Kyle Rittenhouse, the right-wing figure best known for killing two men during a 2020 protest in Wisconsin, was dogpiled online Wednesday after suggesting he might travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota amid the ongoing anti-ICE protests, and bearing a military-grade minigun.
“Thinking of taking this to Minneapolis,” Rittenhouse wrote Tuesday evening in a social media post on X, alongside a photo of himself standing next to a High Ground Defense M134 Minigun, a fully-automatic firearm that can discharge up to 6,000 rounds per minute. “Thoughts?”
Instead of praise, however, Rittenhouse was hit with scorn, with online critics mocking the 23-year old over what some described as his attempt to be intimidating.
“Bro, you're about as intimidating as a wet napkin,” wrote geneticist Ian Copeland, a podcast host with more than 30,000 followers on X.
“Kyle, haven't you gotten yourself in enough trouble?” asked X user “Desiree,” a political commentator who’s amassed more than 214,000 followers.
In August of 2020, Rittenhouse shot three men – killing two and seriously injuring a third – in Kenosha, Wisconsin during unrest in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, having traveled to the state from Illinois with an AR-15 rifle in order to "protect people.” Rittenhouse would later be charged with homicide, but was found by a jury to be not guilty on all charges.
In the wake of the incident, Rittenhouse has gone on to become a fixture in right-wing circles, appearing on right-wing networks, speaking at right-wing events and meeting with President Donald Trump.
His new suggestion that he might travel to Minneapolis armed with a fully-automatic weapon, however, was met with scorn even by former MAGA supporters, including Nick Stelzner, a political commentator who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 and has amassed more than 7,000 followers on X.
“I used to feel sorry for this kid,” Stelzner wrote in a social media post on X Tuesday night. “Now he's just a useful idiot for MAGA.”
Bro, you're about as intimidating as a wet napkin...
— Ian Copeland, PhD (@IanCopeland5) January 21, 2026