MAGA turns against Kyle Rittenhouse

Kyle Rittenhouse, the conservative cause célèbre acquitted in the 2020 Kenosha shootings, is suddenly persona non grata in parts of the MAGA movement after publicly throwing his weight behind embattled U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie ahead of Kentucky's May 19 Republican primary.

Speaking May 16 at a "day at the range" event in Burlington, Kentucky, Rittenhouse called Massie "the greatest congressman, I believe, in a very long time," brushing aside attacks on the Kentucky Republican as "lies." He praised Massie for voting conservative "92% of the time," adding that "the 8% he isn't, he's voting to expose pedophiles" — a nod to the Epstein Files Transparency Act Massie championed and that Trump hated.

The endorsement put Rittenhouse on a collision course with President Donald Trump, who recruited retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein to challenge Massie after the congressman voted against Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill."

The backlash from MAGA influencers was swift and savage.

"Wow! Kyle Rittenhouse turned out to be a complete d-----bag, we should've left him to the liberal wolves in 2020!" posted MAGA commentator Vince Langman.

For his part, Rittenhouse responded to Langman with a screenshot of Langman's previous praise for Rittenhouse.

Pro-Trump account Catturd piled on: "Remember when I warned everyone about him and everybody threw a fit years ago — it's tiring being so right all the time."

Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis broke ranks to defend Rittenhouse, calling the pile-on "predictably gross behavior for what has become a godless populist movement." She added: "These morons ARE the leftist wolves, just in 'MAGA' clothing."