A disabled Vietnam veteran was minding his own business on his own property.
The local government thought showing support for Trump was a problem.
But a government whistleblower just came forward with one damning letter that changes everything.
Code enforcement officer forced to target patriotic display
Lenny Amicola is a 77-year-old disabled Vietnam veteran who had the audacity to fly a Trump banner on his private property in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.
That apparently made the wrong people very uncomfortable.
Code Enforcement Officer Thor Snilsberg was ordered by his bosses to cite Amicola for his Trump flag – even though other political banners around town got the free pass treatment.
Now Snilsberg is on medical leave with stress-related health issues after being “used as a pawn in a political game.”
His whistleblower letter, filed on September 8th, exposes exactly how Village Manager Bryan Healy repeatedly pressured him to go after the Trump supporter.
“For fear of losing my job, I complied,” Snilsberg wrote.¹
When Snilsberg asked whether other flags and banners – including LGBTQ pride displays and sports team banners – should also get citations, he was told “no.”
That’s selective enforcement based on political content, and it’s about as unconstitutional as it gets.
The coverup unravels under national pressure
Croton officials tried the usual song and dance about “routine code enforcement” affecting 17 locations across the village.
But Snilsberg’s inside account destroys that narrative completely.
He detailed four specific ways the Trump flag case was different from legitimate code enforcement: it wasn’t commercial, it only happened after repeated pressure from his superiors, the village brought in special lawyers just to go after it, and there were years of trying to force compliance against this particular flag.²
The story exploded into national news after Newsmax and other conservative outlets exposed what was happening.
President Trump himself weighed in, blasting the village’s action as “unconstitutional” and calling Amicola “a patriot targeted for supporting me.”
Even the Justice Department started sniffing around to see if Amicola’s First Amendment rights were violated.
Under that kind of heat, the village backed down and dropped the violation this month.
Look, here’s what’s really happening
You want to know what this really is?
It’s the same playbook leftist officials use in communities across America – weaponize local government power against anyone who dares show support for conservative values.
These people think they can hide behind “code enforcement” and “routine violations” while systematically targeting patriots.
But when a government employee with a conscience documents exactly how the sausage gets made, their whole scheme falls apart.
For folks who work for a living and respect property rights, this should make your blood boil.
A disabled veteran who served his country gets harassed by petty bureaucrats because his political views make them uncomfortable.
Stephen Gillers from New York University School of Law put it perfectly: “If a local government is selectively enforcing signage laws based on the political content of the speech, that’s textbook unconstitutional.”³
The whistleblower letter is smoking gun evidence that could expose Croton-on-Hudson to serious legal consequences.
And it should.
Any government official who thinks they can use their position to silence political speech they don’t like needs to learn there are real costs for that kind of abuse.
Snilsberg deserves credit for having the backbone to speak up, even though it’s costing him his health and potentially his job.
More government employees need to follow his example when they see constitutional rights getting trampled by power-hungry supervisors.
What happened to Lenny Amicola is happening to patriotic Americans in communities across the country.
The only difference is this time, someone on the inside was willing to document the corruption and speak out.
¹ Thor Snilsberg, Whistleblower letter, The Croton Chronicle, September 8, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Stephen Gillers, Comment to Newsmax, “Whistleblower: I Was Forced to Target Trump Flag in N.Y. Town,” September 22, 2025.
