Student leaders cite faith, free speech, and personal conviction as they reject Sen. Elissa Slotkin's warnings to young conservatives entering public service.
Young conservative activists across the country told Campus Reform that Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s (D-Mich.) remarks about young people working for the Trump administration and conservative leaders will only strengthen their resolve to remain politically active.
The controversy began with a viral X post by the reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
Thinker on Oct. 17 featuring Slotkin telling attendees at the University of Chicago in Illinois saying she would prosecute young Americans who worked for the Trump administration.
She ended the viral threat by saying, "I want that deterrence message sent."
Rather than discouraging their political participation, the threats reinforced several activists’ determination to remain involved in conservative politics.
Mohammed Ariann, a conservative Hofstra University student, told Campus Reform that the remarks "wouldn’t deter [him]" and that, in fact, "it’ll make [him] go stronger." Ariann also told Campus Reform that "if someone wants to threaten me and persecute me for my own views, go ahead — I’ll still keep fighting."
Farhan Sinha, the president of the Hempstead chapter of Young Americans for Liberty, told Campus Reform that his answer to a question about being deterred from conservative activism was Ephesians 6:12, which says that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Nick Preisse, an events coordinator for Club America in St. Petersburg, Florida, also told Campus Reform that his Christian faith gives him a source of moral guidance beyond elected officials. "The only one who guides me and whose opinion I care about is God — and Elissa Slotkin is not God," Preisse said.
Liberal students also spoke out against Slotkin. Samuel Velez, a member of the Young Americans for Democrats
...every time you hear the phrase white people,
white supremacy,
whiteanything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word
(Thomas) Nastyto the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects...
at Troy University, told Campus Reform that "[he’s] able to say this doesn’t represent all Democrats...because we should all have the freedom to express ourselves the way we want to."
Other conservative activists cited the failure of civil discourse. "If you can’t have a friendly chat with somebody and have a civil discourse and still say, ’Hey, I’m going to shake your hand. I still respect you. I still love you at the end of the day,’ then you don’t have anything," Nick Dulth, the TPUSA chapter president at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, told Campus Reform.
Slotkin’s website claims that she "believes that our government works best when we have two healthy parties that debate the big issues facing Americans" and that "she has always tried to work across the aisle on issues."
Related:
Elissa Slotkin 10/24/2026 A Final Appeal to Michigan's Jewish Voters on the Fence About El-Sayed
Elissa Slotkin 10/22/2026 Dem Hack Drops the Mask and Lets Her Fascism Freak Flag Fly
Elissa Slotkin 09/04/2026 Tucker Carlson says he wouldn't vote for Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers 'at gun point'
Elissa Slotkin 10/24/2026 A Final Appeal to Michigan's Jewish Voters on the Fence About El-Sayed
Elissa Slotkin 10/22/2026 Dem Hack Drops the Mask and Lets Her Fascism Freak Flag Fly
Elissa Slotkin 09/04/2026 Tucker Carlson says he wouldn't vote for Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers 'at gun point'