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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Jason Wilson

Behind the Somali daycare panic is a mother-and-son duo angling to be top Maga influencers

a man in a suit speaks into a microphone
Nick Shirley speaks during a roundtable discussion at the White House on 8 October 2025. Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

YouTube influencer Nick Shirley, whose viral video alleging fraud by daycare centers servicing Minneapolis’s Somali American community came days ahead of the Trump administration’s declaration of a national funding freeze, has for years published conspiracy-minded takes on hot-button rightwing issues.

He also has close ties to the White House, Republicans, and to representatives of an earlier generation of rightwing partisan “ambush journalists” such as James O’Keefe. He worked with Minnesota Republicans to produce the viral video on Somali-run daycares.

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