mcnutt tx gun rights
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx many no twt</font></div><div><b>Kyle Rittenhouse’s new foundation is run by a Pizzagate conspiracy theorist and a gun extremist who appeared on a white nationalist program</b></div><div><b>The foundation’s leadership has deep financial ties to fracking billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks, who were early donors to PragerU and The Daily Wire</b></div><div>
</div><div>Special PROGRAMS</div><div>GUNS & PUBLIC SAFETY</div><div>
</div><div>WRITTEN BY JOHN KNEFEL</div><div>
</div><div>PUBLISHED 08/21/23 </div><div>
</div><div>A new foundation for Kyle Rittenhouse — who killed two people during an anti-racist protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020 — is run by a far-right gun extremist who once appeared on a white nationalist program, as well as a Christian nationalist who defended the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.</div><div>
</div><div>According to the Texas Tribune, the Rittenhouse Foundation lists two directors in addition to Rittenhouse himself —<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> Texas Gun Rights President Chris McNutt and Defend Texas Liberty PAC treasurer Shelby Griesinger. </span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The foundation’s registered agent is the law firm of Tony McDonald. McDonald’s firm has also represented the conservative organization Empower Texans which — along with Defend Texas Liberty PAC — has received millions of dollars from fossil fuel billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks, who were early funders for conservative media outlets PragerU and The Daily Wire.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Rittenhouse became a celebrity in right-wing media after shooting three people at a Black Lives Matter rally in August 2020, and moved to Texas last year following his acquittal. He has since become increasingly active in state politics, including appearing at a rally with Daniel Miller, who advocates for Texas’ secession from the United States. Rittenhouse’s new foundation appears to be part of an effort to expand his footprint on the right, in which he has surrounded himself with predictably extreme figures. </div><div>
</div><div><b>On May 13, 2021, McNutt appeared on The Stew Peters Show,</b> whose eponymous host had by that time already pushed election denial and Covid-19 conspiracy theories, and called for increased police militancy following the killing of Daunte Wright, a Black man, by Minnesota cop Kimberly Potter, who is white. Just days before McNutt’s appearance, Peters said a guest of his “rightly compared this jab to the Holocaust.” Peters has fully adopted white nationalist, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Most of McNutt’s social media presence is dedicated to celebrating reactionary gun culture, but he also veers into other right-wing topics. Like many conservatives, he opposes the Covid-19 vaccine, and once claimed that Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “is responsible for more deaths than Adolf Hitler.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>Adolf Hitler killed six million Jews and is rightly regarded as a horrible monster. Anthony Fauci intentionally facilitated the creation of a virus that ended up killing 7 million people, yet is STILL regarded as a hero by many on the Left. Summary: Anthony Fauci is responsible for more deaths than Adolf Hitler.</div><div>CitationFrom the Twitter account of Chris McNutt, posted June 20, 2023</div><div>
</div><div>McNutt frequently posts anti-trans, anti-drag, and anti-gay comments, and has advanced a conspiracy theory that Planned Parenthood “targeted … black babies” with the aim of subjugating African American communities. </div><div>
</div><div><b>Griesinger, McNutt’s fellow director, is a young but prominent activist in Texas’ far-right scene. She was profiled as one of the state’s “Under 30 in Politics” by Current Revolt, a media organization the Texas Tribune identifies as “associated with the far right in Texas politics.</b>” In that interview, Griesinger said she “100%” supported then-gubernatorial candidate Don Huffines, who had months earlier referred to migrants crossing the border as an “invasion” and called a state-sponsored resource page for LGBTQ people “offensive.” Just weeks after Griesinger’s Q&A was published, Huffines declined to fire a staffer with deep ties to white nationalists.</div><div>
</div><div>Like McNutt, Griesinger frequently espouses far-right views on Twitter, now known as X. In April, she pushed a conspiracy theory that the CIA was behind the vigilante shooting at Comet Ping Pong, specifically that the agency was attempting to “destroy” a “computer server” at the restaurant. This baseless accusation is an extension of the broader Pizzagate conspiracy theory, a precursor to QAnon. In August, she tweeted a full embrace of Christian nationalism.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Remember when the son of CIA agent “shot up” Comet Ping Pong? And by “shot up” I mean fired one single bullet that just so happened to hit & destroy the computer server that this “restaurant” previously denied even having?…. Yeah…</span>..</div><div>CitationFrom the Twitter account of Shelby Griesinger, posted April 27, 2023</div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Christian Nationalism is good, actually, and should not be controversial for Christians to support.</b></div><div>CitationFrom Shelby Griesinger's Twitter account, posted August 12, 2023</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Also in August, Griesinger retweeted a racist post from James Kirpatrick, the pseudonym of white nationalist writer Kevin DeAnna, a writer at the virulently anti-immigrant website VDare.</span> One month earlier, she’d retweeted a post — quoting tweeting another racist post — that celebrated the deaths of asylum seekers in the Mediterranean Sea (the original post was later deleted by the author and the account was suspended). </div><div>
</div><div>Griesinger engages in bigoted rhetoric under her own name as well. She tweeted that “Jews & Muslims worship a false god,” and encouraged her followers to be “okay with saying ‘I have a problem with my child’s teacher being gay.’” She argued in favor of laws to restrict abortion rights despite their unpopularity, analogizing anti-abortion activists with the abolitionist movement. “Ending slavery wasn’t a winning issue,” Griesinger tweeted. “Most of Germany supported Hitler.” </div><div>
</div><div><b>Like McNutt, Griesinger advanced the conspiracy theory that the goal of abortion providers is “exterminating the black race.” </b>She denied that structural racism plays a role in community violence, arguing instead that “black people are disproportionately shooting each other” absent any other political context.</div><div>
</div><div>According to the Texas Tribune, The Rittenhouse Foundation “ensures the Second Amendment is preserved through education and legal assistance.” The specifics of what that looks like remains to be seen, but the foundation may not be especially transparent. <b>Several hours after the Texas Tribune report, Griesinger temporarily locked her Twitter account.</b></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/rittenhouse-texas/">https://www.alternet.org/rittenhouse-texas/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kyle Rittenhouse launches nonprofit with far-right Texans as he ramps up political engagement in the state</font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div><b>Kyle Rittenhouse speaking at the 2021 AmericaFest</b> at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. (Gage Skidmore)</div><div>
</div><div>Robert DownenandThe <b>Texas Tribune</b> August 16, 2023</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kyle Rittenhouse, the right-wing activist who was famously acquitted of killing two Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, is stepping up his involvement in Texas politics.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Already this year, he’s rallied with a Texas secessionist movement leader, endorsed ultraconservative midterm candidates, and railed against Texas gun control legislation and the <b>impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton.</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Now, Rittenhouse is creating a nonprofit in the state — with help from well-connected, far-right political actors.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a July 23 filing with the Texas secretary of state’s office, he described “The Rittenhouse Foundation” as a nonprofit that “protects human and civil rights secured by law, including an individual’s inalienable right to bear arms” and “ensures the Second Amendment is preserved through education and legal assistance.”</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The foundation’s directors are Rittenhouse, Texas Gun Rights President Chris McNutt and Shelby Griesinger, treasurer for Defend Texas Liberty PAC, a key financier of far-right candidates in the state. The foundation’s registered agent is the <b>law firm of Tony McDonald, who has for years represented Empower Texans a</b>nd other deep-red organizations.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Defend Texas Liberty and Empower Texans have received tens of millions of dollars from a trio of West Texas oil tycoons — Tim Dunn and brothers Farris and Dan Wilks — who have for decades funded campaigns, nonprofits and movements to promote their ultraconservative religious and social views.</span></div><div>
</div><div>McDonald declined an interview request Tuesday. Other foundation officials could not be reached for comment.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Rittenhouse moved to Texas last year after being acquitted of homicide charges in the fatal shooting of two people at a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He’s since steadily ramped up his political involvement in Texas, often railing against the media, “cancel culture” and gun control groups.</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In January, Rittenhouse appeared at a Conroe “rally against censorship” with Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, which advocates for Texas to secede from the United States. The event drew national media attention after a Conroe brewery said it was inundated with threats and harassment after pulling out as the event’s host venue.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In May, Rittenhouse joined Texas Gun Rights in opposing a House bill that would have raised the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. And he’s been active on social media, condemning the Texas House impeachment of Paxton and endorsing pro-Second Amendment, ultraconservative candidates who were also backed by groups affiliated with Dunn and the Wilks brothers.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Rittenhouse has endorsed Andy Hopper, a primary challenger to state Rep. Lynn Stucky</b>, R-Denton. Hopper, who came close to unseating Stucky in a runoff in 2022, had the support of Defend Texas Liberty in that primary and is expected to have it again.</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rittenhouse more recently backed Brandon Herrera, a gun rights activist and YouTube star known as “The AK Guy” who is running against U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio.</span> <b>Gonzales represents the district where the 2022 Uvalde school shooting took place</b>,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> and he was the only Texas Republican in the U.S. House to vote for a bipartisan gun law afterward.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Last year, Rittenhouse announced plans to attend Texas A&M University, only to walk back the claim after the university said he had not been accepted. Rittenhouse, an Illinois native, later said he planned to attend Blinn College, a two-year school in Brenham. It’s unclear if Rittenhouse is attending the school, which said he had not enrolled in classes after he announced his intention to go there.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rittenhouse’s foray into Texas politics comes as Republicans continue efforts to reach out to younger Americans who are increasingly supportive of liberal policies. On Monday, The Texas Tribune reported on a new company, Influenceable, with ties to Dunn that has been quietly recruiting Gen Z social media influencers to do undisclosed political promotions.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Patrick Svitek contributed reporting.</div><div>
</div><div>The full program is now LIVE for the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 21-23 in Austin. Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations coming to TribFest. Panel topics include the biggest 2024 races and what’s ahead, how big cities in Texas and around the country are changing, the integrity of upcoming elections and so much more. See the full program.</div><div>
</div><div>This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/16/kyle-rittenhouse-texas-foundation/.</div><div>
</div><div>The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.</div><div>
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