Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. Photo by Lorie Shaul via Flickr.
Guy Ciarrocchi: Minnesota’s daycare fraud is more proof that Democrats just don’t get it
There is indisputable, widespread fraud in Minnesota, stealing billions of American taxpayer dollars over the last several years. “Daycares” that never existed, no longer exist, or exaggerated their services — at best.
The only dispute is how widespread, and whether the fraud — theft of taxpayer dollars — is hundreds of millions or billions.
Here are the questions that Governor Tim Walz (Phew! Did we dodge a bullet,) Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey must answer:
Did they enable the fraud because most of the perpetrators were Somali owned or operated or allegedly meant primarily to serve their Somalian community—due to Democrat politicians’ fervor to prove to us that it’s a good idea to import people into our nation who don’t actually want to become Americans?
Did their left wing ideology cause them to “look the other way?”
Is this just the latest outrageous government program becoming so large and encompassing in our lives, spending millions and billions of dollars so that no “good” Democrat actually bothers to audit if our tax dollars are being used legally, or investigate if any actual benefit comes from spending our taxes? Because their true objective is not any program in and of itself; it’s actually to grow government so big, touching so much of our lives and livelihoods that it’s too big to reign-in?
In other words, are Walz and company co-conspirators, or practicing reverse discrimination — i.e., are they tolerating massive fraud because they don’t want to offend the Somalians who have taken over large parts of greater Minneapolis, or are they advancing the grow-government’s-power ideology that has captured today’s Democratic Party.
That fraud of this scale could occur tells us so much about the mindset of too many Democratic politicians over the last five to ten years.
Yet in some ways, their reaction and the reactions of Democrat politicians across the nation, their left-wing front groups, and — tragically — too many allies in the legacy media paints a much more disturbing picture.
The response has been a tragic mix of downplaying the fraud, attempting to deny the fraud, alleging that Democrats actually “uncovered” the fraud years ago (then why is it still happening in 2025 and 2026??), screaming “racism,” and attacking Nick Shirley — the young man who exposed this fraud to the nation — calling him a racist, a “Nazi” (so played out…) or a litany of pejoratives — e.g., “YouTuber,” “rightwing media influencer” and “citizen-journalist.”
Adding insult to injury, all too often much of legacy media fails us by ignoring the story, “investigating” and “exposing” Nick Shirley, not the actual fraud, or the timeless classic — diminishing the incident by describing it as “Republicans allege fraud.”
That left-wing, woke Democrats acted like cultish-ideologues isn’t that surprising. Tragically.
That legacy media — including the Minneapolis newspapers — are willing partners isn’t a surprise anymore.
Here’s what is surprising: after the elections of 2024 and the understandable, necessary course corrections that are ongoing across our society in corporations, parts of academia, and much of our day to day lives (thankfully) that Walz and company, national Democrats and legacy media still don’t get it!
Where’s their outrage on behalf of taxpayers? Their pledge to “get to the bottom of this!” Their commitment to “do better” going forward? To offer to work with Republicans? To open up the records to the media and the public (well, the records that weren’t suddenly “stolen” from daycares…ahem).
Why is their first instinct to turn everything into a partisan fight? And dig-in their heels?
From Covid mandates to DEI, from woke policies to antisemitism, from open borders to permitting shoplifting up to $999 in our cities — why is the Left incapable of apologizing? Why do they never extend the hand of bipartisanship?
Why do they almost never rush to defend taxpayers? To defend the victims of crime?
Better yet, here’s why one would think that Democrats should be even angrier than Republicans! More committed to figure out what happened and fix it. If their rhetoric is to be believed, anyway:
Government funded daycare programs are targeted to the poorest Americans, those trying to start over or climb up from poverty. How many deserving Americans in Minnesota — and other states — didn’t get daycare vouchers because millions or billions were being defrauded on fake daycares (often for not-yet citizens).
Daycare subsidy programs often are a tool to help single-moms find meaningful work. How many single moms were denied daycare vouchers because program money was defrauded for fake daycares with fake children — making Somali scammers rich?
Even worse, investigators have uncovered an even more chilling scam: Somali providers collaborated with parents to allege that their healthy children had autism — thus entitling them to additional government funding for supportive programs.
Actual children with autism and special needs whom Democrats allege to champion — and scream about when Republicans talk about reform or waste — How many of those deserving children got less money — or no money. Got less services. Less support. Or none?
Because millions — if not billions — of our essentially stolen tax dollars were abused to advance a political agenda. No one looked. No one audited. No one investigated.
Because all too often, the poor, the single moms, and those with special needs aren’t really who Democrats care about.
It’s about political power to advance an ideology; not about actual Americans.
Are we catching on yet?
Guy Ciarrocchi writes for Broad + Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania.A Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.
Democrats don’t solve problems.
They use them.
Guy,
The PA suburban moms, who may have voted for Trump because of RFK Jr., along with “clean-eating” brother-and-sister Casey and Calley Means, amplified by carefully coordinated podcast efforts by Elon Musk, Tucker, Rogan, etc… unfortunately there is bad news about what they are focused upon these days. Because these days, those unlikely Trump-voting moms have absolutely no idea what happened in MN and OH. Instead, they have been focused on their neighbors’ posts about President Donald Trump decorating the White House with obnoxious bronze plaques for each U.S. president. Anecdotal; yet very accurate. 2026 is toast.
That leaves you with Groypers and Wanghaf (acronym for White AS$ N-word Go Hard As F) who gave attention to this MN topic, but they have a very different take than yours. There is zero difference between Republican and Democrat; they are both wholly and completely owned by the Gov of Israel.
Just in MN alone the fraud was closer to 9 Billion, and it was only observed because the Somalians refused to blend in with their neighbors. That activity was noticed 10 + years ago. Even then, it somehow never made “mainstream” news but everyone with power certainly knew all about it and did nothing. MN’s Attorney General’s son probably knew too, while collecting a stipend to attend an Ivy League school while simultaneously taking $150K government salary for a no-show job (his dad didn’t indict him.) But “suddenly” Nick Shirley broke the story… how did that happen? Not organically. And Groypers aren’t buying it; because they are aware Nick Shirley also produced a video titled “Ride-Along the Israel-Gaza Border with the Last Mayor of Gaza”, where he interviewed Colonel Grisha Yakubovich, introduced as the last mayor of Gaza, but actually a retired Israel Defense Forces (IDF) colonel and former head of the Civil Department for COGAT during Israel’s occupation of Gaza… so NOT a Palestinian elected official at all.
You know the MN fraud wasn’t limited to childcare. There is similar fraud in the following sectors: Child Nutrition and Food Assistance Programs, Autism and Early Behavioral Intervention Services, Unemployment Insurance Benefits, COVID-19 Small Business Relief Loans, Mental health services, Transportation services, Adult support services, and Recovery and treatment services. And the fraud is happening in every major city, in every major state. And it is mostly white people committing the fraud. There are massive kickbacks to the politicians on BOTH sides (how do you think they collect 20+ million while on $250K salaries?) The taxpayers are the suckers. Trump is a fraud… and his FBI director will see you in Valhalla.
Fact check me. Dispute one thing. You can’t even refute the Valhalla comment.
Guy – what is it that “they don’t get”? They know all too well what “to get”. They get money kicked back to the party of co-conspirators by importing a voter base of needy migrants that they can build a voter base with to gerrymander and add seats in government to keep the gravy train rolling with little or no oversight. How did Congress member Ilhan Omar go from a net worth of $65k to $30MM in 3 years? She didn’t re-marry that well. DOGE laid out the democrat grift wagon once Trump got in office showing all the taxpayer money being slung all over the planet that the government has passing through their donor’s hands. Of course, then you have Queen Pelosi who’s investments and stock trading have outperformed the market by 590% since 1987. Insider trading much? Maybe it’s you who ‘don’t get it’.
Republicans have the executive branch (Trump), the Supreme Court, and Congress (both the Senate and the House.) They have it all.
Somehow we don’t have Voter ID laws?
Not a single crooked politician has been jailed, censured, impeached, or expelled.
Just after the Epstein files were supposed to be released (but weren’t), taxpayers instead found a very stupid propaganda story that they have been defrauded by BILLIONS in Minnesota.
And… Republicans have done NOTHING.
Now some woman tried to runover ICE agents [in Minnesota], and was tragically shot.
Nick Shirley and this selective “day care fraud” story are designed nonsense, and Psyop-poppycock.
If you can’t see that not one single part of this story is organic (other people tried to get this info out there for over a decade), nor the amount of fraud money in Minnesota [approx. 9 Billion] is clearly understood, you probably believe in Dems vs Reps still.
Seeing you blame the Democrats for not “extending the hand of bipartisanship” “defending taxpayers” or “defend the victims of crime” is pretty rich, Guy considering I’ve only seen you complain about Democrats.
I’m a Democrat and I can say what happened in Minnesota is wrong and people should be held accountable. But if you’re so concerned about fraud, where’s your outrage over the fact that Trump fired 17 inspectors general whose job it is to look for fraud and abuse.
Where’s your outrage over the fact that Trump has pardoned dozens of people convicted of fraud. People like the crypto billionaire CZ whose company Binance admitted to failing to prevent money laundering by pedophiles, sex traffickers and terrorist groups like Hamas. People like Trevor Milton, Marion Morgan, Devon Archer, Paul Walczak and many more who defrauded people and the government out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Money that now they won’t have to pay in restitution.
Where’s your outrage over the fact that the CEO of the company who had the largest ever fine ($1.7 Billion) for defrauding Medicare is now the senior Senator from Florida (Rick Scott).
If you want to catch fraudsters, where’s your outrage that the Republican spending bills and President Trump have slashed the very groups at the IRS designed to catch fraud.
We all can agree fraud is bad (I would hope). If so, it would be nice to see you practicing what you preach a little more when it comes to bipartisanship.
Update: here’s another example. Trump just pardoned a woman convicted of fraud. What’s notable? This is the SECOND time he’s pardoned her for convicting fraud.
Another person was pardoned after their daughter made multimillion dollar contributions to Trump’s PAC.
Before you say these are small crimes and don’t matter as much – you what message does it say to people when the President shows you can do whatever you want – committing multiple crimes – as long as you support him.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/us/politics/trump-fraudster-pardon.html