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Norms Impact

Tennessee man has charges are dropped over Trump meme relating to Charlie Kirk vigil

Law enforcement jailed a man over a meme and openly suggested deletion would have prevented arrest—conditioning freedom on speech compliance instead of evidence of a true threat.

Judiciary

Oct 30, 2025

Sources

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/larry-bushart-charlie-kirk-meme-charges-b2855116.html

Summary

Authorities in Perry County, Tennessee dropped charges against Larry Bushart after he spent more than a month jailed over a Facebook meme tied to a Charlie Kirk vigil. Law enforcement publicly acknowledged they understood the meme was not about a school shooting but acted in response to community anxiety and a demand for deletion. The result was pretrial punishment—job loss and incarceration—triggered by speech and conditioned on compliance with an unofficial takedown request.

Reality Check

The threat here is state power being used to punish and chill speech first, then rationalized later—an approach that erodes our First Amendment protections and normalizes detention as leverage for compliance. On the facts provided, criminal liability is doubtful because a “true threat” is required, and officials conceded they knew the meme was not about a school shooting, pointing instead to “community anxiety” and a desire to quell hysteria. The conduct most directly implicates constitutional violations—retaliation for protected speech and coercive takedown pressure—rather than a clean fit under federal threat statutes like 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) or 18 U.S.C. § 1038 when officials themselves acknowledge the lack of a real threat target. When a sheriff says arrest would have been avoided if speech were deleted, we are watching due process and viewpoint neutrality give way to an unofficial censor’s veto backed by handcuffs.

Detail

Larry Bushart, 61, of Lexington, Tennessee, was booked into jail on September 21 after posting a Facebook meme quoting President Donald Trump’s response to a 2024 school shooting in Perry, Iowa (“We have to get over it”), captioned “This seems relevant today,” in the context of a vigil Bushart organized after Charlie Kirk’s death.

Some community members interpreted the post as a threat to a local school, Perry County High School. Bushart was arrested and charged with making threats of mass violence on school property and activities. Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems told The Tennessean that investigators believed Bushart intended to create fear; however, Weems later told NewsChannel 5 the charges were dropped, stating this occurred about 15 minutes before his Wednesday comments.

In a televised interview, Weems acknowledged investigators knew the meme was not about a school shooting but were responding to community anxiety. NewsChannel 5 also obtained footage of a Lexington officer telling Bushart he did not know what police were referring to regarding the post. Weems later said Bushart would not have been arrested if he agreed to delete the meme. Bushart reportedly lost his medical-transport job during his incarceration.