Donald Trump Jr has uploaded a bizarre picture to Instagram showing his father presenting Kyle Rittenhouse with a medal.
The photoshopped image shows Trump awarding Rittenhouse the Presidential Medal of Freedom along with the caption: “2024??? Who knows?”.
Trump’s Instagram post follows his father, the former president, sending a congratulatory message to the 18-year-old upon his acquittal.
Rittenhouse has been in the media spotlight after being cleared of all five charges in his homicide trial after fatally shooting two men and wounding another at an anti-racism protest last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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The verdict has sparked protests across the US, as well as debate over the laws that allow civilians to carry arms.
The comment section of the picture discussed the pair in the picture, with some writing messages such as: “Praying for an amazing Trump 2024” along with a praying and heart emoji.
However, others criticised how some are looking up to Rittenhouse. User @Thejacka_lope wrote: “I’d be careful of putting this kid on too high a pedestal. Just because he was innocent doesn’t make him a leader in any sort of conservative movement.”
One comment with 103 likes reads: “Use this button as Kyle for vice president 2024.”
Comments on the post are “limited”, so naturally, no genuine opposing opinions can be seen in Trump’s echo chamber of a comment section.
Some instead took to Twitter to share their feelings on the image:
@DonaldJTrumpJr - pic.twitter.com/Y6KckLrvLr
— Kristen (@kcsundevil91) November 23, 2021
Omg!!! Nauseating!
— Jim Ferguson (@ferg75005009) November 23, 2021
— CallaLilly33 (@CLilly33) November 23, 2021
despicable 🤮
— Blondella (@STEPHAN25920975) November 23, 2021
There is disgusting and then there is Donald Trump Jr. https://t.co/EFKtH3bf5n
— Karen Folkerts (@FolkiKaren) November 22, 2021
Rittenhouse’s acquittal was cheered on by many on the right, but Rittenhouse confused conservatives when he told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he supports Black Lives Matter.
He said: “This case has nothing to do with race. It never had anything to do with race. It had to do with the right to self defence.
“I’m not a racist person. I support the BLM. I support peacefully protesting. âI believe there needs to be change. I believe there’s a lot of prospect to a misconduct - not just in my case but in a lot of cases.”
This isn’t the first time Donald Trump Jr has posted a weird picture to Instagram to comment on the Rittenhouse case.
Three days ago he posted a picture of Rittenhouse, whose face is seemingly photoshopped onto a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio raising a glass in The Great Gatsby, surrounded by various figures such as CNN host Anderson Cooper and Democratic politicians Biden, Clinton, and Obama.
He also uploaded a picture referencing mail-in verdicts in an apparent nod to his father’s previous mail-in voting controversy that mired the 2020 presidential elections.
His posts are not limited to just Rittenhouse. He’s previously posted cringy takes on everything from Let’s Go Brandon to the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.
He’s even posted a photoshop of his dad’s profile in the Bat-Signal.
All we’re saying is that if someone were to confiscate Donald Jr’s phone, that would be excellent.
