Right-wing wunderkind Kyle Rittenhouse walked back his plan to write in Ron Paul after some members of the Trump camp cajoled the conservative campaigner into backing the former president.
“Over the past 12 hours, I’ve had a series of productive conversations with members of the Trump’s team and I am confident he will be the strong ally gun owners need to defend our Second Amendment rights,” Rittenhouse wrote in an X post on Friday afternoon.
“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,” Rittenhouse added.
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Rittenhouse announced on Thursday night in an X post that he was “Still writing in @RonPaul,” with a photo of him and Paul attached.
The MAGA social media firestorm ignited immediately and a few hours later Rittenhouse released a video explaining his decision.
“A lot of people are upset that I said I’m going to be writing in Ron Paul for president of the United States, and that is true, I will be writing in Ron Paul,” Rittenhouse said. “Unfortunately, Donald Trump had bad advisers, making him bad on the Second Amendment, and that is my issue,” Rittenhouse added. “If you cannot 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 would be eaten away and eroded each day.”
Trump supporters derided Rittenhouse in reply. Then, half a day later, Rittenhouse posted his apology. Liberal commentators also jostled Rittenhouse.
“This time try not to murder anyone while you’re backpedaling,” Tommy Vietor, one of the hosts of Pod Save America wrote.
Rittenhouse followed up with another post on X Thursday night, explaining how he ran into Vivek Ramaswamy during an appearance at the Young Americans for Liberty National Convention. “I really appreciate Vivek’s encouraging words and his kind attitude toward me. So many patriots have reached out today and I’m very encouraged to work with y’all to Make America Great Again,” he wrote.
Rittenhouse became a right-wing celebrity after he was found not guilty of killing two and injuring one at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020.
Trump previously referred to Rittenhouse as a “nice young man” who should “not have suffered through a trial,” in 2021.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.
