What to Know
The Trump administration has made it clear that literally any type of online trolling will not be tolerated, but they might be breaking laws in the process of keeping those trolls away. Amanda McGonigle, who runs a cat-themed troll account on Instagram, was barred from entering an event featuring JD Vance, and now, she’s suing the administration and the Secret Service.
Amanda tried to enter an event where JD Vance was speaking in Maine.
According to NBC News, Amanda started her cat-themed troll account after JD’s famous remarks about childless cat ladies, and since then, it’s really taken off. Now, her account, which is called Cats on a Couch, has nearly two million followers.
Her aim has been to end up with more followers than JD, and she’s not far off — right now, his personal Instagram only has 2.9 million. And apparently, he’s feeling sensitive that Amanda is catching up to him, because when she tried to get into an event in Bangor, Maine this May, where the vice president would be talking about healthcare fraud.
But even though she provided all of the information that the VP’s office asked for before the event, when she got there, she was denied entry by the Secret Service, who knew exactly who she was and claimed it was a private event, even though it was public.
She says her First Amendment rights have been violated.
Amanda said she was waiting in line when she was approached by five armed Secret Service agents who allegedly told her, “we know where you stand.” At the time, she was wearing a shirt that said “JD Vance cured my imposter syndrome.” Yeah, that’s pretty funny.
“Either it was a public event as advertised, and I was denied entry because I think JD Vance is a sentient jar of mayonnaise, or it was a private event and taxpayer dollars were being used to fund JD Vance’s little ‘safe space,'” she said in an Instagram video about the situation. “Either way, it’s giving lawsuit vibes.”
This week, she ended up filing that lawsuit she mentioned in the video, claiming that her First Amendment rights were violated since she should be free to criticize the administration.
The ACLU is standing behind her.
The ACLU has taken on Amanda’s case against the administration, and argues that her rights need to be protected before she faces criminal charges that could be illegally waged against her, too.
“The First Amendment cannot be revoked just because one of the country’s most powerful people can’t take a joke,” ACLU attorney Anahita Sotoohi said in a statement.
This isn’t the first time that JD just couldn’t take a joke, and it certainly won’t be the last. If he’s going to be such a visible public figure in politics, maybe he should grow thicker skin?
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