Spilling the Tea on the GOP

The new conservative panic over fraud involving child care providers in Minnesota — which has long been under investigation and led to dozens of convictions — is a vivid illustration of how the right-wing propaganda machine works.

Jan. 1, 2026, 6:00 AM EST

By Paul Waldman

President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning was thinking about child care fraud in Minnesota, an issue so urgent he just had to tell his Truth Social followers about it. “Much of the Minnesota Fraud, up to 90%, is caused by people that came into our Country, illegally, from Somalia,” he wrote, as usual simply making up allegations with no evidence. For good measure, Trump roped in Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., one of his frequent targets, saying “Lowlifes like this can only be a liability to our Country’s greatness. Send them back from where they came.”

Why was Trump suddenly interested in allegations of fraud that have been under investigation for years by federal and state authorities and, for the record, have nothing to do with Rep. Omar? An issue that has already resulted in dozens of convictions and is not too dissimilar from the kind of fraud that has gone on for decades in every state in the union?

If you think it’s because some Somali Americans have been involved and Trump wants to foment racist and anti-immigrant hatred, then you’re absolutely right. That’s not subtext, it’s text. Trump couldn’t be more clear on that score. He has referred to Somali immigrants as “garbage.” But it’s also a vivid illustration of how the right-wing propaganda machine works. It doesn’t matter whether a story is new, or whether the allegations made are true. That machine is so well-oiled that once the lever is pulled, there will be headlines and TV stories and viral memes everywhere you look.  In this case, there are even changes to government policy. 

Source

(via Two Minutes of Hate - by SJStone)

If you missed it, I’m a writer trying to use satire and fiction to explore and critique modern American politics. Look for Letters from the Republic, short personal letters that sound and feel like letter written by someone in the Civil War; Gulliver’s Travels: The Broligarchy, a modern political satire fiction serial; and the Two Minutes of Hate, a satirical use of Orwell’s concept from 1984.

It’s all about using my creativity to support democracy. We all have our part to play.

oh yes, of course - if you did die this way - he would have tried to debate your weeping parents, to defame your family and friends. he would have smeared your memory until you were just a conversation topic, not a person.

but now that the motherfucker is dead; you need to be so milquetoast and careful about your words. you need to condemn whoever shot him. you need to give him hour-long speeches about how he's just a person. you need to talk about him with a gentleness and kindness he has never shown you, that he would not ever have shown in your death. the way you talk about this vile white man who has a legacy of radicalism and violent rhetoric - you need to picture him with angel wings. a sad day for the country!

(if it was you - shit. he would have said you were asking for it.)

you need to privately beg god that it is someone from the rightwing, because no matter the identity of the shooter - it's going to be your fault in the end. it is going to get people hurt or killed; which is ironically probably what he would have wanted. and you don't want to rile the rightwing; because this isn't about just political debate anymore. they genuinely and truly seem to want an all-out war.

they are a weapon of god! they have been taught to stand up and say i'm christian when the shooter comes in; this is that moment for them. despite years of telling any minority "don't make victimhood your personality" - they truly believe they are being hunted. their rights infringed upon because, you know, someone on the train has a rainbow wig on. you aren't imagining it - things these days really are more unsafe. and this man fucking helped make it that way.

and you watch as this fucking country - and the actual president - repaint this man as being a fucking saint. that it is implied to be a crime just to speak badly of a man who left behind a legacy of dishonest debate. they mocked george floyd relentlessly; "just questioned the reality" of the sandy hook shooting; ignored the death of melissa hortman entirely.

it's just - it feels like fucking gaslighting. because it doesn't matter how gently and sweetly you condemn the violence - and isn't gun control is literally part of what separates the right and the left - you're still somehow calling for it. and even though he hated you and wanted you dead; you need to show that man some respect. even though he was a fucker that often hurt others and encouraged radicalization - you need to salute this man like he was an actual veteran instead of just, like, really annoying.

BREAKING: Journalist and college professor Stacey Patton goes viral by penning a stunningly powerful statement about how she was on Charlie Kirk’s “digital hit list” and recounting the horror that he inflicted on her.

We cannot allow this tragic assassination to whitewash Kirk’s legacy…

“I am on Charlie Kirk’s hit list,” Patton wrote to her 215,000 followers on Facebook. “His so-called ‘Professor Watchlist,’ run under the umbrella of Turning Point USA, is nothing more than a digital hit list for academics who dare to speak truth to power. I landed there in 2024 after writing commentary that inflamed the MAGA faithful. And once my name went up, the harassment machine roared to life.”

“For weeks my inbox and voicemail were deluged. Mostly white men spat venom through the phone: ‘bitch,’ ‘c*nt,’ ‘n****r.’ They threatened all manner of violence,” she continued.

“They overwhelmed the university’s PR lines and the president’s office with calls demanding that I be fired,” Patton wrote. “The flood was so relentless that the head of campus security reached out to offer me an escort, because they feared one of these keyboard soldiers might step out of his basement and come do me harm.”

“And I am not unique,” she added.

“Kirk’s Watchlist has terrorized legions of professors across this country. Women, Black faculty, queer scholars, basically anyone who challenged white supremacy, gun culture, or Christian nationalism suddenly found themselves targets of coordinated abuse,” Patton wrote.

“Some received death threats. Some had their jobs threatened. Some left academia entirely. Kirk sent the loud message to us: speak the truth and we will unleash the mob!” she continued.

“That is the culture of violence Charlie Kirk built. He normalized violence. He curated it, monetized it, and sicced it on anyone who dared to puncture his movement’s lies,” she wrote.

“And now, in the wake of his shooting, there’s all this national outpouring of mourning, moments of silence, yellow prayer hands, and tributes painting him as a civil debater,” Patton continued. “But the truth is that Kirk and his foot soldiers spent years terrorizing educators, trying to silence us with harassment and fear!”

“And now the same violence he unleashed on others has come full circle.”

“But what i find especially jarring is the dissonance in public mourning for a smug white man whose life work was actively hostile to certain groups,” she continued. “Kirk spent years demonizing LGBTQ people, mocking gun survivors, spewing racism about Black folks, and pushing policies that literally shorten lives.”

“It is so revolting to watch a bipartisan wave of grief sweep over this hateful racist as if he was a neutral community servant,” she concluded.

This is pure unvarnished truth from Patton. Charlie Kirk did not deserve what happened to him, but nor did his victims deserve the hell that he unleashed on them. If Americans are going to build a more peaceful future for ourselves we must condemn political violence while also condemning the hateful, bigoted rhetoric that made Kirk a multimillionaire.

"The forest was shrinking, but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood he was one of them.”