Okay but getting back on topic, does anyone else feel that Rittenhouse’s anti-endorsement might be a sign of broader discontent with Trump among the far right fringe? Or was Rittenhouse all alone on this one?
I feel it’s possible that what made Rittenhouse unusual might not be that he had lost faith in Trump but rather that he had a public platform to express that loss of faith. If other extremists have begun questioning their allegiance to Trump, they may not have done so publicly (and are unlikely to do so now that they have seen the reaction Rittenhouse got from the extremists who still have faith). So we might not know of their existence until Election Day when they decided to write in somebody else’s name or just stay home. Trump might lose the shy voters this time.
Maga conservatives have little passion for policy: it’s all personality and dominance politics, aka tribalism. So with Kamala Harris up in the polls, it’s not surprising to see a few waverers. But frankly I think Rittenhouse is too unstable to be trusted as a bellwether for anything.
Is the far-right turning squishy? I don’t know of a good way of extracting vibes from far-right locales like 4chan or twitter-X.
ETA: FWIW, Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver doesn’t appear to be raising much money. He appears to be on the ballot in 5 states.
“Oh no! There’s trouble in the next county! I’d better go and help! Where’s my gun?”
What the hell kind of thinking is that? Isn’t that what police are for? Especially those in the next county? Jeez, if there had been trouble in Seattle, would Rittenhouse have jumped in his car and driven to Seattle to “help”?
Kid should have stayed home, and not gotten involved. Now, he’s a killer, no matter what the Court said.
IMHO - and that’s all it is, is Rittenhouse wanted anybody in the MAGA-sphere to pay attention to him, since he is, as mentioned upthread, one of the many leeches upon the MAGA world that doesn’t actually DO anything other than tell them what they want to hear.
In this case, he misjudged. He thought he could get attention from the hardcore 2nd Amendment types by (for what passes for this in MAGA) “speaking truth to power” that Trump wasn’t a true Gun Lover. Again, IMHO, what he hoped/expected would happen is that someone in the MAGA sphere (hopefully Trump) would come in and reinforce their Gun Credentials and he could make the same sort of retraction but with a big $$$ for him.
“After speaking with Trump’s campaign (insert name drop here) assured me that President (it’s always still president to these folks) Trump is sincere in wanting to preserve out Gun Rights, despite some RINO voices (some insufficiently nuts Republican) wanting otherwise. As such, I’m back to supporting Trump 100% and you can help by GIVING ME MONEY”.
And then spend the next few years talking about how he got Team Trump to double down on 2nd Amendment rights.
But he got nowhere on phase one, phase two ended up being death threats, and phase 3 (Profit!) is now out the window except by returning to the fold, with probably diminished future earnings as a flip-flopper.
As far as I can tell, he was unhappy with Trump’s support of what is known as “Red Flag Laws.” You know, where the man can take your guns away if he they say you’re crazy. Of course, I can see why Kyle would be concerned about such laws being passed.