Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory are trying to claim that Kyle Rittenhouse is a transgender man after he momentarily claimed last week that he wouldn’t be endorsing former President Donald Trump.
In a now-deleted post to X on Thursday, the 21-year-old Rittenhouse stated that he believed Trump was “bad on the Second Amendment.”
Rittenhouse became a popular conservative figure in 2020 after getting arrested for killing two men at a protest, a charge he was later acquitted for acting in self-defense.
“If you cannot be completely un-compromisable on the Second Amendment, I will not vote for you,” he said. “We need champions for the Second Amendment or our rights would be eaten away and eroded each day.”
But despite adding that he supported his decision and would not reverse it, Rittenhouse changed his tune just hours later after an influx of outraged remarks from Trump fans.
“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 said on Friday. “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.“
While most conservatives accused Rittenhouse of being a traitor, QAnon followers instead argued that the young conservative was part of a secretive transgender psy-op aimed at harming the MAGA movement.
The X user known as “Isaac’s Army,” which spreads the most extreme views among the QAnon movement to its more than 306,000 followers, was the main account spreading the conspiracy theory regarding Rittenhouse.
“It’s all a psyop……..” they wrote alongside pictures of Rittenhouse.
A handful of other QAnon accounts spread the claim as well and even alleged that Rittenhouse was a “crisis actor” who helped stage the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.
“Q Told Us: Symbolism Will Be Their Downfall,” the account “Not Op Cue” said. “Q Told Us: Infiltration Instead of Invasion.”
On Telegram channels from prominent Q pushers, the claim Rittenhouse was at Sandy Hook continued, alongside conspiracy theories about his trial.
“Did you know that the courtroom he was in had green screen fails all over it? He was also one of the kids that was shot in Sandy Hook. Same exact kid,” wrote one comment.
“Paid operative of the deep state,” replied another other.
Although the claim is only being entertained by the most extreme conspiracy theorists, opponents of Trump say the backlash to Rittenhouse is evidence of a cult-like mentality among the MAGA movement.
“LMAO THEY’RE SAYING KYLE RITTENHOUSE IS A TRANSGENSER CRISIS ACTOR FROM SANDY HOOK!!“ the user Jules Suzdaltsev added.
Others saw the entire fiasco as evidence that the GOP was in “a shambolic state.”
“This is both hilarious and incredibly sad,” user Julien Hoez said.
Whether Rittenhouse will be able to find himself in the good graces of Trump fans following his apology remains to be seen.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
