly forgotten."
"So this past weekend, Sabatini upped the ante—lauding the 17-year-old accused of killing two protesters in Wisconsin."
The Orlando Sentinel's columnist, Scott Maxwell, went on to say:
"This column isn't an attempt to shame Sabatini. I'd have better luck trying to get a cocker spaniel to understand quantum physics."
"Nor is it a call to throw Sabatini out of office. This is a democracy."
"And the voters of Lake County seem to enjoy Sabatini's aggressive tweets and vocal ignorance. (Rittenhouse isn't even old enough to legally serve in Congress.)"
"Sabatini's divisive, facts-be-damned bomb-throwing apparently reflects the values of Lake County voters. The question is whether they also reflect the values of the Florida Republican party …"
"New House Speaker Chris Sprowls has started handing out committee assignments in the Florida House."
"If Sprowls wants to make it clear that Sabatini's incendiary stunts don't reflect the speaker's own values, he'll sideline Sabatini—and not let him anywhere near the crafting of public policy in this state."
"We'll see if Sprowls is interested in pursuing a serious policy agenda or in playing footsies with extremists."
Twitter was incredibly disappointed that—in the modern Republican party—people who travel across state lines to gun down unarmed mentally ill people and unarmed protesters are held in places of honor and respect.
Tweets like this one should disqualify the author from public service, but it doesn't seem Sabatini will experience any repercussions.
Sabatini is taking a stand.
Alleged murderers like Kyle Rittenhouse deserve places of leadership in the Republican Party. In his eyes, it's admirable to kill the mentally ill and protesters who disagree with you.
