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‘Political prisoner’ jailed for posting Charlie Kirk meme speaks out.Larry Bushart is a quintessential good ole southern boy.In the 1980s, he drove a ‘79 Pontiac Sunbird fitted with Ronald Reagan and George H.W.Bush bumper stickers.But as a self-identified “FDR Democrat” today, Bushart describes that time in his life as being a young guy who just “didn’t know how to vote.” Forty years later, Bushart—now a retired police officer living in Tennessee—found himself on the other side of a jail cell and in the midst of a political firestorm that immediately followed the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.Bushart shared on social media a meme quoting President Donald Trump saying “we have to get over it” about a school shooting in Perry, Iowa, in which a child and an administrator were killed.After Kirk’s murder, Bushart posted the meme in a Perry, Tennessee, community Facebook group, and locals took the meme as a threat to their local high school.As a result, Bushart spent 37 days in jail.“I was caught off guard being arrested,” Bushart told Daily Kos in a Zoom conversation Thursday.“My own lawyer, who was a Republican, said ‘you were a political prisoner.’” Bushart’s wife, Leanne, said they were getting ready for bed when the police showed up at their door.When Larry asked who it was, Leanne joked, “It’s probably the police coming after you.” With the help of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Bushart won his First Amendment lawsuit earlier this week and was awarded $835,000.After the dust settled, Bushart—the father of a young attorney and biomedical engineer—speculated that “these idiots” were accustomed to getting away with what he called “law enforcement overreach.” But Bushart isn’t the only one who’s been targeted by such overreach.Across the country, people who voiced their opposition to Kirk were losing their jobs and being doxxed at lightning speed.Related | Apparently, the Washington Post can’t stomach calling out Kirk’s racism Following Kirk’s death, Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik declared on X, “THIS IS WAR,” and dedicated herself to exposing anyone who expressed anti-Kirk sentiments on social media.“It’s actually terrifying how many of them are teachers, doctors, and military members,” the official Libs of TikTok X account wrote.“We need a massive purge of these evil psychos who want to kiII all of us for simply having opposing political views.” Similarly, Vice President JD Vance called for anyone expressing their distaste for Kirk to lose their jobs.The firings came, and so did Bushart’s arrest.“They did not intend for me to be released when I was,” Bushart told Daily Kos.But following a massive public outcry, he walked free 37 days later.And while Bushart says that he wants to return to a life of “normalcy and anonymity,” he’s accepted that he’s stuck in the political spotlight for now.But when all this blows over, Bushart told Daily Kos, he might consider picking up a hobby outside of Facebook.