As Americans vented, grieved and, in some cases, justified the killing of Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers over the weekend, they turned, as they often do, to social media.

In the hours after the shooting, as the Trump administration rushed to push a narrative that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” who possessed a weapon and an intent to cause harm, the name Kyle Rittenhouse began to circulate online.

A young man who arrived armed with an AR-15-style rifle to defend a local business during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, Rittenhouse was once a symbol of patriotism and Second Amendment rights for many on the right. Some of his supporters, among them President Donald Trump, helped fund his legal defense when he was brought up on — and later found not guilty of — charges of intentional homicide for shooting three protesters and killing two.

After the killing of Pretti, Rittenhouse has become a prism through which observers across the political spectrum are filtering the actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis.

Remember when this guy didn’t get shot by federal “officers”? #kylerittenhouse pic.twitter.com/GX5bPyseCc

— Patrick M Fox (@patrickmfox) January 25, 2026

Left Calls Out MAGA for Hypocrisy in Pretti’s Killing

For those on the left, Rittenhouse is a figure who highlights what they believe is a staggering display of hypocrisy by MAGA conservatives and administration officials who have tried to paint Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, as a violent activist on the streets of Minneapolis.

Some liberals have posted images of Rittenhouse gripping a rifle as a pointed reminder that conservatives, not that long ago, once forcefully defended the right to bear arms on the streets of America. Pretti was carrying a 9 mm handgun, according to federal officials, when he entered a zone of civil unrest.

“Kyle Rittenhouse showed up to a protest like this and Republicans called him a hero,” Isaiah Martin, a former Democratic candidate for Congress in Texas, wrote on the social platform X on Saturday.

Right: ‘Be Like Kyle’

For many on the right, the simple fact that Pretti had a weapon in his possession justified the actions of the federal agents, who fired at least 10 shots at Pretti in five seconds after appearing to have disarmed him. (Officials with the Minneapolis Police Department have said Pretti had a permit to carry a weapon.)

To support their line of thinking, conservatives have also invoked Rittenhouse, citing his actions as an example of what do during an encounter with law enforcement officers.

“Be Like Kyle,” read one post, accompanied by another image of Rittenhouse from 2020, shown with his hands in the air as he surrendered to law enforcement officers. (This surrender came after Rittenhouse shot the three protesters on the street.)

On X, MAGA influencers like Matt Walsh, a right-wing pundit who championed Rittenhouse in 2020, and Jack Posobiec, a pro-Trump loyalist, once again held up Rittenhouse’s actions as an example of how, in their view, people should interact with officers.

“Do not fight with police while armed,” Posobiec wrote in post Monday.

Walsh argued that Pretti was an “armed leftist, who had set out to “deliberately interfere” with federal agents, unlike Rittenhouse, who he said was working in tandem with law enforcement officers.

Dem Leaders Weigh In on Rittenhouse-Pretti Comparison

Elected Democrats have also brought Rittenhouse into the conversation about Pretti.

In a widely shared clip taken from her appearance on Jake Tapper’s CNN show this past weekend, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., referred to Rittenhouse as she inveighed against Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who called Pretti a “domestic terrorist.”

Noem’s comment, Ocasio-Cortez said, was “rich” in irony coming from “the same party and administration that praises Kyle Rittenhouse.”

On Facebook, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, also invoked Rittenhouse, describing him as an “armed vigilante” who was once labeled a “hero by Trump and Far-Right extremists.”

Earlier Monday, Rittenhouse, now 23, weighed in on his newfound status as a liberal cudgel. In a post on X, he accused Jeffries of using his name “as rage bait” to “stoke the flames.”

Rittenhouse did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article.

It’s clear that Democrats, and their supporters, are reveling in the right’s apparent inconsistencies. One administration official who has become a subject of left-wing scorn is Kash Patel, the director of the FBI. A former podcaster and right-wing activist, Patel was a vocal supporter of Rittenhouse who celebrated his acquittal as a “victory for the Second Amendment.”

Those remarks offered yet another split-screen for social media feeds when, this week, Patel asserted that protesters were not necessarily guaranteed the right to bear arms.

“You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want — it’s that simple,” Patel said during an interview with Fox News. “You don’t have a right to break the law.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Nathan Taylor Pemberton/

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