Matt Walsh and these other right-wing empty men who think they're avatars of über-masculinity particularly hate Alex Pretti because he exemplified the virtues they love to extol but are too cowardly to actually embody. They cosplay as trad men by dressing up in campy plaid shirts and sitting in podcast studios with a log cabin aesthetic. Alex Pretti went to the street to fight for causes he believed in, protected and helped others in both how he protested (he was helping two women when ICE grabbed him) and in his work as an ICU nurse. He lived the values they pretend defines them, all while they lack the courage to ever do or risk anything. He's a reminder to them of what they're not: a mirror showing their own fragility. That's why they feel vicariously strong watching ICE agents shoot him in the back and killed him.