Man Jailed 37 Days for Single Trump Meme Wins $835,000 Settlement

Larry Bushart, the Tennessee man whose story kicked up a hornets’ nest in online communities of those who care about free speech and fighting back against police overreach, has won a significant settlement in the inevitable civil rights lawsuit that followed his outrageous, 37-day imprisonment by a small town Tennessee sheriff for the high crime of posting a single Donald Trump meme online. The retired police officer–one of the oddest details of this story, considering that cops so infrequently go after other cops–was represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expressions (FIRE), and filed a civil suit in December against Sheriff Nick Weems, Investigator Jason Morrow, and Perry County, Tennessee, for the violation of his constitutional rights to free speech. In order to avoid trial, the parties announced today that Bushart will receive an $835,000 settlement.

“I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,” said Bushart in a statement. “The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy. I am looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family.”

Bushart’s story stands out as one of the most jarring instances of a capricious law enforcement response seen during the second Trump administration, with obvious political overtones. In the immediate wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Larry Bushart–who in his retirement had essentially become a very online left-wing troll–posted memes in various local Facebook groups in Perry County, Tenn., in an attempt to illustrate the clear hypocrisy of Republican responses to gun violence depending on the scenario. One of these memes was a direct quote from Donald Trump, in which Trump stated that “We have to get over it,” the day after a school shooting in the unrelated town of Perry, Iowa. You can see it right here:

The sheriff of Perry County, Tennessee, meanwhile, a man named Nick Weems, made the choice to somehow interpret that meme as a threat of violence against the high school in his own county, and sought a warrant for Bushart’s arrest. Bushart was arrested the very same day that he posted the meme, despite Weems later confirming that he knew the meme was not a reference to their local high school. Instead of simply releasing Bushart and acknowledging that confusion or a mistake had happened, the sheriff doubled down even in the face of local uproar and grassroots activism calling for Bushart’s release, insisting that locals had somehow felt threatened by the meme, even though Weems could produce zero evidence that this was the case. Finally, after 37 days in jail, during which time Bushart lost his job and missed the birth of a grandchild, he was suddenly released without any form of apology. How could a civil rights lawsuit not have been the inevitable result?

“No one should be hauled off to jail in the dark of night over a harmless meme just because the authorities disagree with its message,” said FIRE senior attorney Adam Steinbaugh in a statement. “We’re pleased that Larry has been compensated for this injustice, but local law enforcement never should have forced him to endure this ordeal in the first place.”

Larry Bushart spent 37 *days* in jail for posting memes criticizing Trump and Charlie Kirk.

His arrest was the crest of a wave of censorship after Kirk was killed.

Now a Tennessee county will pay $835,000 to settle his First Amendment lawsuit, filed by FIRE.

www.fire.org/news/victory…

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— Adam Steinbaugh (@adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social) 10:09 AM · May 20, 2026

The case could prove to be a bellwether example of what law enforcement officials are and are not able to get away with in weaponizing the law against citizens critical of the Trump administration during the second term of our Criminal in Chief. Frankly, some of us will likely be disappointed that this one didn’t go to trial, and that Larry Bushart merely accepted a settlement rather than held the feet of the county and its sheriff to the fire on a national stage. The dollar figure, though significant, also feels somewhat small: Does being kidnapped from your home by police over an innocuous Facebook post not deserve at least seven figures? It does sort of feel like the perpetrators were able to wriggle off the hook here for the price of a few new police cruisers. Can we get Bushart a few bucks from Trump’s new $1.8 billion slush fund to award to people who are targeted for “political, personal or ideological reasons,” given that is ironically exactly what happened here?

Still, the result at least demonstrates that legal recourse exists for Americans whose rights are so blatantly violated, and we can only hope that it’s the sort of precedent that will make cases like that of Larry Bushart less likely to happen in the future.

“It’s in times of turmoil and heightened tensions that our national commitment to free speech is tested the most,” said FIRE staff attorney Cary Davis in a statement. “When government officials fail that test, the Constitution exists to hold them accountable. Our hope is that Larry’s settlement sends a message to law enforcement across the country: Respect the First Amendment today, or be prepared to pay the price tomorrow.”