Kyle Rittenhouse is drawing friendly fire following his endorsement of Republican congressman Thomas Massie, a foe of President Donald Trump’s.
Rittenhouse was 17 when he shot three protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020, killing two of them. He was acquitted of the charges against him, and has been a fixture on the MAGA scene since his arrest in 2020.
Now that Trump, 79, wants Massie ousted from Kentucky’s fourth district in the Republican primary on Tuesday, Rittenhouse has found himself a target of online hatred from MAGA accounts.
“Wow! Kyle Rittenhouse turned out to be a complete douchebag, we should’ve left him to the liberal wolves in 2020!” wrote Vince Langman, a MAGA booster with over 30,000 X followers.
Rittenhouse replied with a screen grab of an earlier Langman post which read: “We need to build a statue in honor of Kyle Rittenhouse, a true American hero.” He simply added “LOL”.
Other Trump MAGA acolytes were quick to pile on, using various takes on the same insults—ribbing his appearance and intellect.
“Screw that pasty doughboy. His 5 minutes of fame are over. He supports Massie says all you need to know. He’s an idiot,” one wrote.
“He was literally too low IQ to join the military or police. This kid is a loser,” said another.
Massie is drawing support from not just Rittenhouse, but other high-profile MAGA personalities. One is Lauren Boebert, whom the president threatened to strip his endorsement from over her support of the congressman.
“Boebert is campaigning for the Worst ‘Republican’ Congressman in the History of our Country, Thomas Massie, of the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, and anybody who can be that dumb deserves a good Primary fight! Even though I long ago endorsed Boebert, if the right person came along, it would be my Honor to withdraw that Endorsement, and endorse a good and proper alternative,“ he posted on Truth Social.
Trump attacked Massie in several posts on Truth Social overnight, along with other Republicans he had beef with.
“Kentucky, get this LOSER out of politics in Tuesday’s Election. He is nicknamed Rand Paul Jr., another real “beauty,” because of his absolutely terrible voting habits," Trump said in one post.
Boebert and Rittenhouse were both stumping for Massie on Saturday. Rittenhouse attended an event for a Republican state representative at a shooting range where he described Massie as “the greatest congressman, I believe, in a very long time,” at the Kentucky event.
“He supported me from the beginning, and a lot of things that are being told about him are lies, not true. He gets called a Democrat, and if I can be honest, he is the furthest thing from a Democrat.”
He said Massie voted “conservative 92 percent of the time, and the 8 percent he isn’t, he’s voting to expose pedophiles.”
Massie and Trump fell out in 2025 over Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,’ which Massie voted against, and because of his push to have the Epstein files released.
Massie is polling behind Trump’s preferred candidate, Ed Gallrein, by about five points, with 8 percent of voters undecided.
