🧵THREAD🧵

The legacy media didn’t miss the Minnesota Somalian fraud story.

They actively dismissed it as made up, racist, or xenophobic.

Before the stories are quietly edited, I’ve got screenshots. ⤵️

I can’t believe this is real, but @AP basically did the Somalians-founding-America meme as a straight reported piece on how beneficial the community has been in Minnesota.
“Minnesota Somalis are as Minnesotan as tater-tot hotdish,” @CNN (Dec 7)

Presented without comment @MSNOWNews Trump’s attempt to combat fraud is depicted by @NBCNews as “xenophobic.”

No mention of the multibillion dollar scam the community was perpetrating.

This just isn’t journalism. It’s hackery.

@TIME dedicated a whole section in a piece about the connection between Somalis and fraud allegations to how “Democrats have condemned the accusations targeting Somalis.”

Maybe now would be a good time to revisit them??

A side note of sorts: @NPR suggested (I think rightly, given what’s happened) that the large Somali community in Minnesota was in part there because of “the state’s welcoming social programs.”

Maybe a little more reporting on that was deserved?

The @washingtonpost took considerable pain to quote people who defended the Somali community in Minnesota, absent all evidence, against the supposedly “bigoted” immigration deployment by Trump.

That included the MN AG who failed to stop this outrage, @AGEllison.

Rather than focus on the evidence we had of fraud in Minnesota in their “everything we know” piece, @Newsweek decided to highlight quotes about how Minnesota is “a well-run state” and how @GovTimWalz has supposedly “taken measures” to combat fraud.

I wonder if @GovTimWalz still sees criticism over his handling of fraud as a “badge of honor”?

Or perhaps @politico would like a chance to update this piece lionizing him and @amyklobuchar amid their catastrophic handling of said fraud?

Even in reporting meant to expose the fraud in Minnesota, @nytimes couldn’t help but focus on how “challenging” this has all been for Somalian immigrants.

How about how bad this has been for American taxpayers?

But no outlet was worse than Minneapolis’s hometown paper, @StarTribune.

Perhaps it’s time to revisit this story? Seems the evidence is pretty clear now.

It was published two weeks ago.

But there were so many more @StarTribune attempts to write off the scandal, rather than, you know, reporting on the multibillion dollar fraud being committed.

Like this one, about how religious and other leaders were stepping in to “condemn Trump’s attacks.”

Might there be a reason @GOPMajorityWhip would stick with Trump as the multibillion dollar fraud scandal was being confirmed? @StarTribune I purchased a four-week subscription to @StarTribune to go through this coverage and let me tell you my eyes are more angry at me for subjecting them to this “reporting” than even my wallet is.
The editorial board at @StarTribune did the Norm Macdonald meme.
As the scandal has been headline focus for people interested in stopping fraud, @StarTribune has instead focused on lionizing Rep. Ilhan Omar for her “defiance” against Trump.
Also this defense, that only individuals are to blame, not whole communities, is just very rich given how these outlets have talked about white people.

This type of scandal, involving the theft of BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars, can’t survive as long as it did without help from major parts of the community involved.

It seems obvious that the legacy press — and @StarTribune in particular — are culpable in that as well.

@StarTribune And there are plenty of other states where enormous amounts of money are being siphoned off by fraudsters. California is a good example:

https://twitter.com/marionawfal/status/2003947542506049677

@StarTribune I’m sure most of you have, but if you haven’t seen this video of @nickshirleyy doing what journalists across these outlets (and the state of Minnesota) should have — checking in on these supposed nonprofits — you should watch it.

https://twitter.com/nickshirleyy/status/2004642794862961123

@StarTribune @nickshirleyy There’s surely more fraud to be uncovered. Hopefully Congress and the Trump admin will keep kicking the tires in Minnesota and beyond.

These defensive headlines, I suspect, will only look worse in the future than they do today.

https://twitter.com/gopoversight/status/2005356449090949626

@StarTribune @nickshirleyy As @TomBevanRCP called out this morning, instead of revisiting their awful coverage or attempting to do the job of real journalists, @StarTribune is instead…cheerleading for Walz’s reelection.

https://twitter.com/tombevanrcp/status/2005268769871151122

@StarTribune @nickshirleyy @TomBevanRCP But @StarTribune working so hard to bury this fraud story shouldn’t surprise us.

Their publisher, Steve Grove, came to the paper from Walz’s cabinet, having served as his commissioner of — I swear I’m not making this up — “employment and economic development.”

@StarTribune @nickshirleyy @TomBevanRCP A partisan publisher using the veneer of a newspaper to try to bury a career-defining corruption story about his former boss, as said old boss runs for reelection.

Want to know what’s wrong with the legacy media?

Just look at @StarTribune.

@StarTribune @nickshirleyy @TomBevanRCP Also, important context from @shipwreckedcrew: it wasn’t just Minnesota tax payers who got ripped off.

These were, in many cases, federal programs.

Wherever you live, your tax dollars were part of this scam.

https://twitter.com/shipwreckedcrew/status/2005345252568400092

@StarTribune @nickshirleyy @TomBevanRCP @shipwreckedcrew Again. There’s no way this kind of massive fraud is unique to just Minnesota.

Every state should be subject to this kind of investigation. Particularly those with hundreds of billions of dollars given to NGOs.

https://twitter.com/c_3c_3/status/2005428993328402606