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By Maria Cramer
May 14, 2023
Updated 7:51 p.m. ET
Little is known about the political views of Daniel Penny, the ex-Marine charged with fatally choking Jordan Neely on a New York City subway.

But since Mr. Penny’s arrest on Friday on second-degree manslaughter
charges, he has been quickly embraced by right-wing political figures and groups.

A campaign to raise money for his legal defense — set up on GiveSendGo, a self-described Christian crowdfunding site that was also used to raise
funds for some of those arrested in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — had raised more than $1.8 million as of Sunday night.

In urging his followers to donate to the fund, Gov. Ron DeSantis of
Florida, a likely Republican presidential candidate, compared Mr. Penny to
the good Samaritan, a biblical figure who comes to the aid of a man who
has been beaten, stripped of his clothes and left on the side of the road.

“Let’s show this Marine… America’s got his back,” he said on Twitter on
Friday.

Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, called Mr. Penny a
“Subway Superman.”

Other right-wing commentators have also rallied to Mr. Penny’s side,
including Charlie Kirk, who runs Turning Point USA, a conservative student group, and Jenna Ellis, a lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump.

The groundswell of support from the right is a stark contrast to the
reaction on the left after the killing of Mr. Neely, 30, on May 1.
Protesters called for Mr. Penny’s arrest. Political figures including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, said
Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, should have charged Mr.
Penny immediately.

The Subway Chokehold Death of Jordan Neely
What Happened: On May 1, a 24-year-old man named Daniel Penny choked
Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man, to death on a New York City
subway train. The death was ruled a homicide.

New Yorkers React: Many people saw in Neely’s choking a heinous act of
violence and the city’s failure to care for people with mental illness.
Others saw it as a reaction to fears about public safety in New York.
Two Men’s Disparate Paths: Neely’s mental health decline played out in
public after his mother was strangled. His attacker was a Marine veteran
who said he was protecting himself and others.

The Dangers of Chokeholds: Doctors have long warned that neck restraints
like the one used to kill Neely are deadly. Here’s why they are so
dangerous.

The Republican support for Mr. Penny, 24, who grew up on Long Island and
whose most recent New York voter registration, from 2016, lists his party affiliation as Conservative, followed a pattern of response to past
incidents, according to political analysts.

Conservative commentators also hailed as a hero Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17- year-old from Antioch, Ill., who shot three men, two of them fatally,
during demonstrations in Kenosha, Wis., in 2020. Mr. Trump met with him
after he was acquitted of murder charges and called him “a nice young
man.”

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Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, has said he plans to pardon Daniel Perry, an Army sergeant who was sentenced to 25 years in prison
earlier this month for fatally shooting an armed man during a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin.

Like these men, Mr. Penny has become symbolic of a “macho” and “tough, take-action, hold-your-ground” ethos that appeals to a conservative
segment of the country, said Douglas Muzzio, a political science professor
at Baruch College.

Noting that many facts about the chokehold case remain unclear, including
what happened before Mr. Penny grabbed Mr. Neely, Mr. Muzzio said, “It
doesn’t matter what he did or what he felt or what he believed.”

The charge against Mr. Penny “occurs in an atmosphere of extreme
polarization and racial polarization,” Mr. Muzzio said. “It’s symptomatic
of our times — the split between red and blue, the split between Black and white — and it resonates with some deep-seated realities of American
politics.”

Moments before he posted his support of Mr. Penny on Twitter, Mr.
DeSantis, during a visit to Peoria, Ill., took a shot at Mr. Bragg —
voicing his disdain for prosecutors who are supported by “people like
George Soros,” referring to the liberal billionaire and Democratic donor
who is a frequent target of right-wing attacks, some of which use veiled antisemitic tropes.

Jumaane Williams, New York’s public advocate, said Mr. DeSantis’s
criticism followed a right-wing playbook to draw political support by
spreading fear “regardless of what the facts say.”

“If the violence can be linked to Black people or people who have
melanated skin, they go even harder,” he said.

The praise of Mr. Penny is “depressing,” said Gabriel Murphy, an engineer
who served in the Marines from 2006 to 2010 and who soon after Mr. Neely’s death began a petition calling for charges against Mr. Penny, saying he
had misused the chokehold.

He said people have a picture of the military in their minds. “They’re
cheering on that mental picture — that every Marine is a bloodthirsty
killer who is waiting to enact righteous violence,” Mr. Murphy said in an interview.

But Marines are trained to use a chokehold on enemy combatants and to stop using such force once their adversary loses consciousness, he said. A four-minute video that recorded the chokehold showed Mr. Penny hanging on
tight to Mr. Neely 50 seconds after he went limp.

“I don’t think what he did was OK, and I don’t think it’s in line with
anything the Marine Corps teaches,” Mr. Murphy said.

The fund for Mr. Penny’s legal fees was organized by his lawyers,
including Thomas Kenniff, who ran as a Republican against Mr. Bragg in
2021. Mr. Penny’s lawyers were not immediately available for comment on
Sunday.

One anonymous donor gave $10,000 with a note saying, “thank you for
protecting the citizens that day.”

On Sunday, a fund set up by Mr. Neely’s family to help pay for funeral
costs had raised a little more than $116,000.

Nicholas Nehamas contributed reporting.

A correction was made on May 14, 2023: An earlier version of this article misstated Kyle Rittenhouse’s age at the time of the shooting in Kenosha,
Wis., in which he was charged with murder. He was 17, not 18.
When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you
spot an error, please let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com.Learn more

Maria Cramer is a reporter on the Metro desk. Please send her tips,
questions and complaints about the New York police and crime at maria.cramer@nytimes.com. @NYTimesCramer

<https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/14/nyregion/daniel-penny-jordan-neely- conservative.html>

Typical reporting by the modern day New York Times.

This is a political hit piece to whip up negative frenzy targeting conservatives, nothing more.

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