Days ago, Kyle Rittenhouse — who was admired by Donald Trump and praised by the far right for shooting three people at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020, killing two — aligned himself with the MAGA movement that supported him during his acquittal on murder charges. On X (formerly Twitter), the 21-year-old repeated the conspiracy theory that last month’s assassination attempt on Trump was an “inside job” and called Vice President Kamala Harris a “DEI hire.”
But on Thursday night, Rittenhouse shocked and angered Trump voters who have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover his legal fees over the years by endorsing 88-year-old former congressman Ron Paul for president. After sharing a photo of himself with Paul, Rittenhouse tweeted that he would write the retired liberal’s name on his ballot in November. He also shared a video first posted by the head of the National Association for Rifle Rights (an activist group that Rittenhouse says helped his family when the more prominent National Rifle Association did not). In the clip, Rittenhouse introduced himself as the communications director for Texas Gun Rights and acknowledged that followers were upset with him.
“Unfortunately,” he continued, “Donald Trump had bad advisors who made him bad on the Second Amendment, and that’s my problem. If you can’t be completely uncompromising on the Second Amendment, I won’t vote for you, and I’ll write someone else. We need champions for the Second Amendment or our rights will be eroded and eroded every day. I stand by my decision and I have no qualms about it.” In response to the letter, Rittenhouse wrote: “You need to stand by your principles.”
But Rittenhouse only seemed to be able to stick to those principles for about half a day before he was ready to give in. In the meantime, his responses were peppered with insults from former fans, while other MAGA influencers condemned him.
“I have never seen a greater betrayal in my life, in 40 years of following politics, than Kyle Rittenhouse,” tweeted the pseudonymous Trump fan @Catturd2, who also blocked Rittenhouse’s account. “Almost every cent he has for his great defense lawyers and every cent he has in the bank is thanks to MAGA.” In the same post, @Catturd2 claimed that Trump voters were “the people who literally saved his life.” Terrence K. Williams, another vocal Trump supporter, told his nearly 2 million followers, “If you stab Trump in the back, we can’t be friends.” Rittenhouse-themed memes and arguments that third-party voting would hurt Trump in the election went viral.
Misinformation peddler Dom Lockrey, who was previously banned from X for sharing child sexual abuse material but has since been rehired by the site’s owner Elon Musk, wrote that Rittenhouse’s turn against Trump “breaks my heart” and warned that he was “co-opted to come out.” One conspiracy theorist shared photos of Rittenhouse with the text “he” on them, falsely suggesting he is transgender. Meanwhile, Texas Gun Rights — the organization Rittenhouse claimed to represent in his video — issued a statement endorsing Trump, calling him “the only choice for president in 2024.”
While Trump himself seemed to be oblivious to the internal conflict, Rittenhouse didn’t need the former president’s intervention before he changed his mind. On Friday afternoon, he claimed to have “had a series of constructive conversations with senators.” [sic] Trump said it was a “team” — no one specific — that made him “confident that he will be the strong ally gun owners need to defend our Second Amendment rights.” He also called his previous comments “uninformed and unproductive,” and said he was fully committed to “helping put more guns on the market.” [Trump] “Back to the White House.”
Whatever Trump’s own views on guns, they have been overshadowed in recent years by Supreme Court decisions packed with far-right ideologues. In 2022, it struck down a New York law that gave the state broad authority to restrict the carrying of firearms in public, by a 6-3 conservative majority, putting similar gun control measures in other states at risk. (The ruling came shortly after deadly mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.) In June, the high court struck down a ban on bump stocks—accessories that allow a gunman to fire ammunition from a rifle almost as quickly as a machine gun—imposed by the Trump administration. That, too, was a 6-3 decision made possible by justices nominated by Trump. His 2024 campaign, which has been courting gun owners, touted the ruling as a win, distancing the former president from the original policy.
In any case, Rittenhouse’s immediate volatility illustrates the risks facing prominent figures hoping to break ranks with the MAGA movement. It remains unclear whether all was lost on him after his attempt to make amends. “LMAOO. Kyle didn’t want to be Bud Lighted,” one X user replied. “You’ve already shown your true colors. We don’t trust you anymore,” another commented. Among those who readily accepted Rittenhouse’s return to the fold was @Catturd2. “I was tougher on you than anyone else — but I can’t hold a grudge when a man apologizes,” he wrote.
But in a later post, @Catturd2 explained that civil discussion is not the way to keep people like Rittenhouse on the line. “By the way… the conversation wasn’t productive, the anger and backlash was betrayal. No question about it,” he commented. When a follower responded by saying they would continue to hold a grudge against Rittenhouse, @Catturd2 responded with a laugh: “Hahaha – can’t blame you.”
