Following revelations of massive scandal, Minnesota Democrats are circling the wagons. Of course, the headline is government aid fraud; however, the political fraud runs much deeper. The real scandal is Democrats’ attempt to turn a light blue state deep blue at any cost.
Minnesota has seen several fraud allegations brought against the operation of federal programs there. Dating back to the pandemic, there were charges that $300 million had been fraudulently claimed by a nonprofit for feeding needy children; prosecutors claimed it was the largest pandemic scam. There have also been other scams involving autism and housing services.
The latest allegations center on fake claims for providing daycare services; HHS has suspended all childcare payments to Minnesota as it investigates these latest allegations.
Prior to the latest accusations of daycare fraud, federal prosecutors in separate instances have estimated the loss of federal taxpayer funds to fraud in Minnesota could range between $1 billion (earlier this summer) and $9 billion (earlier in December). Federal personnel from the FBI and DHS have been descending on the state as fraud allegations and estimated taxpayer losses mount.
Naturally, the question arises as to how fraud on such massive scales could have gone undetected by the authorities in Minnesota. After all, it was their own backyard, and their citizens were among those taxpayers getting fleeced.
And there were warning signs, both internal and external. Fox News reports that a year ago, a local reporter had visited one of the daycare centers accused of fraud and saw no children there. What had drawn the reporter to the daycare center was that Minnesota’s Department of Human Services had found 95 safety violations at a facility that had received $8 million from the government since 2019.
It is not as though there have not been questions about the conduct of Minnesota government officials before. During the height of the pandemic and following George Floyd’s death in 2020, Minneapolis endured days of rioting. Rioters burned large portions of Minneapolis, including a precinct police station, while Mayor Jacob Frey and state officials seemingly did little to stop the destruction.
The results of handing Minnesota’s government to Democratic extremists, whose ideological blinders blocked out reality, are coming home to roost—not just for Minnesota but Democrats, too. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey narrowly survived a challenge from the Left by Omar Fateh, a Somali democratic socialist, this November; in his victory speech, Frey delivered part of it in Somali—during the election, he had released a campaign ad in Somali as well.
Inconveniently, all these allegations come at a time when former vice presidential nominee and current Governor Tim Walz was seeking reelection to a third term (he hastily withdrew on January 5), and questions are now proliferating about how far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-5) and her husband’s net wealth ballooned up to $30 million (a 3,500 percent increase from 2023). Omar’s financial statement was filed just three months after she had strongly denied being a millionaire. Omar stated to Business Insider, “Since getting elected, there has been a coordinated right-wing disinformation campaign claiming all sorts of wild things, including the ridiculous claim I am worth millions of dollars, which is categorically false.”
However, Democrats’ biggest challenge is one of their own making, and it has now spiraled beyond their ability to keep it in-house. Not that Democrats have not tried. Predictably, because those accused of fraud were of Somali descent, Democrats played the race card: Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan donned a hijab in a now viral local television appearance—ostensibly, to show solidarity (“support our immigrant neighbors”) but to really recast fraud allegations into a race issue. By so doing, Democrats are also hoping to bury the question of how the massive fraud was overlooked.
For years, Minnesota’s extremist Democrats have been trying to remake Minnesota into California or Massachusetts. In 2024, Democrats won the state by less than 140,000 votes and just 4.2 percentage points: the 80,000 Somali immigrant community undoubtedly made up a substantial share of those figures.
In 2020, with its relaxed voting requirements, Democrats still won Minnesota by only 233,000 votes and 7.1 percentage points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won by less than two percentage points and 45,000 votes. Even in 2012, Obama won by less than eight percentage points.
Despite their thin presidential margins, Minnesota Democrats have governed as extremists.
To ensure that their weakening grip on the state continues, Democrats allow “voter vouching,” where one registered voter can vouch for up to eight unregistered voters’ place of residence for same-day registration.
Minnesota Democrats have created a climate conducive to massive fraud that has cost American taxpayers potentially billions of dollars. As the threads of this massive fraud are finally being traced—not by those in the state where the fraud was committed, but by federal authorities—even more fraud is coming to light.
Minnesota Democrats are now trying to circle the wagons against the repercussions of their scandals. The problem is it’s too late; they long ago formed a circular firing squad. Tim Walz was its first victim. Rest assured, he won’t be the last.
J.T. Young is the author of the recent book, "Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America’s Socialist Left from RealClear Publishing." Follow him on Substack.
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