I Exercised My First Amendment Rights. Then The Secret Service Showed Up.

I acknowledge that the statements shared by the Mangionistas on May 18th were not unanimously well received. And while I recognize that rage baiting the press may be an effective strategy in gaining a bombastic amount of coverage in one month, it is not my method of advocacy in this case or for my activism outside of it. I will remain focused on the relevant societal issues at hand. AI is increasingly being used to surveil us, no one should be profiting off of deaths by denials, and the cost of living continues to rise in an insurmountable way.

Moving forward, I will be conducting myself as an individual and would like to make it clear that I speak solely for myself, not on behalf of anyone else. And similarly, no one else’s statements should be taken as a representation of my own thoughts.

I’d like to begin with the Second Amendment, and my statements on its intended use. The fight to block legislation that would make it harder to access firearms has been championed by the right, no matter how much they’d like to claim they are the less violent side. In Charlie Kirk’s words:

It is interesting to me that Kirk was not just permitted, but expected to make inflammatory political statements without these being construed as criminal threats. I believe this same standard should apply to everyone, not just the right. And thus, my reiteration of the purpose of the Second Amendment should be taken in the same way.

It is not my opinion, but an actual fact, that the Second Amendment was not written so that disgruntled people could kill innocent school-goers en-masse to send a message. It was, in its inception, understood as a tool to stop the federal government from disarming its citizens and, thus, preventing tyranny from taking over. Tyranny is defined as:

“a form of government or rule where absolute power is held by a single individual or a small group, exercised in an unjust, cruel, or oppressive manner. It is characterized by unchecked authority, the absence of constitutional limits, and the suppression of individual rights.”

And there is no doubt in my mind that many Americans believe we have already met this threshold.

I am not pro-violence, and would prefer our democracy worked; allowing for our voices to be heard and legislation changes to reflect that. This is the reason why I work to create content for politicians with my organization, Hot Girls for Jersey; I want to believe these representatives can change the system from within. While most of the politicians/candidates I work with operate at a local level, my concern is that we are not currently being represented at the federal scale.

There is no doubt in my mind that a small group of people is currently exercising its power in a cruel and oppressive manner. And this is blatantly going unchecked, while our constitutional rights are being diminished and our individual rights dissipate right before our eyes. So I don’t think it’s outlandish to state that if we are going to fight to keep the Second Amendment, we should only be wielding firearms for the purpose our founding fathers had when they wrote up the constitution, not to shoot innocent children simply trying to graduate from elementary school in one piece.

From mere observation, I already knew how under attack First Amendment rights were. In one of my first substack pieces, I wrote:

“It is clear that the government is utilizing this task force (FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force)—and whatever other resources it can mobilize—to intimidate those who they deem dissenters–even just those that dissent with their use of free speech or protest. They have even blatantly stated they are looking for ways to legally deport citizens. I can’t help but wonder: how will they operate when the fine-line between dissenting and exercising one’s constitutional rights becomes more and more blurred? Will those that believe in the constitution–even those who may have voted for the current admin–be labeled terrorists for even attempting to uphold our fundamental rights?”

It’s been fascinating to see my questions being answered in real time. I’ve noticed the same people who are currently under attack—the press—perpetuating a narrative against me, all because the billionaires who own them don’t agree with my opinions. It’s also been compelling to watch how the same people who yell “comedy is illegal!” when their free speech comes under fire—the right—were the same ones jumping to suppress my voice and demand my access be revoked.

My first statement which came under fire was in regards to the White House’s Counterterrorism Strategy document, published in early May of 2026. I maintain that no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on, this should be alarming to you. The document (which I recommend you read in full as it is not long or challenging to understand) states that Americans that are radically pro-transgender or anti-fascist should be considered “violent left-wing extremists,” and that the administration “Will Find You and Will Kill You.”

Because the alleged killer of Kirk appeared to partake in transgender subcultures, their justification seems to be that anyone that is pro-transgender should suffer the consequences of his killing. It has also been suggested that Tyler Robinson was allegedly deeply entrenched in right-wing subcultures, so the White House’s attempt to solely dump blame on one of the most persecuted groups of people in our country right now, is, in my opinion, blatant propaganda.

The Trump administration is able to utilize just one instance of violence towards Kirk to feel justified in not just threatening, but guaranteeing the use of federal violence against leftist Americans (note the use of the word will and not can.) In a reversal of the POTUS’ own words, I stated that if the White House can threaten its citizens by general association like that, “then we should be able to SAY” that we want the POTUS to meet his end in a violent manner as well.

It was not an encouragement of violence, but a commentary on how the White House continues to abuse its access to the First Amendment, while making sure we do not have the same individual freedoms. Despite it being obvious hyperbole, some tried to paint my comparison as an actionable threat to the President, which is ridiculous, especially when you get the full context. But when the average person reads a headline and runs with it with little to no room for critical thought left, I have, sadly, zero expectation for them to go looking for said context.

Despite the fact that I’ve never owned weapons or had any run-ins with the law, the White House decided to waste their time and taxpayer money by sending the Secret Service to my house, to intimidate me into “answering some questions about my threatening statements.” They admitted that my statements were low on their list of concerns, yet they sent four officers (2 Secret Service officers and 2 police officers) to my house, around my neighborhood, and spammed my family and I with calls until my lawyer contacted them and stressed my rights.

Many will see their appearance at my house as proof that my statements were not protected free speech. But this is untrue, and their lack of recourse to take action against me should be proof that the White House is, in fact, using anything at their disposal to intimidate citizens they deem out of line.

The Secret Service have since left me alone, but these intimidation tactics are becoming more frequent (the Government recently subpoenaed SMS sites for data on users who expressed criticism of immigration tactics), which should be a concern to every citizen worried about the erosion of free speech. Though Kirk’s statements often quite blatantly fanned the flame of violence towards marginalized groups, he was not only never pressured by the Secret Service (that I know of), but also made extensive use of his platform to push his agenda.

Only advocates, activists, and journalists backed by the right are allowed to use inflammatory language or have any sort of bias, it seems, as there is no mention of right-wing extremism in the White House’s document.

I’m sure by now everyone has seen the constitutional debate sparked by my access to a press badge, which is both ridiculous and predictable at the same time. I’ve spoken at length about my lifetime within the media sphere. Since my childhood, I’ve been a vehicle for the people to project onto and expect statements from, until it’s convenient to blow me off and say I don’t represent anyone or have anything to contribute to a political narrative. Despite this, I’ve seen success in my political comms work as Hot Girls for Jersey.

Even Mamdani, someone who I used my 10+ years of experience in the media field to help get elected, decided I wasn’t worthy of being in the journalism and press debate. For a Mayor that probably wouldn’t have been elected without having screamed “do you believe in the First Amendment, Tom Homan?” I was extremely disappointed by his immediate dismissal of my own First Amendment rights.

Since Mamdani brought up the debate, I’d like to add my two cents to it. It is no secret that the public has become increasingly distrustful of MSM, instead turning to influencers, podcasters, and personalities. If you won’t believe me when I say MSM is compromised, take it from industry professionals themselves. Just yesterday, former 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley detailed his experience with Bari Weiss’ takeover, as she rejected his reports on the shooting of Renee Good. Though he says it was obvious that Good’s tires were turned away from the officers, Weiss insisted that he use language that described her car as moving towards the officers.

He was, ultimately, fired from 60 Minutes. In his farewell, he stated:

“‘new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story,’ and claimed politicians had been allowed to choose correspondents for interviews.”

Still think that’s unbiased journalism and not propaganda? Then look no further than your own habits to decide whether the media is compromised: do conservatives watch Fox News because it’s convenient, or is it because they know which bias to expect from them? Do liberals watch CNN because they love Anderson Cooper, or because it espouses the narratives they believe in? Do leftists watch Hasan Piker because he’s smart, or because he’s not afraid to expose both parties, in a manner that is influenced by his socialist ideologies? Is any of that considered “unbiased journalism”? Or is that not the push of propaganda, on any side?

So, to the public, the Luigi community, and Mayor Mamdani himself (who should know this from his own experiences): next time you’re reading a headline, I want you to ask yourself why this was pushed so ferociously into the zeitgeist. I want you to take a beat and remember that the Ellison’s Skydance merger with Paramount allowed them to acquire CBS, and to push for ownership of CNN. Remember that Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post. Remember that the Murdoch family owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post.

Remember why they want you to think I am an imbecile for simply questioning the erosion of our constitutional rights. Remember why they reduce me to sexist stereotypes, and claim I am not a legitimate source.

Regardless of the lackluster nature of some of the arguments presented, I found the overall debate about press freedom and freedom of speech to be endlessly fascinating, and a sign of the times. It’s not just about me, or the Mangionistas. There is a larger question today of press freedom in the US in general. In April 2026, Reporters Without Borders published their annual World Press Freedom Index, in which the USA ranked 64th out of 180 countries and territories, falling seven places from the previous year.

The analysis found that the administrations’ cut to budgets, attacks on journalists, and overall threats to democracy are the main causes of this decline—not some girls with strong opinions. Project Censored pointed out, and rightfully so, that only a few corporate media outlets reported on this. Shocker. They state:

“While the Trump administration has seriously accelerated the erosion of press freedom in the United States, these outlets failed to address the overwhelming threat of corporate and billionaire influence within the media industry.”

It is the independent voices, who are not interested in being in the pockets of the very class stealing away our futures, that report without a specific desired outcome because they actually can. Of course, bias still exists. But when being biased is basically a prerequisite to working for the mainstream media, not having the backing of the MSM is exactly what makes people want to listen to me. To exclude me from a debate because of how I built my career in media or for the opinions I hold is hypocritical. And if you’re at all against what the billionaire class is doing, you should also have enough media literacy and critical thinking skills to see propaganda when it appears in front of you. For your own sake, at least.

I still believe Mayor Mamdani is doing some incredible things for the city, including filling potholes, fighting for a rent freeze, and balancing the budget deficit. This is why I worked to get him elected, despite not living in NYC at the time. I understand that the hierarchical nature of his position makes it necessary to capitulate to the establishment so they will allow him to get things done.

Regardless, I believe that the statement he made about me was in poor taste and hastily made, considering his other associations with “problematic” political influencers. I love Hasan Piker, and understand how many of his previous comments have been overtly sensationalized by the media in the same way as my own. But to see the Mayor make room for his boys club when they make incendiary comments, yet not stand by my right to my own opinion, made me realize that in a heated moment, the left always capitulates to the right.

I found it disheartening to watch as someone who fiercely defended free speech didn’t defend mine when it became politically inconvenient for him. I find this sort of capitulation to be largely a left specific problem: ask a Trump supporter how they can still support him when he says awful things and they will tell you they don’t agree with everything, but because they align on some points with him, they are able to overlook the rest.

The left has proven incapable of doing this, and is why we find ourselves increasingly fractured and useless. In an attempt to act respectful, even to our oppressors, we police our own, effectively becoming enforcers of the oppression we seek to fight against. We need to be better with unity, as leftists, if we want to get anything done.

And that brings me to the journalists who came together to ignore real news and make sure I remained a national headline for two weeks straight. It seemed like some of them had the time of their lives digging into my background, screenshotting pictures of me in bikinis, and calling my biological father (who abandoned me completely at twelve years old with zero financial support.) It would be outright dangerous to consider their attempts at humiliating me and making up blatant lies journalism.

Rather than allow space for my concerns about our constitutional rights or how the President is actively threatening US citizens, the MSM decided to wield their influence to try and suppress me by painting me in the worst light they could find. JB Nicholas of The Free Lance news was one of the only people I noticed that reported on the situation with nuance.

While I take responsibility for any consequences my statements had, it is extremely out of touch to claim I should not have press credentials because I am not an “unbiased journalist,” while using yours to post pictures of my house, forcing me to move on a day’s notice out of fear for my safety. To those journalists: I have no hard feelings. I know how hard of an industry this is, and I know I give you guys clicks. I’m happy for you, if it worked out.

I am able to have empathy for those in this industry because I grew up in it. My perspective allows me to understand that mainstream media must operate within a corporate structure. Those hierarchies create an incentive, and those incentives influence what is covered. Reporters have less freedom than the public realizes, and as a result, coverage becomes sensationalized, sales-driven, and deferential to the powers at hand. Rather than encourage nuance, this structure rewards inflammatory coverage, truthful or not.

After getting to know some of these people, I don’t believe that most sought a difficult career in journalism because they wanted to publish tabloid stories about citizens. I am fighting for socialism for them, too, so no one has to sacrifice their beliefs to make ends meet.

I truly hope every single person who chimed in will reflect on the consequences of their actions, in the wake of this. Perhaps it will not be felt until the tables turn, but just know, especially in the case of female journalists, when we utilize misogyny against each other, there will be a day when it is turned back on us.

Is it not scary to those of you who spew freedom of press, that in order to be invited to White House briefings, you must make the POTUS happy with your reporting, lest suffer exclusion? The Meteor found that while female reporters make up ½ of those invited to press briefings, they made up ⅔ of Trump’s targets for harassment. Is that the press freedom you wish for? To suppress the independent young voice, and muffle it with the megaphone of fascism? To make yourself small and compliant, to ensure you will be invited back to the POTUS’ briefings, simply to be berated?

I wish those women, many of whom I’ve found come from immigrant backgrounds, utilized their hard work in getting to their positions to actually be the journalists we need. To actually expose what’s going on in our country. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we desperately need journalists to expose the truth, especially in the face of fear.

And I don’t care if that someone is with CNN or just Sally from down the street: you’re still valid to me.

Those who wrote articles about me would likely not be able to withstand a day in the media storm they created. Thankfully, I am used to being painted in this light. I have thick skin. I learned watching how Paris Hilton utilized her blonde bimbo image and silly voice to disarm the press, and then got serious when it came to the issues she was advocating for. I like to think of my methods as similar; while the press is busy writing fan-fiction sounding prose about my appearance, they still allowed for my statements about our constitutional rights to slip through the cracks.

I wish to respect the symbiotic relationship I find myself in with the media. I wish for the mainstream media to be reporting on this case just as much as they wish to be doing so. And I wish to share my views with them, if they are to be represented fairly.

However, MSM should have learned from their attempts to make Luigi look like a class traitor, that Gen Z and socialists love a class traitor. If you were trying to make me look bad, calling things like a “nepo-baby turned socialist” was probably not the most successful tactic. I hope these journalists noticed the hundreds of comments from the everyday person, exposing just how biased they think the mainstream media has become.

You can accuse me of being a leftist propagandist; but to pretend as if there is some arm of the media that is unbiased and not spewing propaganda in the year of 2026 is, quite frankly, “an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience.”

I understand that being an independent reporter, a political influencer, and an advocate is not going to be sustainable if I allow everyone else to tell my story for me. In the past, I have spoken to any outlet who desired to speak to me, because I want even those who believe they are against me to hear my story and my views. Maybe they will find we are not so different.

I believe a big part of the reason why our country is disjointed is because we are so quick to shun each other based on the views we hold due to our upbringings. If we were open to dialogue with those we don’t always relate to, without disrespecting them in the process, then maybe we could come up with answers that work for us all. Until then, even if we pretend we do not, we live in a world where people want their news to act like a social media algorithm. I hate to burst your bubbles, but a little discomfort is necessary to come to terms with reality and find ways to improve on it.

That being said, until I am treated with more empathy and nuance, I will be making the conscious decision to no longer humor every journalist. I do not wish to collaborate with those who feel justified in harassing my friends and family. I will never retaliate in the way I experienced; I have never sought information on journalists’ families or living situations, and I never will. I’d hate for what I had to endure to turn back on even those that do not have empathy for me. Please, do not send hatred on my behalf. I’d simply like to let those individuals know that you reap what you sow.

Regardless of what happened, I am happy, supported, and safe. I am endlessly thankful for the lessons this taught me. I see much of what happened as divine intervention, aligning me further with my path. Sure, I may have had to move out of my house on a day’s notice because I was doxxed publicly by the press. But if none of that happened, I would have never seen how my DSA comrades would rally for me, how my friends would support me, and how all this would land me an amazing apartment in NYC, a place I never dreamed I’d be able to move back to, at least not so soon.

So, thank you for that.

I take my advocacy—not just in Luigi’s case but for my generation’s future—extremely seriously. Too seriously to allow the mainstream media to tell my own story in a way that cherry picks and omits my truth. This experience taught me that no matter how much I feel the world may be against me, the hate is just loud. There are many that are not ready to be open about their support for a fairer world, because they see what people like me, who have stricken a nerve, are put through.

I do this for all of you, who cannot.

At least not yet.