FIRST ON FOX: A new report reveals that a dangerous dynamic of anti-Christian extremism and "assassination culture" could have fueled the recent attempt to kill conservative leader Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk, as threats against public officials and figures rise to historic levels.In late May, Bexar County charged Jacob Wenske, 26, with a third-degree felony count of making a terroristic threat involving public fear of serious bodily injury or public disruption for his alleged plan to bomb a Turning Point USA event where Kirk was the keynote speaker. In an email to TPUSA, Wenske said he was targeting Kirk, other event speakers and so-called "Christian nationalists," according to an arrest warrant.Wenske, who worked as a valet driver, also posted multiple threats on social media, according to the warrant.TEXAS MAN ALLEGEDLY THREATENED TO BOMB TURNING POINT USA EVENT AND KILL CEO ERIKA KIRK IN ONLINE POSTSTurning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk speaks out against political violence in America in December 2025.(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)Wenske's arrest emerged amid a record number of threats against political figures and members of Congress.
The U.S.Capitol Police Threat Assessment Section showed a 58% increase in threats against members of Congress from 2024 to 2025, and threats overall have nearly doubled since 2020. The Network Contagion Research Institute, a research lab that studies how radical ideologies spread across digital networks and social media, analyzed the threats against Kirk to assess the level of danger and how "permission structure" plays a role in originating the threat."What we're seeing is a massive influx of foreign malign influence that is truly shaping the Western world right now, particularly through social media," Travis Hawley, cyber threat and open-source intelligence analyst at the Network Contagion Research Institute, told Fox News Digital.
"What you could call our digital diet is really shaping how people see ourselves, our va...