#nick sortor

Qasim Rashid at Let's Address This:

Right wing provocateur Nick Shirley has published a video claiming he has proof of fraud in Somali daycare centers. I watched the video so you don’t have to. The entire video is, in a word, propaganda. Despite this complete lack of substantiation, Vice President JD Vance praised Shirley and suggested he deserves a Pulitzer Prize. MAGA media has since moved immediately to demonize the Somali community in Minnesota as a whole—facts be damned. That framing is not just reckless—it is intentionally racist. And it obscures the real issue entirely. Here are the critical facts they leave out, and hope Americans don’t see. Let’s Address This.

A Propagandized Claim With Zero Evidence

Shirley begins his interview with a man named “David,” who apparently investigated this alleged fraud for years. Shirley provides no explanation of who David is, what qualifications he has, or what actual evidence of fraud he’s uncovered. Instead, while waving around documents that he never bothers to validate, David makes the following bombastic and factless claims:

“Compared to worldwide, the fraud is worse here in the Twin Cities than anywhere else ever, in history, anywhere.”

“The allegedly stolen funds are being sent to terrorist organizations.”

“We have to be careful because these [Somali] people are very violent, they’re exceptionally violent.”

“Tim Walz is guilty of misconduct with a public employee.”

Note—the above are actual quotes from David. At no point in the video does David or Shirley provide any actual evidence for the above claims. We are simply meant to believe them—even to the absurdity that in the entirety of human history, the alleged fraud in Minnesota outranks all of them. As far as the claim that “Walz committed misconduct with a public employee,” there’s zero evidence of this malicious claim. It’s especially rich coming from two men who are silent on Trump’s dozens of cases of sexual assault of women, and God only knows the full extent of his involvement in Epstein’s child sex trafficking atrocity.

Shirley and David espouse obviously and demonstrably false claims. The majority of Shirley’s video then entails he and David driving from center to center, harassing employees, and attempting to enter childcare centers without permission. The employees are clearly frightened that two angry men with cameras are repeatedly yelling “where are the children!”, while trying to gain unauthorized access to spaces meant to protect children. Unsurprisingly, the employees refuse to answer questions from men they rightly see as strangers. Shirley and David therefore conclude that the employees’ refusal to answer their questions means there must be fraud. That is the extent of their “evidence” of fraud.

Shirley Ignores What Actual Journalists Have Already Reported

Now, let’s make four points absolutely clear—points Shirley deliberately ignores, and hopes his viewers don’t realize. First, what Shirley allegedly “uncovered” is not some new scandal. Since 2022 several of these same day care centers have been fined and shutdown for violating the law. Local media in Minnesota has already reported on that alleged fraud and reported on the subsequent FBI investigations. Even in his video, Shirley admits that the FBI is already investigating these facilities and is already aware that there may be potential fraud. You can literally see him at the exact same locations that have already been investigated and reported upon.

Second, former U.S. Attorney Andy Luger is already on record rejecting Shirley’s claim that any of the 70 people his office prosecuted had any ties whatsoever to “terrorism” in the United States or overseas. “David’s” bombastic accusation is entirely meritless and, at no point does Shirley even attempt to provide any evidence of it’s truth—because there is none.

Third, in addition to local media and law enforcement already tackling this fraud, employees of the day care centers themselves sounded the alarm well over a year ago. Shirley’s claim that “all Somalis think as one” is both racist and unfounded. It’s also worth noting that while Shirley claims “Somalis are violent,” Minnesota is one of the safest states in the country, with a violent crime rate of 256/100K, more than 100 points lower than the national average of 359/100K. Fourth and finally, for as much as Shirley insists fraud problems in Minnesota begin and end with Somalis, nowhere in his 42 minute propaganda piece does he admit, let alone acknowledge, that the accused ring leader who was convicted of leading the largest prosecuted fraud in Minnesota is a white woman named Aimee Bock.

Here Are The Facts

Now, let’s discuss what is true. Shirley alleges that Somalis have somehow “taken over” Minnesota. This is fear-mongering and racist propaganda. Minnesota is home to approximately 60,000 Somalis, representing a whopping 1% of Minnesota’s population of 6 million people. Moreover, it is absolutely not the case that Somalis somehow uniquely committed fraud. It is the case that, among the people accused of fraud in Minnesota, some happen to be Somali. That is a critical distinction. Fraud, where it occurs, should be investigated and prosecuted fully and fairly—for everyone involved, regardless of race, religion, or immigration status. No person gets a pass, and no group deserves collective blame. But Shirley or MAGA figures are not interested in accountability. They are interested in scapegoating.

[...] Somalis face demonization on the mere accusation of a crime—yet we hear complete silence from Shirley and MAGA pundits on Trump’s open bribery to pardon convicted felons who are white. Thus the open hypocrisy—when white Americans commit fraud, they are treated as individuals. When Black, brown, Muslim, or immigrant communities are accused—even speculatively—the entire community is put on trial. One person becomes “proof” that everyone is guilty. That is de facto racism. So let’s be explicitly clear: if you are outraged at alleged fraud involving Somali daycare operators, but celebrate Trump for pardoning white men convicted of fraud at ten or twenty times the scale, then fraud is not what you care about. What you care about is protecting white supremacy.

The recent video from right-wing Nick Sortor-wannabe Nick Shirley that purports to “investigate fraud” in Somali daycare centers in Minnesota is nothing more than a propagandistic, racist, and xenophobic smear attack against Somali Americans.

See Also:

This time, finish the job.

Amanda Marcotte at Salon:

In the days before an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent, named by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune as Jonathan Ross, shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in the Twin Cities, MAGA world was consumed with yet another fake outrage. This time, they were pretending to be mad about the alleged victimization of the deportation forces that have been bombarding Minnesota communities. To hear the right’s version of the story, no one has ever been more victimized than these beleagured ICE agents, who were subject to the unspeakable horror of temporarily being denied lodging. A single Hilton-affiliated hotel in the Minneapolis area canceled the reservations of agents, who were in town to intimidate and arrest local residents suspected of being immigrants. Even though Hilton immediately cut ties with the hotel and apologized in an embarrassing manner to the Trump administration, ICE and the White House were not going to pass up the opportunity to once again play the victim.  The Department of Homeland Security accused Hilton of a “coordinated campaign in Minneapolis to REFUSE service to DHS law enforcement.” But one hotel does not a coordinated campaign make. No matter: MAGA never allows truth to get in the way of their self-pitying narrative. On the contrary, it was darkly funny how much the self-appointed tough guys of the right whine like spoiled brats. “Conservative journalists are quite far behind enemy lines when we’re anywhere remotely close to Minneapolis,” bragged propagandist Nick Sortor on X in response to his fellow MAGA influencer Matt Von Swol posting, “Dude this is actually extremely dangerous work.” (The “work” in question is Sorter yelling at a Hilton employee after allegedly scoping the hotel out “for almost four hours prior to actually going in” — you know, because of all the scary, violent leftists hanging out at the Hilton.) Whatever these men think they’re proving, what they are actually demonstrating is they are the softest, saddest boys alive, incapable of understanding what real courage looks like.

This attitude has been endemic with ICE and their supporters since Donald Trump took office. The agency’s recruiting materials lure would-be agents with heavy-handed language; agents are “brave” and “resolute” men fighting “criminals and predators.” (And in case they were worried, the top of the page reassures applicants, “You do not need an undergraduate degree.”) When interfacing with the public, however, ICE and their supporters inevitably come across as whiny babies playing dress-up.

Border czar Tom Homan claims that agents need to wear masks because they don’t want to be “doxxed on social media” — in other words, have their identity known to the people they’re supposedly serving. Videos of ICE arrests spread rapidly on social media, showing that the “criminals and predators” are instead unarmed health care workers, day care workers tending small children and a 71-year-old citizen accused of pushing an agent. Only the weakest people on earth could be afraid of these arrestees, but ICE agents come at them in huge numbers, like they’re trying to take down an NFL player hopped up on PCP. The agency’s pity party has grown so ridiculous that Fox News ran multiple outraged segments because a Boston-area church displayed an anti-ICE nativity scene. One host, Harris Faulkner, insisted that merely posting an anti-ICE sign at a church is “cruel rhetoric” that “helps to endanger” the “agents on the ground.”

Heaven forbid any of these people stub a toe. We’ll never stop hearing about how it was like their entire leg was amputated. [...] The ICE victim complex goes deep. As Good’s killing showed, it’s deadly. By relentlessly and falsely portraying agents as a beleaguered group terrorized by day care workers, nativity scenes and hotel employees, MAGA has preemptively justified violence against unarmed civilians as an act of self-defense. Barely minutes after her death, a tidal wave of disinformation painting ICE as the real victims came pouring out of the Trump administration and their legions of self-appointed propagandists.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem insisted that Good, a mother and poet, was part of “coordinated” effort to commit “domestic terrorism.” (This from someone who wrote a book in which she described shooting a trusting puppy in the head as practically an act of self-defense.) Trump posted that Good “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer,” which is immediately disproved by watching video of the killing, as well as of the offending officer walking around afterward. All of MAGA, really, fell in line, painting the man who shot a woman three times as the real victim and continuing to deny the evidence witnessed by our eyes and ears.

[...] MAGA self-victimization isn’t just beneath contempt. It’s also, as we saw in this shooting, dangerous. It resembles the behavior that psychologists have long documented in abusive partners, which goes under the acronym DARVO for “Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender.” First, deny the abuse. When confronted with evidence, attack the victim to imply she had it coming. Then declare you’re the real victim here, and you were forced to hit, rape or, in this case, shoot the victim because [fill in lie about how mean she was]. The ease in which all of MAGA immediately reverted to the psychological habits of self-pitying wife-beaters should give us all pause.

Liz Dye at Public Notice:

During the first Trump administration, Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler documented more than 30,000 lies by the president. Now Trump’s back in the White House and Kessler is gone, as the Post’s owner Jeff Bezos seeks to make the storied paper more MAGA-friendly. The nature of lies in MAGA-world has changed, too. We’re a long way from “covfefe” and tumescent hurricanes Sharpied on a weather map. This is an era of lies as policy, where government priorities are based on right-wing conspiracy theories and fear-mongering. The federal agencies that survived Elon Musk’s wrecking ball are now captured by the echo chamber of his social media platform, with cabinet secretaries staring furiously into a digital funhouse mirror to divine the will of the most internet-addled members of the MAGA base.

Harmeet Dhillon, a former Trump lawyer placed in charge of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, even bragged to the Wall Street Journal that she “wakes up around 6am and begins her workday scrolling through X, searching for claims of discrimination … After spotting ‘a list of new horrors,’ she said, ‘I text my deputies, and we assign cases, and we get cranking.’”

Dhillon’s office has been bleeding staff, since experienced lawyers are largely disinclined to waste their time chasing down the latest target of conservative ire. But she did find someone to harass the Portland Police Bureau for daring to arrest conservative provocateur Nick Sortor during a demonstration in which he stole a burning flag from a protester. Sortor was invited to the White House the following week, where he held forth alongside Jack Posobiec, of Pizzagate fame, and online propagandist Andy Ngo, a former Dhillon client. [...]

Chemtrails and climate change

One of the most persistent right-wing conspiracy theories involves contrails — aka, “chemtrails.” We’re all familiar with the sight of airplanes drawing white lines across a blue sky as water droplets condense around particles of exhaust and freeze into ice crystals at high altitude. The science behind the phenomenon isn’t complicated — it’s not the aurora borealis! — and the Environmental Protection Agency has a handy explainer for anyone who skipped seventh grade science class. And yet, for decades conspiracy theorists have told themselves stories about “the government” spraying harmful chemicals on Americans for nefarious purposes. Sometime in the late 1990s, this merged with generalized hyperventilation about “weather control.” And so, on the verge of a manmade climate disaster, millions of Americans are still squinting in fear at imaginary sky ghosts. Enter EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who is hyped to exploit that fear for political gain. [...]

If you’ve got a problem, RFK can make it worse

But no agency has been more dedicated to advancing conspiracy theories than the Department of Health and Human Services. Under the aegis of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a prolific spreader of misinformation, DHS revoked vaccine guidelines and is preparing to come after everything from birth control to fluoridated water. Kennedy got rich flogging lies about childhood vaccines causing autism. And once in office he continued that campaign, vowing in April that “by September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures.” But doing actual science is hard — particularly when you’re taking a machete to scientific funding. So instead they announced that they’d found the culprit, and it was Tylenol, plus maybe ... circumcision?

Brandy Zadrozny at MS NOW:

Over the weekend on X, conservative influencer Cameron Higby began posting screen recordings from the encrypted messaging app Signal showing a list of hundreds of usernames in one massive group chat in Minnesota. He posted the video alongside a red-siren emoji and a message to more than 300,000 followers, concerning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations: Higby had “infiltrated” the Minneapolis resistance.

MS NOW has not verified the Signal channels. But this kind of community group chat has become common in Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, where neighbors and activists are using the apps to organize and monitor ICE operations amid President Donald Trump’s federal crackdowns.  For Higby, the chat was evidence of something more. He dubbed the operation “Signal Gate” and presented the chats as evidence that “Minnesota insurrectionists” were coordinating to “hunt” ICE agents, to impede and assault them and to obstruct their enforcement of immigration laws. He called for a congressional investigation into the community activists and their chats. None of the chats Higby posted included plans or calls for obstruction or violence.

His posts spread on conservative media, racking up tens of millions of views while fueling a White House narrative that federal immigration officers in Minneapolis were facing a violent uprising by mobs of “domestic terrorists.” Online crowds began combing through the leaked chats, attempting to identify participants and alleging without evidence that local elected officials were involved. FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday confirmed that the Trump administration was paying attention. “As soon as Higby put that post out, I opened an investigation,” Patel told podcast host Benny Johnson.   Two narratives are competing in Minneapolis.

One, documented by bystanders, journalists, courts and city and state officials, holds that this community has been overtaken by thousands of federal agents — a masked, violent force that has ripped neighbors from their cars, homes, workplaces and schools, and beaten, jailed and disappeared them. Members of the community who organized to document federal agents’ movements or protest their presence have been met with aggression and violence, including the fatal shootings of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti — killings that sparked national outrage. The other narrative casts protesters and organized observers as “domestic terrorists” who threaten and impede federal law enforcement. Online influencers like Higby play a central role in amplifying, and in many cases producing, propaganda for that framing. And this is the narrative that the Trump administration has run with, even when video evidence disputes it.

Higby is part of a loose network of reactionary conservative content creators who style themselves journalists and claim to document rampant left-wing violence. In October, the White House hosted an antifa roundtable event — attended by Higby and other influencers with ties to Turning Point USA and its media arm, Frontlines — where these influencers reinforced the narrative that far-left extremists were mobilizing a nationwide campaign of violence against ICE agents. The work of these creators blurs journalism with political activism: It focuses on discrediting leftist protest movements, amplifying misleading narratives and promoting content creators into celebrities across conservative media, where they’re presented as both victims and truth-telling heroes.  Their presence at demonstrations has repeatedly coincided with heightened tensions and physical altercations. The confrontations are then cited  as evidence that the protests are inherently violent, and justify a harsher government response — most recently, demands from far-right influencers that Trump invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota.

Despite Higby’s claims about the Minneapolis community, the Signal chats revealed little that wasn’t already known. Reporting on the ground, including by MS NOW, has documented the way ICE observers communicate on encrypted messaging apps (the same ones used by journalists, privacy advocates and community organizers) and coordinate by sharing locations, alerting neighbors to the presence of federal officers and filming arrests.  [...] The information war unfolding in Minneapolis is not new. The second Trump administration has relied on loyal online creators to shape and distribute its message, sidelining legacy media in favor of partisan influencers and political operatives.  In fact, it was a rising right-wing influencer who beckoned the federal government to Minneapolis.  Nick Shirley, a 23-year-old YouTuber who once chased virality through Jake Paul-style stunts, found his following (currently 1.6 million YouTube subscribers) with man-on-the-street videos aimed at a MAGA audience. In December, Shirley — now calling himself an investigative journalist — teamed up with a local lobbyist and, using information reportedly obtained with the help of Minnesota Republicans, produced a 43-minute video in which he knocked on day care doors, demanded to see children and said he had exposed a billion-dollar child care fraud scheme involving Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota’s Somali community. 

Social services funding fraud in Minnesota has been the regular subject of mainstream news reports and federal investigation since 2022. But Shirley’s video —fanciful and thin on new evidence — was viewed millions of times and struck a chord in the audience for which it was intended.

[...] Right-wing influencer Nick Sortor, a former Kentucky real estate agent with 1.4 million followers on X, arrived in Minneapolis at about the same time. Much of his most popular content centers on confrontations with people on the street or at protests — clips that go viral and become talking points on conservative prime-time shows. In a video from earlier this month, Sortor’s white Jeep is surrounded by a small crowd outside a detention center near Minneapolis. Protesters slap the windows and shout threats at Sortor and his passenger, Higby, as the vehicle inches forward. When Sortor accelerates, a man who had climbed onto the hood falls off. On Fox News, Sortor framed the incident as a near-death escape from rioters. He called the city “lawless” and “a total loss,” and urged Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. Another video, posted by local livestreamer Andrew Mercado, shows Sortor’s interactions with demonstrators in the moments before he got in the Jeep: While standing among a few dozen protestors, a woman blocks Sortor’s camera by holding up an object. Sortor yanks it from her hand and attempts to pull off her face mask as she strikes at him.  Before his time in Minneapolis, Sortor was engaged in a similar brand of punditry in Portland, Oregon, where, on multiple occasions last year, he got into physical altercations with protesters. Trump, Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi praised Sortor at the antifa roundtable event as an independent journalist. In the same breath, they lauded his actions at a December protest, where he was captured on video grabbing a burning flag from an elderly protester. State disorderly conduct charges filed against him were later dropped.

[...] On Tuesday, James O’Keefe, a self-styled undercover journalist known for his group’s deceptive stings and edited videos, said he’d been chased out of a Minneapolis suburb.  “I’m shaken,” O’Keefe told podcaster Megyn Kelly, describing an encounter with five white women who he said demanded his press credentials. Video posted by O’Keefe shows him rushing to his car while a crowd chants “shame.” A bottle of water bounces off the car as it pulls away.  “These people will kill you. I’ve never quite experienced, I guess I would call it communism, up close,” O’Keefe told Kelly. O’Keefe did not respond to a request over Signal for comment.  For all the content being produced by these creators, its power has limits. Trump has not yet invoked the Insurrection Act. Instead, public outrage over the killings of Good and Pretti — two Minneapolis residents, a mother and an intensive care nurse, respectively, both described by friends, family and neighbors as kind and community-minded — has only swelled, along with criticism of the federal response. On Monday, Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino was removed from his post as “commander at large,” a move widely interpreted as a Trump administration attempt to de-escalate tensions in the state.