An armed cop wannabe: Does that sound familiar, Florida?

Rittenhouse is the victim of a culture that preys on such aimless loners.

Kyle Rittenhouse might have grown up to be George Zimmerman.

In February 2012, Zimmerman was a neighborhood watchman in Seminole County, northeast of Orlando. The police department, which monitored the program, had told Zimmerman and others only to report suspicious activity. They never were to intervene and surely never with firearms.

Yet the armed Zimmerman violated those rules when he confronted the unarmed Trayvon Martin. After losing control of the confrontation, the 27-year-old Zimmerman fatally shot the 17-year-old Martin. Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder. He claimed selfdefense.

On Aug. 25, the 17-year-old Rittenhouse was in Kenosha, Wis. He had left his home in Antioch, Ill., about 20 miles away. According to news reports in Wisconsin media, Rittenhouse illegally carried a semiautomatic rifle.

Rittenhouse thus needlessly inserted himself into the protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake. The local sheriff and police chief did not welcome the right-wing thugs posing as a self-styled militia.

Tensions rose. Rittenhouse ran from the car lot he supposedly was helping to protect. He shot and killed two unarmed protesters and wounded another. He faces five felony counts, including first-degree murder. He is claiming self-defense.

In these Orwellian times, President Trump and others have called Rittenhouse a hero and a victim. Though they are wrong about the hero part, they are right about the victim part — just not in the way that they imagine.

Rittenhouse is the victim of a culture that preys on such aimless loners. His parents had divorced. His mother had sought a restraining order on boys who had bullied Rittenhouse at his high school. Acquaintances said Rittenhouse lived for the police, guns and Donald Trump.

So when the Trump-friendly “Kenosha Guard” asked for volunteers, what else was Rittenhouse to do?

“People are getting injured and our job is to protect this business,” Rittenhouse said in a social media video clip. “If someone is hurt, I’m running into harm’s way. That’s why I have my rifle.”

Rittenhouse actually had two

AR-15-style weapons at his home. Though they were purchased legally, no one yet knows how Rittenhouse got them.

Rittenhouse bought into the myth that mere possession of a weapon makes one qualified to use it under pressure. He needs lots of help. Instead, he’s getting enablers.

The most prominent works in the Oval Office. Trump said some of the Blake protesters “very violently attacked” Rittenhouse. But the owner of the property Rittenhouse was supposedly protecting told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he had not asked for protection from outsiders. Protesters attacked Rittenhouse after he began shooting. Rittenhouse put himself in jeopardy, fired his weapon recklessly and did no public good. Right?

If only.

“Make no mistake, America,” tweeted Rittenhouse attorney John Pierce. “Nothing less than your God-given right to defend yourself, your family and your country is on trial in Kenosha, Wis.” Pierce also compared Rittenhouse’s action to the “Shot Heard Round the World” that started the American Revolution.

For a time, Zimmerman was that kind of “hero.” His defenders noted that when Zimmerman fired, Martin was on top and had broken Zimmerman’s nose. If you were walking back from a convenience store and an armed man came at you for no reason, you wouldn’t fight back?

As with Rittenhouse, Zimmerman’s defenders used disinformation. A chain email showed a large Black man and disputed the notion that Martin was a skinny kid. The man was not Martin.

A jury acquitted Zimmerman. There was only the word of a cop wannabe. Martin’s killing started the Black Lives Matter movement.

As for Zimmerman, he has since been charged with aggravated assault and domestic violence. The charges were dropped. This year, he sued Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren for posting social media tributes to Martin. The posts did not mention Zimmerman, but he claimed that they caused him $265 million worth of “irreparable harm.”

In 2018, Zimmerman pleaded no contest to stalking a private investigator. The judge said, “If we never hear the name George Zimmerman again in Seminole County, we’ll all be fine.”

No such luck. George Zimmerman’s spirit still haunts our tripwire public life, from Kenosha to Portland. Those whom Rittenhouse shot are the latest victims.