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].