Kyle Rittenhouse surprised fans by revealing that he would not be voting for Donald Trump in the November election.
The 21-year-old, who shot and killed two people during a Black Live Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, said he was instead supporting Libertarian candidate Ron Paul.
In a video posted to X on Thursday, Rittenhouse said, “Unfortunately, Donald Trump had bad advisors, and he did a bad job of the Second Amendment, and that’s my problem.”
Rittenhouse, who was embraced by Trump after he shot three men during a protest against police brutality in Wisconsin in 2020, will not return the favor with his vote this fall.
“If you can’t be completely unwavering on the Second Amendment, I won’t vote for you and I will appoint someone else.”
Kyle Rittenhouse surprised fans by revealing he wouldn’t be voting for Donald Trump in November’s election
The 21-year-old Kenosha shooter said he instead supported Libertarian candidate Ron Paul, despite Trump’s support during his trial.
The conservative star claimed at the time that Trump’s team surrounded him and made him soft on gun laws.
“Unfortunately, Donald Trump had bad advisors, and he did a bad job of the Second Amendment, and that’s my problem,” Rittenhouse said.
Some pro-Trump influencers online expressed disgust at Rittenhouse, saying he owed Trump more for defending him after the shooting.
Humorist Chad Prather wrote: “Oh well Kyle, I regret to inform you that I will no longer be one of your guests at the September 12th TXGR event. I guess you can sign up someone else. This wasn’t the way to go, bro.”
Others argued that voting for a third party was simply a vote for Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris.
Possibly in response, Rittenhouse backtracked on his statement in a separate post on the social media platform on Friday.
“Over the past 12 hours, I have had a number of productive conversations with members of Trump’s team and I am confident that he will be the strong ally gun owners need to defend our Second Amendment rights,” he wrote.
“My comments last night were ill-informed and unproductive. I stand behind Donald Trump 100% and encourage every gun owner to join me in returning him to the White House.”
Rittenhouse backtracked on his statement in a separate post on the social media platform on Friday
He was just 17 when he showed up at the chaotic protest that followed the shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man who was shot seven times by a white police officer during a traffic stop, leaving him paralyzed.
Rittenhouse said he was there with a group of local residents defending businesses from looting and that he carried the assault rifle over his shoulder.
He shot Joseph Rosenbaum four times after the man threw a bag of clothes at him and grabbed the barrel of his gun.
Rittenhouse fled and was being pursued by a crowd when Huber caught up with him, hit him with a skateboard and tried to grab the gun. He was shot once.
In court, he argued that he opened fire in self-defense after the men attacked him. The case became a bone of contention in the debate over guns, vigilantes and racial injustice in the United States.
After his acquittal, Rittenhouse appeared on several right-wing talk shows, met with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and gave speeches for TPUSA.
His image was used to sell everything from weapons to clothing to video games, and became a popular meme among right-wing social media users.
Trump defended Rittenhouse at the time of the shooting and congratulated him after the verdict, saying, “If that ain’t self-defense, nothing is.”
Some pro-Trump influencers online expressed disgust with Rittenhouse, saying he owed Trump more for defending him after the shooting
Rittenhouse is believed to have moved to a luxury gated community in Houston after accepting a job as Outreach Director for the Second Amendment advocacy group Texas Gun Rights and beginning his media career.
His gun rights group lobbied hard ahead of last week’s Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Trump-era federal ban on bump stocks.
“Time to celebrate & buy a bump stock!” he tweeted, before adding: “Next step: Make America fully automatic again!”