Fraud is bad. When it takes place, it should be uncovered and prosecuted. That was exactly what was happening before dimwitted MAGA internet addicts melted down this week over old and largely debunked daycare fraud claims made (up) by a 23-year-old right-wing YouTuber.
These allegations got so much traction online because they involve Minnesota’s large Somali population and MAGA cult members are foaming-at-the-mouth racists. I wish it wasn’t that simple, but it is.
A little background here: claims of fraud happening in Minnesota daycare facilities run by Somali immigrants date back to at least 2018, when Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had just been elected. At that time a Fox affiliate (who else?) “reported” (in other words, fabricated) allegations that up to $100 million in childcare funds were being funneled to a Somali terror group overseas. In March of 2018, two months after Walz became governor, nonpartisan Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles released a report on fraud in Minnesota’s daycare assistance program that found that although fraud was a persistent concern there was no evidence to substantiate the claim of $100 million of fraud in the state’s daycare system per year, nor was any evidence uncovered of any taxpayer funds being sent to terrorists.
Flash forward a few years to the pandemic. Millions in taxpayer funds from the USDA were paid primarily to the Twin Cities nonprofit Feeding Our Future through a Minnesota state agency overseeing emergency food programs on the state level. The money was paid out in 2020, and by April of 2021, staff at that Minnesota state agency realized something was very wrong. They informed the FBI that Feeding Our Future was diverting taxpayer funds away from child nutrition programs.
Following an official investigation, several FBI raids, and the dissolution of Feeding Our Future, prosecutions of those involved in the fraud began in September of 2022. That very month, Republicans applauded Walz for catching the fraud so early.
Just kidding! Instead, even as the prosecutions began, they blamed him for fraud committed by third parties he had zero involvement with, and they haven’t shut up about it since.
Many people were convicted for the Feeding Our Future fraud as the criminal cases worked their way through the system. Not one of them was a Minnesota state employee. No state employee was ever implicated in this case in doing anything illegal.
The process did, however, expose vulnerabilities in Minnesota to public program fraud, which led to expanded investigations in 2024 and 2025. There were more prosecutions, and more oversight was installed. Some, but not all, of the fraud defendants prosecuted during this multiyear campaign were indeed of Somali descent (the ringleader of the Feeding Our Future fraud was a regular old Karen-looking blonde white lady).
Then, on the day after Christmas, egged on by Minnesota Republicans, 23-year-old content creator Nick Shirley released a social media video in which he visited Twin Cities daycare centers, claimed there were not children at them, and fantasized that he had “uncovered over $110,000,000 [of Somali daycare fraud] in ONE day.” His video could have just as easily been — could have much more easily been, in fact — a video of daycare employees not wanting to expose the children under their care to a random creepy young man with a camera who had no good reason to be there.
State inspectors immediately followed up with each of the businesses featured in Shirley’s video and found all of them to be operating as expected. Despite Shirley’s claims being almost instantly debunked, they went viral on the right-wing internet, because, see above, howling racists.
As much as he initiates many ridiculous lies himself, he also follows along with the catchy ones, so President Donald Trump is still riding the coattails of Shirley’s viral video. He’s deployed thousands more federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities and froze federal childcare funds owed to five blue states. That won’t be the end of it either.
In the wake of this circus, Walz ended his campaign for a third term as Minnesota governor. “Every minute that I spend defending my own political interest would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who want to prey on our differences,” he said.
By vastly exaggerating the grain of truth in their racist fraud fever dreams, Trump and his supporters may have found a temporary justification for their grotesqueries. But by putting his state above his own ambitions, Tim Walz has ensured that these MAGA lies will swiftly disappear.
In an age when a few hours and a sensational unverified video clip can change everything, it’s difficult to remember the value of long-term thinking. Nevertheless, things do still matter beyond the daily news cycle. Ten years from now, Walz’s legacy will be cemented in Minnesota and nationwide; MAGA’s grassroots army of liars will all be long forgotten.
Jonathan Wolf is a civil litigator and author of Your Debt-Free JD (affiliate link). He has taught legal writing, written for a wide variety of publications, and made it both his business and his pleasure to be financially and scientifically literate. Any views he expresses are probably pure gold, but are nonetheless solely his own and should not be attributed to any organization with which he is affiliated. He wouldn’t want to share the credit anyway. He can be reached at jon_wolf@hotmail.com.
The post Right-Wing’s Fraud Fever Dreams Will Fade Even As Tim Walz’s Decision To Cede Power Goes Down In History appeared first on Above the Law.
Fraud is bad. When it takes place, it should be uncovered and prosecuted. That was exactly what was happening before dimwitted MAGA internet addicts melted down this week over old and largely debunked daycare fraud claims made (up) by a 23-year-old right-wing YouTuber.
These allegations got so much traction online because they involve Minnesota’s large Somali population and MAGA cult members are foaming-at-the-mouth racists. I wish it wasn’t that simple, but it is.
A little background here: claims of fraud happening in Minnesota daycare facilities run by Somali immigrants date back to at least 2018, when Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had just been elected. At that time a Fox affiliate (who else?) “reported” (in other words, fabricated) allegations that up to $100 million in childcare funds were being funneled to a Somali terror group overseas. In March of 2018, two months after Walz became governor, nonpartisan Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles released a report on fraud in Minnesota’s daycare assistance program that found that although fraud was a persistent concern there was no evidence to substantiate the claim of $100 million of fraud in the state’s daycare system per year, nor was any evidence uncovered of any taxpayer funds being sent to terrorists.
Flash forward a few years to the pandemic. Millions in taxpayer funds from the USDA were paid primarily to the Twin Cities nonprofit Feeding Our Future through a Minnesota state agency overseeing emergency food programs on the state level. The money was paid out in 2020, and by April of 2021, staff at that Minnesota state agency realized something was very wrong. They informed the FBI that Feeding Our Future was diverting taxpayer funds away from child nutrition programs.
Following an official investigation, several FBI raids, and the dissolution of Feeding Our Future, prosecutions of those involved in the fraud began in September of 2022. That very month, Republicans applauded Walz for catching the fraud so early.
Just kidding! Instead, even as the prosecutions began, they blamed him for fraud committed by third parties he had zero involvement with, and they haven’t shut up about it since.
Many people were convicted for the Feeding Our Future fraud as the criminal cases worked their way through the system. Not one of them was a Minnesota state employee. No state employee was ever implicated in this case in doing anything illegal.
The process did, however, expose vulnerabilities in Minnesota to public program fraud, which led to expanded investigations in 2024 and 2025. There were more prosecutions, and more oversight was installed. Some, but not all, of the fraud defendants prosecuted during this multiyear campaign were indeed of Somali descent (the ringleader of the Feeding Our Future fraud was a regular old Karen-looking blonde white lady).
Then, on the day after Christmas, egged on by Minnesota Republicans, 23-year-old content creator Nick Shirley released a social media video in which he visited Twin Cities daycare centers, claimed there were not children at them, and fantasized that he had “uncovered over $110,000,000 [of Somali daycare fraud] in ONE day.” His video could have just as easily been — could have much more easily been, in fact — a video of daycare employees not wanting to expose the children under their care to a random creepy young man with a camera who had no good reason to be there.
State inspectors immediately followed up with each of the businesses featured in Shirley’s video and found all of them to be operating as expected. Despite Shirley’s claims being almost instantly debunked, they went viral on the right-wing internet, because, see above, howling racists.
As much as he initiates many ridiculous lies himself, he also follows along with the catchy ones, so President Donald Trump is still riding the coattails of Shirley’s viral video. He’s deployed thousands more federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities and froze federal childcare funds owed to five blue states. That won’t be the end of it either.
In the wake of this circus, Walz ended his campaign for a third term as Minnesota governor. “Every minute that I spend defending my own political interest would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who want to prey on our differences,” he said.
By vastly exaggerating the grain of truth in their racist fraud fever dreams, Trump and his supporters may have found a temporary justification for their grotesqueries. But by putting his state above his own ambitions, Tim Walz has ensured that these MAGA lies will swiftly disappear.
In an age when a few hours and a sensational unverified video clip can change everything, it’s difficult to remember the value of long-term thinking. Nevertheless, things do still matter beyond the daily news cycle. Ten years from now, Walz’s legacy will be cemented in Minnesota and nationwide; MAGA’s grassroots army of liars will all be long forgotten.
Jonathan Wolf is a civil litigator and author of Your Debt-Free JD (affiliate link). He has taught legal writing, written for a wide variety of publications, and made it both his business and his pleasure to be financially and scientifically literate. Any views he expresses are probably pure gold, but are nonetheless solely his own and should not be attributed to any organization with which he is affiliated. He wouldn’t want to share the credit anyway. He can be reached at [email protected].
