Anti-Christian extremism linked to alleged plot against Erika Kirk

FIRST ON FOX: A dangerous dynamic of anti-Christian extremism and “assassination culture” may have fueled the latest attempt to kill Erika Kirk, widow of conservative leader Charlie Kirk, as threats against public officials and figures rise to historic levels, a new report finds.

In late May, Bexar County charged Jacob Wenske, 26, with a third-degree felony count of making a terroristic threat involving fear of serious bodily injury or public nuisance for a plot to bomb a Turning Point event in the United States where Kirk was the keynote speaker.

In an email to TPUSA, Wenske said he targeted Kirk, other event speakers and so-called “Christian nationalists,” according to the arrest warrant.

Wenske, who worked as a valet driver, also posted several threatening messages. social mediaaccording to your order.

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Wenske’s arrest comes amid a record number of threats against political figures and members of Congress. The U.S. Capitol Police Threat Assessment Division showed a 58% increase in threats against members of Congress from 2024 to 2025, with threats overall nearly doubling since 2020.

The Network Infection Research Institute, a research laboratory that studies how radical ideologies spread across digital networks and social media, analyzed threats against Kirk to assess the level of danger and how the “permission structure” plays a role in posing the threat.

“What we are seeing is a massive influx of foreign malign influence, particularly through social media, that is really shaping the Western world right now,” Travis Hawley, cyber threat and open source intelligence analyst at the Network Contagion Research Institute, told Fox News Digital. “What you might call our digital diet really shapes how people see ourselves, our values, our country, and even our history.”

ICE agents use chemical irritants during clashes with agitators outside the federal immigration center at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday. (Adam Gray/Getty Images)

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“And there are many countries, organizations, and wealthy individuals, whether [Neville Roy] “Singham in China is really pushing the scales or tipping the scales, trying to push and accelerate us towards violence, even a dystopian environment and civil unrest,” Hawley added. “That’s really alarming and really shows what a weakness democracy actually has if it’s not protected.”

Kirk’s targeting comes nine months after the murder of her husband, who was shot during an event at Utah Valley University.

FBI Director Kash Patel said Kirk’s alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, confessed to the murder on Discord, a chat room platform that members of Congress have criticized for radicalizing users.

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In the case of Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pro-Mangione demonstrators regularly go to the courthouse to support him, and legal funds for Mangione have raised more than $1.5 million.

Luigi Mangione arrives for an evidence suppression hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court in New York City on May 18, 2026. (Jeenah Moon/Reuters)

New study obtained by Fox News Digital shows that the “consent structure” plays a role in supporting the idea that murder is justified.

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The consent structure gives individuals an excuse to commit an action that would otherwise be unacceptable, such as murder, assassination, or political violence.

In 2025, a survey by the Network Contagion Research Institute found that 1,264 U.S. adults, or 38% of people surveyed, thought killing President Donald Trump was “somewhat justified,” and that figure rose to nearly 55% among those who identified as left of center.

Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, speaks during his “American Comeback Tour” at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 10, 2025. (Trent Nelson/Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)

In a post on X, Charlie Kirk blamed “leftist protest culture” for the increase in political violence, citing the study. He was assassinated 153 days later.

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Hawley also told Fox News Digital that allegations of malicious outside influence in protest and agitator networks play a role in fueling radicalized beliefs. Hawley said the far-left network fuels an anti-Western ideology that aligns with the propaganda messages of America’s enemies.

“The motivation of our enemies to push Marxist ideology, Islamist ideology, Marxist ideology, socialists, whatever you call it, anything that is anti-Western, anti-democratic, anti-capitalist is to defeat us from within,” Hawley explained.

He also noted that malicious actors can easily use social media platforms to quickly mobilize pro-communist, anti-Western agitators.

CodePink, the People’s Forum and the Party of Socialism and Liberation are part of a network that organizes protests, messages, rallies and other symbols of support for the Communist Party of Cuba. (X/CodePink, X/People’s Forum, X/Socialism and Liberation Party)

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An investigation by Fox News Digital has found that US tech mogul and Shanghai resident Neville Roy Singham funneled $278 million to non-profit organizations that promote Chinese Communist Party propaganda in nationwide protests, often targeting US leaders and public figures like the Kirks.

“These protests, these riots, whether it’s against the government, against ICE, against the military, against the war, it seems like they’re getting more and more bubbling,” Hawley told Fox News Digital. “We live in a time when it is abundantly clear that our ability to protect our country depends on understanding how much of the civil unrest we have experienced in recent years is actually organic.”