Honestly speaking, with how unhinged some of these people are it was only a matter if time.
What's surprising to me is how cavalier many of these online personalities seem to be, when the consequences of speaking openly like they do can be any whacko tuning in and then developing a grudge.
If you read about the early voices of America, they were mostly in the parlors, pubs, churches and newspapers but even then, the majority of people probably all knew each other in real life, interacted, and were rooted in reality. Whereas now there is this whole segment of society (left, right, center) that is terminally online, forming worldview and ideology from very biased and inflammatory sources.
Basically it's a catch 22: a young man like Nick who has the time to sit around and research, think through and then share his ideas has a fundamentally different view of the world than someone who marries young and is working to support a family. Neither one is necessarily superior, and both are changing society in their own way, but one is more likely to draw the ire of internet weirdos for speaking his mind publicly.
Should he be allowed to speak freely, without fear of physical attack? Yes.
However, that's just not the society we live on anymore, sad to say.