August 7, 2024
Kyle Rittenhouse Backpedals After Facing Criticism For Saying He Wouldn’t Vote For Trump
Despite echoing right-wing conspiracy theories such as Trump's assassination attempt being an inside job and casting Vice President Kamala Harris as a 'DEI hire,' Rittenhouse did not believe that Trump was adequately supporting gun rights.
Kyle Rittenhouse, whom Donald Trump and the Republican Party platformed after he was acquitted of the murder of two people at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, nearly four years ago, broke with Trump over what he saw as a lack of support for gun rights.
According to Rolling Stone, despite echoing right-wing conspiracy theories such as Trump’s assassination attempt being an inside job and casting Vice President Kamala Harris as a “DEI hire,” Rittenhouse did not believe that the GOP’s presidential nominee was adequately supporting gun rights. On Twitter/X, Rittenhouse indicated that he would vote for 88-year-old Libertarian Ron Paul.
“Unfortunately,” Rittenhouse said in a video in which he introduced himself as the outreach director for an organization called Texas Gun Rights, “Donald Trump had bad advisors, making him bad on the Second Amendment, and that is my issue. If you can not be completely uncompromisable on the Second Amendment, I will not vote for you, and I will write somebody else in. We need champions for the Second Amendment, or our rights will be eaten away and eroded each day. I support my decision, and I have no take-backs.”
In his caption on the message, Rittenhouse wrote: “You must stand by your principles.”
This, of course, incensed MAGA Twitter, whose members essentially bullied Rittenhouse, creating conspiracy theories that suggesting that Rittenhouse was a trans woman and a crisis actor. Chronic misinformation artist Dom Lucre, who was banned from the site for sharing material featuring child sexual abuse but was reinstated by Elon Musk, said that Rittenhouse’s pivot broke his heart and cryptically warned that Rittenhouse was “selected to be exposed.”
In addition to this, the organization Rittenhouse claimed to be the outreach director for, made its own post which endorsed Trump, arguing that he is “the ONLY choice for President in 2024.”
On August 2, approximately 12 hours after criticizing Trump on gun rights, Rittenhouse backpedaled after “a series of productive conversations with members of Trump’s team…I am confident he will be the strong ally gun owners need to defend our Second Amendment rights.”
Rittenhouse continued, “My comments made last night were ill-informed and unproductive. I’m 100% behind Donald Trump and encourage every gun owner to join me in helping send him back to the White House.”
However, it is not clear if the MAGA mob is going to readily accept Rittenhouse back into their ranks. According to The Guardian, some have mocked his turn back toward Trump. “You stand for absolutely nothing and have zero backbone,” one commenter replied. Another said, “This time, try not to murder anyone while you’re backpedaling.”
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