While opening for Jason Aldean last week near Chicago, a fan handed Nate Smith a "Make America Great Again" hat. The "Whiskey On You" singer was moved to tears. In a social media post, Nate Smith described what receiving the hat meant to him and reflected on the week's events.
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He wrote, "This week was one none of us will ever forget. Continue to join me in prayer for the Kirk family. America truly is grieving. However, what I witnessed over the last few days—I've seen a strength in America that moves me to tears. I've seen a boldness and courage, and an unapologetic approach to standing firm on the side of truth. America is alive and well, friends. Let's continue to make it great again."
Fans quickly reacted to the images from the concert and Smith's words. Several days later, he posted a video to explain what this support meant to him.
"The Proudest Moment of My Career"
In the video, Smith thanked fans, saying, "I just wanted to say thank you for all the love on the post that I just posted, you know which post I'm talking about."
Smith continued in the video: "Truthfully, that was the proudest moment of my entire career so far. Not even a question...because being on stage in Chicago, getting handed that hat, being able to put it on, being able to live fully authentic to who I am in front of everybody just felt right, and it felt good and felt free."
"And I'll tell you what, I've never felt more spirit of America, spirit of patriotism in my entire life than I did on that stage. It was unbelievable. And I just want to say thank you for that."
Nate Smith Is Going To Live His "Full, Authentic Self"
Smith went on to discuss how the past week's experiences changed his perspective.
"I also want to say, I don't know why it's been so scary to just be who you are at all times," he said. "Why is it so scary to be like, 'Yep, I voted for Trump.' Cool. 'Yep, I'm a conservative.' Cool. Yep. I think what happened to Charlie Kirk is wrong. And anybody who says that it's okay, you suck. Why is that such a hard thing to say on a public forum? It's not. It's not."
He then added, "So I think everything that happened in the world recently just changed my whole entire perspective, where I'm like, 'I just don't even care anymore.' I'm just going to live my full, authentic self, and I found new fans. I'm so thankful for you guys."
Smith Has Faith in America
Smith closed his video by sharing his vision for America's future.
"I really believe that America is going to come into an incredible moment...where faith is going to just be the big thing," he said. "People are going to come to Jesus in droves. People are going to start figuring out all this crazy stuff."
Smith is one of several country artists who paid tribute to Charlie Kirk this week, including Jason Aldean and Morgan Wallen.
Smith's entire video is below.
