The far-right is calling for Kyle Rittenhouse to run for president, and extremism experts warn his acquittal may offer a 'blank check' for racial violence

• After Kyle Rittenhouse's acquittal, some far-right forum users said he should run for president.
• Rittenhouse is being viewed as a martyr to many on such forums.

A Wisconsin jury cleared Kyle Rittenhouse of all five of his charges in his Kenosha homicide trial on Friday afternoon. Rittenhouse went on trial after he fatally shot two people and injured another person during a period of protests in Kenosha in August 2020, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Members of far-right forums known for racist and white supremacist rhetoric swiftly celebrated Rittenhouse's acquittal, with many even suggesting that the 18-year-old should run for president in the future.

For many on the right, Rittenhouse's acquittal represents a victory for gun rights, as they believe he was acting in self-defense against Black Lives Matter protesters. Fox News host Tucker Carlson, among many other conservatives, has defended Rittenhouse's actions. "How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would," he said in August 2020.

Alex Newhouse, deputy director at the Middlebury Institute's Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, warned that the jury's decision could lead to an uptick in racial violence and offer a "blank check" for extremists.

"Rittenhouse's acquittal has already been adopted as a justification for future violence," Newhouse told Insider. "Many see it as a blank check to use violence at leftist protests, others see it as a spark in a coming civil or race war."

Rittenhouse's charges included first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, and two charges of reckless endangerment. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and took the stand to testify that he fatally shot the two men — Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber — out of self-defense on the evening of August 25, 2020, in Kenosha.

Rittenhouse had traveled from Illinois to Kenosha with an illegally purchased firearm to act as a vigilante during the protests after the shooting of Blake, a Black man.

Users on far-right forums said Rittenhouse 'will live on in glory'

The top 18 posts of one fringe forum on Friday afternoon were all positive reactions to Rittenhouse's acquittal, with the top threads amassing more than 2,500 likes each.

One top post on the forum featured a two-and-a-half-minute homemade song in support of Rittenhouse called "Ballad of the Kenosha Kid." The lyrics contain a transphobic slur and lines about how Rittenhouse carried "an AR on his sleeve."

Many users have suggested in comments that Rittenhouse should sue "the media" for its coverage of the incident and Rittenhouse's trial while one person wrote that his name "will live on in glory." Commenters on the forum said that Rittenhouse didn't deserve to go to court in the first place and applauded him for getting through the trial and "everything he has been through."

Others on that same fringe forum, as well as the social media platform Gab, which is popular on the right, have called on Rittenhouse to run for president, writing comments like "#KyleForPresident" and "Rittenhouse 2028." Rittenhouse, who is 18, would not be eligible to run for president until 2040.

Many users on a popular Telegram channel with over 425,000 followers created by the prominent conspiracy theorist Ron Watkins, who is linked to the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, also praised the jury's decision and encouraged shooting "rioters."

Experts believe the acquittal could lead to violence

Extremism experts said they're concerned that the jury's decision to acquit Rittenhouse could promote dangerous vigilantism and street violence in the future.

Newhouse said he's observed many on the right remarking about "going out on the streets of Kenosha with rifles loaded for the purpose of gunfights," with others celebrating the acquittal as "a win for vigilantism and anti-leftist violence."

Joan Donovan, the research director of Harvard's Shorenstein Center, said in a tweet that she believes the verdict will lead to "a serious increase in street violence," vigilantism, and political violence.

Insider found numerous posts on a fringe forum calling Rittenhouse "Saint Kyle of Kenosha" with a picture of Rittenhouse's face plastered over an image of a saint.

Newhouse said that he's "already seen signs" that Rittenhouse is being integrated into far-right narratives, with people calling him "Saint Kyle."

Newhouse said this echoes how extremists have martyrized far-right terrorists in the past, such as Brenton Tarrant and Patrick Crusius. Tarrant livestreamed as he killed 51 people and injured 49 others in two mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019. A day before the shooting, he posted a racist manifesto titled "The Great Replacement" that spread online. Later that year, Crusius killed 19 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and a similar manifesto which investigators believed was authored by Crusius spread online, according to the Washington Post.

Congressional Republicans like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz have shown support for Rittenhouse. Gaetz said in an interview with Newsmax on Wednesday that he thought Rittenhouse would "probably make a pretty good congressional intern."