Democrat witness Brendan Ballou claimed during a Wednesday hearing that the influx of Somali immigrants made his home state of Minnesota &#8220;stronger&#8221; – but Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) brought data that said the exact opposite.
During the hearing — which was scheduled as part of an investigation into widespread fraud in Minnesota that has been linked to the Somali immigrant community — Gill posed a direct question to the former federal prosecutor, asking whether Somalis made the state weaker or stronger.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This Democrat witness claims large-scale Somali immigration makes Minnesota stronger.
The numbers tell a different story. <a href="https://t.co/ufxlVgwqLa">pic.twitter.com/ufxlVgwqLa</a>
— Congressman Brandon Gill (@RepBrandonGill) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepBrandonGill/status/2008934421403934728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Does large-scale Somali immigration make Minnesota stronger or weaker?&#8221; Gill asked.
&#8220;Certainly stronger,&#8221; Ballou said.
&#8220;Certainly stronger,&#8221; Gill repeated. &#8220;Do you know what percentage of Somali-headed households in Minnesota are on food stamps?&#8221;
Ballou did not.
&#8220;Fifty-four percent,&#8221; Gill replied. &#8220;Do you know what that number is for native Minnesota-headed households?&#8221;
Ballou protested, &#8220;Well, to be clear, a majority of the —&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s seven percent,&#8221; Gill continued. &#8220;There&#8217;s a big difference between fifty-four percent and seven percent, is there not?&#8221;
&#8220;Excuse me, sir, could I answer the question?&#8221; Ballou asked.
&#8220;Let me move on, we&#8217;ve got a lot of questions here,&#8221; Gill said, asking, &#8220;What percentage of Somali-headed households are on Medicaid?&#8221;
Ballou did not know.
&#8220;It&#8217;s seventy-three percent,&#8221; Gill said. &#8220;Do you know what that number is for Minnesota native households?&#8221;
Ballou once again objected to the terminology, but did not answer the question.
&#8220;The number is eighteen percent,&#8221; Gill replied. &#8220;That&#8217;s quite an astounding difference, I think we would agree.&#8221;
Ballou continued to protest about Gill&#8217;s use of the term &#8220;native Minnesotan,&#8221; but made no move to supply answers to Gill&#8217;s questions.
&#8220;Let me ask you one more, and then we can go into that,&#8221; Gill said. &#8220;What percentage of Somali-headed households are on welfare in general?&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; Ballou conceded.
&#8220;It&#8217;s eighty-one percent. What about — let me just ask you, after ten years of being in the United States, what percentage of Somali immigrant households are on — continue to be on welfare?&#8221; Gill pressed again, and again Ballou did not know the answer until Gill provided it: &#8220;The number is seventy-eight percent. So even after ten years, seventy-eight percent of Somali immigrant households continue to be on welfare. Do you know what that number is for native Minnesota-headed households? Non-Somali immigrant-headed households.&#8221;
Ballou protested again, claiming, &#8220;You&#8217;re using the phrase &#8216;native Minnesotans,&#8217; the majority of Somali Minnesotans are as Minnesotan as any of us, they were born in the United States —&#8221;
&#8220;Nevertheless, the welfare usage is astoundingly different,&#8221; Gill declared.

House Oversight Committee Holds Hearing On Minnesota Fraud Investigation

Dem Witness Says Somali Immigrants Make Minnesota ‘Stronger.’ GOP Rep’s Receipts Say Otherwise.

Dem Witness Says Somali Immigrants Make Minnesota 'Stronger.' GOP Rep's Receipts Say Otherwise

Food Stamps

Fraud

Medicaid

Minnesota

Politics

Somalis

Welfare

Since President Trump returned to the Oval Office, he has delivered some of the most momentous reforms in the history of the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), also known as the food stamp program.
Rife with fraud and exploitation, the program is costing taxpayers billions of dollars every year and enriching criminals.
Our research, however, has uncovered a new outrage: More than 5,000 liquor stores and smoke shops are now considered “authorized retailers” to accept food stamps — half of which were approved by the Biden-Autopen administration.
Fortunately, President Trump has begun a major crackdown on abuses. As it continues to improve and renovate the food stamp program, it should ensure that only stores that help achieve the program’s mission are approved as retailers.
Nevertheless, most food stamp trafficking happens not at grocery stores, but <a href="https://thefga.org/research/cracking-down-on-retailer-food-stamp-trafficking/">at convenience stores</a>. In fact, trafficking takes place at more than one out of five convenience stores that accept food stamps. And nearly <a href="https://thefga.org/research/cracking-down-on-retailer-food-stamp-trafficking/">three out of every four</a> stores that accept food stamps are convenience stores.
The Agriculture Department is supposed to vet and approve stores before allowing them to receive food stamps. But under the Biden administration, the process reportedly took as little as 15 minutes. This is obviously not enough scrutiny for stores receiving our tax dollars.
Thankfully, Trump’s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins approved the first-ever waivers to allow states to defund soda and junk food in their food stamp programs, and states like <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/waivers/foodrestriction/nebraska">Nebraska</a> and <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/waivers/foodrestriction/colorado">Colorado</a> have already filed waivers to do so.
To be eligible to receive food stamps, stores are supposed to sell more than a dozen different <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/fr-092525">staple</a> food items, or have food sales as a majority of their revenue. The stores must “effectuate the purpose of the program,” which is to improve nutrition for lower-income Americans. Yet <a href="https://thefga.org/research/cracking-down-on-retailer-food-stamp-trafficking/">more than 4,000 liquor stores</a> and 1,000 tobacco shops are currently considered USDA-approved vendors — which is suspicious, to put it mildly. The idea that a liquor store sells healthy and nutritious food — or that a tobacco store receives a majority of its revenue from food sales — is doubtful. But even if that were the case, liquor stores and tobacco stores simply do not “effectuate the purpose” of the food stamp program.
The food stamp program was created in <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/88th-congress/house-bill/10222/text">1964</a>, specifically to “provide for improved levels of nutrition among low-income households.” But, over the last six decades, politicians and bureaucrats have often lost sight of its mission and opened it up to enormous levels of waste, fraud, and abuse.
As a result, over the last 25 years, food stamp spending has exploded, growing more than sixfold to <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research">more than $100 billion per year</a>. More spending has meant more opportunities for fraud, and it is estimated that last year alone, <a href="https://thefga.org/research/cracking-down-on-retailer-food-stamp-trafficking/">more than $2 billion</a> in food stamp benefits were trafficked — that is, sold for cash at a discount or used to buy food that was then sold for cash. Food stamp trafficking has grown tenfold over the last 25 years.
President Trump signed <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/obbb-implementation">historic legislation</a> to make states pay when they misuse tax dollars. These steps alone will save taxpayers billions of dollars — and thankfully, the Trump administration is not resting on its laurels and is continuing its work to improve the program by addressing food stamp trafficking.
Food stamp trafficking exploded under the Biden administration, as Democrats turned a blind eye to rampant fraud. Half of the liquor stores and smoke shops that are authorized food stamp retailers were approved under President Biden. Most of these stores are in <a href="https://thefga.org/research/cracking-down-on-retailer-food-stamp-trafficking/">California</a>, but states like Michigan and Illinois also have hundreds of liquor stores and smoke shops that are authorized to accept food stamps.
In fact, liquor stores or smoke shops are eligible to accept food stamps in every single state but North Dakota. By 2022, <a href="https://thefga.org/research/cracking-down-on-retailer-food-stamp-trafficking/">nearly half of all stores</a> receiving food stamps were convenience stores, with more than four times as many convenience stores receiving food stamps — and 15 times as much taxpayer money spent there — as there were two decades earlier.
USDA Secretary Rollins recently issued a new rule <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/fr-092525" target="_blank" rel="noopener">that more</a> than doubled the number of required staple food items for stores to qualify to accept food stamps. The new rule also closes loopholes that counted some snack foods as staples. Secretary Rollins is also simplifying the staple food categories, making enforcement easier and ultimately more effective. These rules are just the first step, and there are indications from USDA that a larger <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/programs/fr-092225">crackdown</a> may be coming.
This is excellent news, but USDA should go all the way: Prohibit liquor stores, smoke shops, and other retailers that do not “improve levels of nutrition” from accepting food stamp benefits altogether. Allowing our tax dollars to be used at tobacco shops and liquor stores is not just harmful to hardworking taxpayers, but it also harms the people that food stamps are supposed to help. Secretary Rollins should keep up the good work and make the food stamp program fulfill its original purpose of improving nutrition for those who need it.
* * *
Michael Greibrok is a Senior Research Fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA).
Kristi Stahr is a Senior Data Analyst at the FGA.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Federal Funding For Food Assistance Programs To Run Out Starting Nov. 1, Due To Government Shutdown

Food Stamps And Fraud: The SNAP Loophole Nobody Talks About

brooke rollins

Convenience Industry

Opinion

President Trump

Secretary of Agriculture

SNAP

The Somali-tied welfare fraud scheme in Minnesota is likely far worse than the American people think, involving &#8220;complicit&#8221; state government officials and totaling far more stolen money than original early estimates stated, according to Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller.
Billions of taxpayer dollars have been stolen from the state, and much of the welfare fraud has been tied to Somali migrants, as first reported by City Journal. And, alarmingly, some of the stolen money was allegedly funneled to Al-Shabaab terrorists. 
&#8220;We believe that the Somali fraud operation in Minnesota is the single greatest theft of taxpayer dollars, through welfare fraud, in American history,&#8221; Miller said on Fox News. &#8220;We believe we have only scratched the very top of the surface of how deep this goes.&#8221;
Miller noted that some of the reported welfare scams include people &#8220;pretending that children have autism, who are not in fact autistic,&#8221; and &#8220;pretending to enroll people in food programs, when, in fact, nobody was ever enrolled.&#8221;
These fraudsters, Miller said, engaged in &#8220;massive fraud, lying, and theft, and grift on a scale we&#8217;ve never seen before in American history.&#8221;
&#8220;The total bill, the total tab for this, is going to be far beyond the numbers being reported,&#8221; he said, suggesting we are dealing with billions of stolen tax dollars tied directly to welfare schemes.
50% off DailyWire+ annual memberships will not return for another year, so don’t miss this deal! Join now at <a href="http://dailywire.com/cyberweek">DailyWire.com/cyberweek</a>.
&#8220;Based on the records we already have &#8212; this is a significant undercount, by the way &#8212; 75% of the Somali population in Minnesota is on welfare, and that&#8217;s likely a significant undercount of just how much of a financial burden the Somali refugee population is imposing on this country,&#8221; Miller added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/StephenM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@StephenM</a>: &#8220;We believe that the Somali fraud operation in Minnesota is the single greatest theft of taxpayer dollars, through welfare fraud, in American history&#8230; and we believe that what we are going to uncover is going to shock the American people.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/h4jfFit0jD">pic.twitter.com/h4jfFit0jD</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1997135207707615556?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Trump administration advisor also claimed that Democrat leaders in the state were &#8220;fully complicit&#8221; in the fraud.
&#8220;We believe the state government is fully complicit in this scheme and we believe that what we are going to uncover is going to shock the American people,&#8221; he asserted.
Controversial Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) could be tied up in the scandal.
&#8220;Omar’s close ties to the $1 billion welfare scam in her Minnesota congressional district are being uncovered,&#8221; the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/12/04/us-news/what-did-ilhan-omar-know-about-the-1b-welfare-fraud-case-in-her-minnesota-district/">reported</a> this past week. &#8220;Omar held parties at one of the key restaurants named in the fraud, knew one of its now-convicted owners, and one of her own staffers has also been convicted — both for stealing millions. Omar even introduced the bill that led to $250 million in fraud. Yet she claims to have been completely unaware of it.&#8221;
There are also serious questions about the oversight, or lack thereof, from Democrat Gov. Tim Walz. 
Currently, the Treasury Department is investigating allegations that “under the feckless mismanagement of the Biden Administration and Governor Tim Walz, hardworking Minnesotans’ tax dollars may have been diverted to the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab,&#8221; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced this week.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ilhan-omar-says-trump-supporters-might-attack-somalis-brushes-off-fraud-scandal?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Ilhan+Omar+Says+Trump+Supporters+Might+Attack+Somalis%2C+Brushes+Off+Fraud+Scandal">Ilhan Omar Says Trump Supporters Might Attack Somalis, Brushes Off Fraud Scandal</a>

Funeral Held For Daunte Wright In Minneapolis

The Somali Welfare Fraud Scandal Is Even Worse Than You Think

Trump Admin Says Somali Fraud Scandal Is Even Worse Than You Think 

Crime

Election Fraud

Minneapolis

Somalia

U.S.

President Trump is now activating Immigration and Customs Enforcement to go after Somali illegal immigrants in Minneapolis. This follows the reports about large-scale Somali welfare fraud, including the attempt by many members of the Somali community to defraud the federal and state governments during the pandemic. A lot of that money ended up going in remittances back to Somalia.
On Tuesday, President Trump’s overall take was that the United States needs to radically limit immigration from places like Somalia.
That is correct, because not all countries are going to be equally useful as sources of migrants to the United States. The people who come from many of these countries do not have any sort of cultural habits that mesh well with the United States.
The president <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump-declares-i-dont-want-somalis-in-the-us-that-is-not-politically-correct-i-dont-care/">stated</a> that he doesn&#8217;t want Somalis in the United States, saying:
<blockquote>I hear they ripped off — Somalians — ripped off that state for billions of dollars, billions every year, billions of dollars, and they contribute nothing. The welfare is like 88%. They contribute nothing. I don&#8217;t want them in our country. I&#8217;ll be honest with you. Somebody will say, &#8216;that&#8217;s not politically correct,&#8217; I don&#8217;t care. I don&#8217;t want them in our country. Their country&#8217;s no good for a reason.</blockquote>
When the president says, as a general point, that he does not want Somalis in the country,  that they&#8217;re coming from a culture that does not mesh well with the United States, is he wrong about that? As a general rule, is that wrong?
On Tuesday, the administration unveiled a new regulation that would prevent immigration applications from citizens of 19 countries already covered by President Trump&#8217;s travel bans. Right now, there&#8217;s a travel ban that says if you&#8217;re coming from Iran, Venezuela, or Haiti, you&#8217;re not going to get a travel visa. Now he&#8217;s extending that into a pause on all immigration applications from those 19 countries.
All of this raises the question as to whether the United States ought to block immigration from third-world countries. According to the Migration Policy Institute, from 2015 to 2019, Somalis, of all sub-Saharan African immigrants, had the lowest levels of educational attainment. Only 14% held a bachelor&#8217;s degree or higher. Of all immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, Somali-headed households were the poorest immigrants who came into the United States, and had the lowest median income at $32,000. Somalis in the United States had a 37% poverty rate. Extremely poor, extremely uneducated. Somalis had the highest rates of being uninsured in terms of health insurance: 18%. Somalis had the highest naturalization rate of any of these groups.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2326-trump-blasts-somali-immigrants-media-explodes"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
So they come here extremely poor, extremely uneducated, with a low income and wealth trajectory. And then they get naturalized at a super-high rate because they want to stay, which anyone would want. This is an amazing country. That, however, does not mean we have an obligation to take in everybody.
When they do earn money, a huge percentage of that money gets sent back to Somalia. And some of that money goes to terrorist groups like al-Shabaab.
This is what President Trump is railing against. You may not like his language. You may think that it&#8217;s colorful or purple or whatever, and that&#8217;s fine. Anyone can be critiqued for the language that they use.
But his general point, that the United States cannot afford to take in waves of extremely poor immigrants who do not cohere with the American system, that we cannot afford to bring in hundreds of thousands of people with actual allegiances to war-torn countries like Somalia, who then take a disproportionate share of our welfare dollars, is true.
So when you hear the argument that this is a country of immigrants, well, yes, it is certainly true that this was a country of settlers, and then it was also a country of immigrants. But the kinds of immigrants you take in help define your country, and the systems that they meet here help define your immigrants.
The reason so many people have left their home countries over the course of centuries to come to the United States is because the United States was a place that guaranteed opportunity, but it did not guarantee a gigantic welfare system that actively prevented assimilation.
We changed our own immigration system. We changed our own incentive structure. And then we were surprised when different people came.
The current argument being made is as though we are welcoming people from Eastern Europe or Italy or Ireland or Germany circa 1903, when there were no robust federal welfare systems in the United States. The income tax wasn&#8217;t even constitutional at that point. There were no robust welfare systems, even at the state level. There was no real attempt by the government to get involved in propping up people who were wildly poor, to the tune of not having to assimilate or get a job.
And so that drew a different kind of person. Yes, it drew people who were desperate, but the people who were desperate recognized that their path forward lay in embracing Anglo-American legal ideas, lay in embracing Biblical values , and embracing and assimilating to American rights and responsibilities, because that was the social safety net.
The social safety net was that you join a community, you come here, you join a church, your friends and your family help you out. But then it is your job to learn English. It is your job to go out and get a job. It is your job to put your kids in the local public school and make sure that they get educated the way Americans ought to be educated.
That is why the assimilated project in the United States was extremely successful up until the welfare era.
And then the welfare era began, and everything changed. And it doesn&#8217;t mean that we didn&#8217;t have extreme conflict over immigration prior to the welfare system. There was huge controversy over the levels of Chinese and Jewish immigration in the early part of the 20th century, and before that, huge levels of ire over Irish immigration in the 1840s, 1850s.
Immigration has always been a real hot point in American politics, because when new people come to a country, the question is, are they going to become part of the system or are they going to tear down the system from within?
The great guarantor that people were going to assimilate was the fact that they didn&#8217;t have a choice. The incentive structure drove them toward assimilation. It drove them toward participation in the American Dream.
And then came the welfare system and an incentive structure that said, “Come here and we give you free stuff; we demand nothing of you; you can do basically whatever you want in terms of employment; you can send all your money back home; you don&#8217;t have to actually try to get involved in the Anglo-American project.”
And we were surprised when we drew a different type of immigrant? That&#8217;s ridiculous.
It&#8217;s the same thing as saying, “I have a donut shop, and my donut shop is a prestige donut shop. You come in here, you can get the best of the best donuts. We go in the back every morning, and we handcraft our donuts. They&#8217;re amazing.”
The constituency drawn to that kind of donut shop is going to be of one particular sort of clientele. But then you decide that you&#8217;re going to change your policy, and you just hang a sign in the front window that says “free donuts.” Who do you think is going to show up? It&#8217;s going to be a very, very different constituency. Pretending otherwise is silly.
This is not the fault of the people attempting to come to the United States. This is the fault of our authorities. This is the fault of the elite in our society who claimed that you could change the entire incentive structure, taking people from cultures that have nothing in common with the United States, and somehow those two things could logically coexist within a similar project.
It&#8217;s ridiculous. And then, of course, if you point this out, you are bigoted or racist.
No, it&#8217;s not bigoted or racist to say that if people come from a place that does not have anything in common with the United States, and there is no actual incentivization toward assimilation, they&#8217;re not going to assimilate.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-CABINET

Trump Blasts Somali Immigrants

Ben Shapiro

Donald Trump

Ilhan Omar

Immigrants

Terrorists

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that he&#8217;s working to cut off federal benefits to people in the United States illegally, emphasizing that those benefits should be preserved for American citizens.
&#8220;At [President Donald Trump]&#8216;s direction, we are working to cut off federal benefits to illegal aliens and preserve them for U.S. citizens,&#8221; Bessent posted to X on Friday. 
&#8220;[The United States Treasury] announced that it will issue proposed regulations clarifying that the refunded portions of certain individual income tax benefits are no longer available to illegal and other non-qualified aliens, covering the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Additional Child Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and the Saver’s Match Credit,&#8221; he explained.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
At <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a>&#8216;s direction, we are working to cut off federal benefits to illegal aliens and preserve them for U.S. citizens.<a href="https://twitter.com/USTreasury?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USTreasury</a> announced that it will issue proposed regulations clarifying that the refunded portions of certain individual income tax benefits… <a href="https://t.co/pn2MXoxDHC">https://t.co/pn2MXoxDHC</a>
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent/status/1994478437042438573?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
Bessent&#8217;s announcement was made in response to President Donald Trump declaring on Thanksgiving that he would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/in-blistering-thanksgiving-post-trump-promises-to-stop-migration-from-all-third-world-countries">pause all migration from third-world countries</a>.
Trump also promised to “end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country, denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”
Americans&#8217; generosity, Trump said, has been weaponized, allowing a vast foreign-born population to overwhelm the country and inflict deep social harm.
Trump said the U.S. now hosts a “foreign population” of 53 million, citing census data, and charged that many recent arrivals depend on taxpayer-supported welfare programs while coming from “failed nations, or from prisons, mental institutions, gangs, or drug cartels.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A very Happy Thanksgiving salutation to all of our Great American Citizens and Patriots who have been so nice in allowing our Country to be divided, disrupted, carved up, murdered, beaten, mugged, and laughed at, along with certain other foolish countries throughout the World,…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1994272683387687053?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
In a separate post, Bessent stressed that illegal immigrants have &#8220;no place in our financial system.&#8221;
&#8220;Illegal aliens that use our financial institutions to move their illicitly obtained funds is exploitation, and it will end,&#8221; he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> is right—if you’re here illegally, there’s no place for you in our financial system.
Illegal aliens that use our financial institutions to move their illicitly obtained funds is exploitation, and it will end.<a href="https://t.co/mIy7fFWWNw">https://t.co/mIy7fFWWNw</a>.
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent/status/1994480159093572067?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
This past week, it was uncovered that billions of taxpayer dollars have been stolen in Minnesota, during the tenure of Democrat Gov. Tim Walz. The money was reportedly funneled through fake nonprofits and shell companies, and — alarmingly — some of that money <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/minnesota-welfare-fraud-somalia-al-shabaab">has ended up in the hands</a> of the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Al-Shabaab, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minnesotas-somali-welfare-fraud-taxpayer-cash-funneled-to-terrorist-group?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Minnesota%E2%80%99s+Somali+Welfare+Fraud%3A+Taxpayer+Cash+Funneled+To+Terrorist+Group">The Daily Wire</a> reported.
Much of the fraud has been traced to Minnesota’s Somali community, where politically connected fraudsters have allegedly exploited numerous loopholes in the state’s welfare system.
Additionally, though illegals are technically banned from being direct recipients of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yes-millions-of-illegals-are-receiving-food-stamps?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Yes%2C+Millions+Of+Illegals+Are+Receiving+Food+Stamps">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits</a> and some healthcare benefits, reports indicate millions of illegals receive these taxpayer-funded benefits.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/in-blistering-thanksgiving-post-trump-promises-to-stop-migration-from-all-third-world-countries">In Blistering Thanksgiving Post, Trump Promises To Stop Migration From ‘All Third World Countries’</a>

Illegal immigrants

Treasury Sec: We’re Cutting Off Benefits To Illegals, They Belong To Americans

Illegal Immigration

Scott Bessent

Nine states allow food stamps to be spent in restaurants, and two more are in the process of allowing it. The fact that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is buying taxpayer-funded meals at establishments like McDonald&#8217;s has triggered one Republican senator to introduce a bill to stop it.
More than half a billion dollars in taxpayer money went to paying for the indigent to dine out through the Restaurant Meals Program between June 2023 and May 2025, a new investigation by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) found.
&#8220;While franchises like McDonald’s are making McMillions off of SNAP RMP, allowing fast food to be purchased with food stamps is an idea that is a few fries short of a Happy Meal,&#8221; she wrote. &#8220;The &#8216;N&#8217; in SNAP stands for &#8216;Nutrition,&#8217; and we all know fast food isn’t exactly nutritious,&#8221; she continued, alongside photos of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC locations advertising that they accept government benefit cards.
&#8220;McSCUSE ME?&#8221; Ernst <a href="https://x.com/SenJoniErnst/status/1991604757841203254">added on X</a>. &#8220;The amount of SNAP being spent at fast food should be $0 not McMillions.&#8221;
The Federal Agriculture Department, which funds the food stamp program, <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailer/restaurant-meals-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allows</a> states to optionally allow food stamp recipients to spend their money at restaurants if they are 60 years or older, disabled, the spouse of such a person, or homeless.
Ernst has introduced the &#8220;McStopping Chains from Using SNAP EBT to Make Entrees Act,&#8221; or the <a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/mcscuse_me_act.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">McSCUSE ME Act</a>, that would allow the elderly or disabled to get hot, prepared meals from deli counters and hot bars of grocery stores, but not from fast food chains. It would also remove spouses of qualified people from eligibility.
The SNAP program was already under scrutiny for allowing the indigent to purchase nearly anything edible, such as candy and soda, even as poor people are more likely to be obese than starving, leading to expensive medical care that is also paid for by taxpayers. Nearly 5,000 stores with words related to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/food-stamps-accepted-at-thousands-of-liquor-and-tobacco-stores-contributing-to-healthcare-fiasco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“liquor” or “tobacco”</a> in their names accept food stamps, a Daily Wire review of government data found.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1006147" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown.png" alt="" width="837" height="610" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown.png 837w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown-300x219.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown-790x576.png 790w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown-768x560.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 837px) 100vw, 837px" /></div>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1006149" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown-2.jpg" alt="" width="924" height="696" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown-2.jpg 924w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown-2-300x226.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown-2-765x576.jpg 765w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown-2-768x578.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 924px) 100vw, 924px" /></div>
Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at <a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible c-link--underline" href="http://dailywire.com/blackfriday" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://dailywire.com/blackfriday" data-sk="tooltip_parent">dailywire.com/blackfriday</a>.
In the last year, conservative states have initiated bans on the purchase of soda — a move that states like New York have also pursued over the years, only to be blocked by the federal government, which must issue a waiver. Yet liberal states are moving in the opposite direction, with some newly adding fast food to the menu.
Oregon is running a <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/odhs/agency/pages/ssp-rmp.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;SNAP Restaurant Meals Program&#8221;</a> pilot based on a bill its legislature passed in 2024. It will apply to anyone 60 or older or who has a disability, as well as the homeless. <a href="https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=136655" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Illinois</a> is piloting a restaurant meals program with the same criteria, except that it also extends eligibility to the spouses of people who are disabled or over 60. Restaurants must sign up with the state to accept food stamps.
Other states allowing food stamps at restaurants are Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia, though the vast majority of the spending is in California.
The move to curtail free soda was met with a lobbying campaign by lobbying groups representing soda and candy manufacturers, who rake in billions of dollars from the program. Ernst&#8217;s bill could be met by a similar move from fast food chains.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-maha-wins-12-states-cutting-soda-candy-from-food-stamps" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twelve</a> conservative states have announced plans to ban taxpayer-funded soda, while Kansas&#8217;s Democrat governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kansas-governor-laura-kelly-flip-flops-on-snap-soda-ban-vetoes-bill" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vetoed</a> a bill passed by the state legislature to do so.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-can-food-stamps-buy-junk-food-how-doge-could-save-billions-and-maha" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Why Can Food Stamps Buy Junk Food? How DOGE Could Save Billions And MAHA</a>

The Hamburglar

‘McSCUSE ME?’: 11 States Allow ‘Nutritional’ Food Stamps To Be Spent At Fast Food Restaurants

Joni Ernst

McDonald’s

When it comes to immigration enforcement by the Trump administration, especially for people living in the Midwest, there’s been one decision that’s stood out. And it’s clearly been a deliberate decision, for whatever reason. For the most part, the government has left illegal alien Muslim populations alone, in places like Dearborn, Michigan, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Admittedly, there’s not much hard data on this. But intuitively, you can tell. You can go online and find hundreds of videos of ICE raids in Los Angeles or Texas. But you won’t find many videos coming from Little Mogadishu, which, by some conservative estimates, is home to tens of thousands of illegal aliens. And there’s another way to tell that immigration enforcement has been soft in these areas: They haven’t been rioting. They haven’t been surrounding ICE agents chanting, “Allahu Akbar,” like they’re re-enacting “Black Hawk Down.” Instead, Muslims in these communities have mostly been targeting white conservative activists and journalists, who dare to venture into the no-go zone that they’ve established. They’re not afraid of immigration enforcement. They’re emboldened, like conquerors.
Whatever the administration’s strategy has been here, it does appear to be changing, at least to an extent. Last week, as you may remember, I called for hate crimes charges to be brought against a man who punched a white conservative activist in Dearborn. Within hours, Harmeet Dhillon, who runs the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said she would begin an investigation. Then, shortly after that, the president announced a major change — one that we’ve been calling for, again and again, for several months. He ended “temporary protected status” for Somalis in the United States.
This is a designation that’s been in place for more than three decades. It shields Somalis, in many cases, from being deported back to Somalia, on the theory that the country is so dysfunctional that it would be inhumane to send them back. To be clear, in most other cases, “temporary protected status” is awarded after some terrible natural disaster, like a devastating earthquake or mudslide. The idea is that we don’t want to send people back to an unstable environment like that, where everything is flooded or on fire. But in Somalia’s case, there was no devastating earthquake or mudslide or anything like that. There’s just a lot of Somalis attempting to govern themselves. And that’s been such a disaster that, for more than 30 years, it’s been the official policy of the U.S. government that we shouldn’t send Somalis back to their own country. Somali governance is equivalent to a 9.0 earthquake — it’s just as catastrophic. Essentially, we’ve said we can’t send Somalis back to Somalia because there are so many Somalis there. It would be cruel to force Somalis to live with Somalis. So instead, we should force Americans to live with them. 
Of course, the appropriate response in this scenario is to keep Somalis as far away from the United States as possible. We don’t want them establishing an enclave in this country, because inevitably, it will be just as dysfunctional as the country they fled. But for many years now, it’s been the policy of the United States to pretend otherwise — and to give Somalis yet another host country to destroy.
The fact that the Trump administration is changing this policy, after so many years, is a clear signal that they’re thinking about going into Muslim communities (particularly Somali communities) and enforcing immigration law, as well as civil rights law. This is a crackdown that’s long overdue. And it’s more urgent than ever, because at this point, law enforcement is now working on behalf of the foreign criminals in cities like Minneapolis. The leaders of major police departments are now far more worried about offending their Muslim overlords than actually enforcing the law.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1696-the-matt-walsh-show?contentProgram=The%20Matt%20Walsh%20Show&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-976065" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Earlier, I covered how conservatives can be physically attacked by Muslims in Dearborn, right in front of the police, and the police will do nothing. But the situation is even worse in Minneapolis, where the chief of police, Brian O’Hara, just apologized to the Somali community for pointing out that they’re committing a lot of crimes. This may be the first documented case of a police chief begging for forgiveness, simply for observing the fact that crime is taking place in his city.
So <a href="https://alphanews.org/mpd-chief-cites-east-african-kids-from-out-of-town-in-ongoing-dinkytown-youth-crime-problems/">here’s what</a> Chief Brian O’Hara said, in an interview with a local radio station. This was the observation that outraged the Somali community, as reported by Alpha News.
&#8220;Chief O’Hara said in the interview, &#8216;Groups of kids, groups of East African kids that are coming from surrounding communities and not just one community, kind of all over the place,” are coming to the area armed and ready for a fight. &#8230; “They aren’t the poor kids from Minneapolis that are our residents, these are kids coming down in mommy’s Mercedes-Benz to Dinkytown.&#8221;
What he’s saying is obviously true. No one disputes that it’s accurate. Somalis, from East Africa, are invading communities in Minneapolis and committing serious crimes.
But Somalis in Minneapolis decided that this statement simply could not stand. That’s because large Somali communities in the United States are effectively a criminal enterprise, like a mafia. There’s widespread awareness in these communities about the fraud and robberies they commit. And they understand that, in order to minimize any undesired attention, they need to band together and shut down any suggestion — from anywhere — that they’re engaging in criminal activity. There’s a code of silence that they obey themselves and enforce on everyone else. After all, the easiest way to conceal a criminal enterprise is to make sure no one is allowed to talk about it.
It’s been known for a long time that Somalis operate like this. And it’s also been widely understood that politicians in Minneapolis are going along with it. The mayor, as we all know, isn’t ashamed to pander to Somalis and BLM, and so on. He’s certainly never critiqued Somalis, nor would he dream of doing so.
That said, even with this background in mind, the police chief just took things to another level. He didn’t simply pander to Somalis or turn a blind eye to their crimes. He actually went on camera and apologized for making a factually accurate statement about criminal activity in Minneapolis. Accompanied by a translator, the police chief apologized for doing his job, for informing the public about criminal activity, and for enforcing the law against Somalis. 
If any video justifies a federal takeover of law enforcement in Minneapolis, it’s this one. 
<h3>Watch:</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING: MPD Police Chief O’Hara asks for forgiveness for exposing the reality of Somali criminal activity in Minneapolis <a href="https://t.co/SFkWW2ZSXy">pic.twitter.com/SFkWW2ZSXy</a>
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1991678468959129940?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @EndWokeness/X.com
He says we have to be honest about what’s happening. And then in the same breath, he apologizes for being honest about what’s happening. It looks like a hostage video, because that’s exactly what it is.
After seeing this, is there anyone who seriously believes that any law enforcement official in Minnesota, from the attorney general on down, has any interest in arresting and prosecuting Somalis when they commit crimes? The guy looks absolutely petrified. And all he did was make a factually accurate statement. He didn&#8217;t even arrest anyone.
But if somehow you think law and order still exist in Minneapolis, maybe this video will be the wake-up call you need. 
This is a sheriff in Minnesota. 
<h3>Watch:</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
At the 24 second mark he says, “that’s why we are different from foreigners,” referring to native, Minnesotan officers.
Read that again. He refers to the natives as the foreigners. It’s an invasion. <a href="https://t.co/BOy7SqsgfE">https://t.co/BOy7SqsgfE</a>
— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) <a href="https://twitter.com/WallStreetMav/status/1992419966575161478?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @WallStreetMav/X.com
According to the translation, the Minnesota sheriff refers to white police officers as “foreigners.” He says he’s working for Somalis and understands Somalis better than those foreign officers ever could. (Disclaimer: I have no idea how accurate the translation is. But that&#8217;s not my problem, because every single public official in the state should be speaking English.)
What’s important to understand about clips like this is that, as unacceptable as they obviously are, the actual problem is much, much worse. What these clips signify is that the Somali takeover of Minnesota is now so pervasive that they’re not even pretending to hide it anymore. If sheriffs and the chief of police are willing to pledge their allegiance to Somalia on-camera, then there’s no chance whatsoever that Somalis are actually being prosecuted for committing serious crimes. Maybe the DOJ will catch some fraudsters here and there, but the vast majority of these crimes are going completely unpunished. And everyone knows it.
But just in case there was any doubt, a few days ago, Ryan Thorpe and Chris Rufo <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/minnesota-welfare-fraud-somalia-al-shabaab?utm_source=virtuous&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=cjdaily">published an article</a> in City Journal highlighting the extent of the rampant fraud in Minneapolis. It&#8217;s so over-the-top and brazen that it almost sounds fake.
&#8220;Autism claims to Medicaid in Minnesota have skyrocketed in recent years — from $3 million in 2018 to $54 million in 2019, $77 million in 2020, $183 million 2021, $279 million in 2022, and $399 million in 2023. Meantime, the number of autism providers in the state spiked from 41 to 328 over the same period, with many in the Somali community establishing their own autism treatment centers, citing the need for “culturally appropriate programming.” By the time the fraud scheme was exposed, one in 16 Somali four-year-olds in the state had reportedly been diagnosed with autism — a rate more than triple the state average.&#8221;
Yes, claims for autism treatment in Minnesota — treatment that was mostly administered by Somalis, and which was then reimbursed by federal taxpayers — spiked from $3 million to $399 million, in the span of just five years. And this is just one of their scams. They&#8217;re scamming everything they can get their hands on, from COVID food programs to SNAP to the paycheck protection program. And we all know that, even when the DOJ catches a handful of Somalis who are involved, there&#8217;s no way to actually recover the money. The few Somalis who are eventually sentenced to prison, in all likelihood, won&#8217;t be there for very long.
(By the way, there&#8217;s also a very good, comprehensive analysis of Somali fraud in Minnesota, written by Armin Rosen in the publication &#8220;County Highway.&#8221; It&#8217;s one of the better explanations of how Minnesota officials are concealing all of this fraud.)
But the City Journal article highlights another important dimension of the story, which needs to be addressed — which is that Somalis in Minnesota are sending a lot of this stolen money back home. They&#8217;re taking the money you pay to the IRS, and they&#8217;re shipping it to Somalia. In some cases, they&#8217;re literally putting the cash in suitcases and flying it overseas. These are called &#8220;remittances.&#8221; And, as we discussed last week, millions of dollars in &#8220;remittances&#8221; are apparently <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/minnesota-welfare-fraud-somalia-al-shabaab?utm_source=virtuous&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=cjdaily">going to</a> Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda.
&#8220;The Somali fraud rings have sent huge sums in remittances, or money transfers, from Minnesota to Somalia. According to reports, an estimated 40 percent of households in Somalia get remittances from abroad. In 2023 alone, the Somali diaspora sent back $1.7 billion — more than the Somali government’s budget for that year. &#8230; Significant funds were being sent from America to Al-Shabaab networks in Somalia. Whether the money was intended for Al-Shabaab or not, they were taking a cut.&#8221;
One obvious step to address this problem — which the Trump administration should take immediately — is to raise the tax on remittances to 10,000%, at least for remittances going to Somalia. Currently, the tax is something like 1%. It&#8217;s absurdly low. And especially since we&#8217;re clearly being robbed, to the tune of billions of dollars, that needs to change. We need an emergency tax on remittances, immediately.
We also need to ramp up deportations and denaturalization proceedings. That&#8217;s going to trigger a legal battle, but it&#8217;s one we need to fight. The attorney general of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, is <a href="https://x.com/keithellison/status/1992301392225038837?s=20">already vowing</a> to take the Trump administration to court in order to keep as many Somalis in this country as possible.
&#8220;Trump’s announcement of termination of Somali TPS holders in Minnesota is legally problematic — while a president does have a lot of authority to designate and revoke TPS, he cannot legally wield that power to discriminate against an ethnic group or to target a state, like MN. This ain’t over.&#8221;
Yes, it&#8217;s &#8220;legally problematic&#8221; to end an extraordinary carve-out, which we&#8217;ve awarded to Somalis for no reason whatsoever, for more than 30 years. This is what always happens when you give any concessions or &#8220;favors&#8221; to anyone, including foreign nations. Instantaneously, it becomes an entitlement. They&#8217;ll sue you if you try to end it. Their lawyers will claim that you&#8217;ve violated the Constitution.
But if you ask Somalis themselves, ironically enough, they&#8217;ll drop the pretense. At this point, Somalis are basically daring us to deport them. This was Ilhan Omar&#8217;s <a href="https://x.com/IlhanMN/status/1992056830575435815?s=20">response</a> after Trump terminated Somalia&#8217;s temporary protected status.
&#8220;I am a citizen and so are the majority of Somalis in America. Good luck celebrating a policy change that really doesn’t have much impact on the Somalis you love to hate. We are here to stay.&#8221;
Notice she doesn&#8217;t even refer to her own people as Americans. She admits that they&#8217;re &#8220;Somalis in America.&#8221; They&#8217;re foreign invaders in our country. They&#8217;ve taken over local law enforcement. They&#8217;ve taken over the state attorney general&#8217;s office. They&#8217;re attacking conservatives in the street.
And now, the moment the Trump administration suggests that laws might actually be enforced in Little Mogadishu, they&#8217;re saying &#8220;come get us.&#8221; 
For once, we should give Ilhan Omar and her Somali countrymen exactly what they&#8217;re asking for.

Rally at the capitol to raise awareness of the human rights violations in Somalia

The Somali Takeover Of Minneapolis Is Worse Than We Thought

Corruption

Matt Walsh

Muslims

Police

In the end, it was air travel, of all things, that ended the longest government shutdown in United States history. That was the point of failure. We just shut down the federal government for 43 days, which runs a budget of around $6 trillion a year, and nothing of value broke during that period — nothing at all — until the flight cancellations and delays started ramping up within the last few days. It wasn&#8217;t until the air traffic controllers walked off the job that a single American had any good reason to complain about the shutdown.
As much as I&#8217;m loath to talk about federal government shutdowns — they are, in every case, a waste of time that benefits no one — this one actually turned out to be a pretty interesting experiment. It was a stress test that exposed some key weaknesses in the conservative movement, as well as the way the federal government works. And before the next funding bill is voted on — which will take place at the end of January, apparently — it&#8217;s worth shoring up some of these weaknesses as quickly as we possibly can.
At a minimum, we need to answer some pretty basic questions that no one ever seems to talk about. Starting with: Why exactly is air travel a core function of the federal government? Why does air travel shut down when the government does? More specifically, why are air traffic controllers paid by the federal government at all?
Since the 1940s or so, the federal government has employed air traffic controllers in this country. Taxpayers have been responsible for their salaries and benefits, and everyone&#8217;s been okay with that arrangement. But there&#8217;s no clear reason we&#8217;re doing it this way. And indeed, several countries have a very different system. For example, Canada has a nonprofit called &#8220;Nav Canada&#8221; in charge of their air traffic control system. They generate their own revenue. They&#8217;re self-sufficient. Did you realize that? Did you know that, when it comes to aviation, we actually have more government bloat than Canada? In terms of efficiency, we&#8217;re being shown up by a country that&#8217;s put the government in charge of everything — from healthcare to Facebook to euthanizing people who miss rent payments. It&#8217;s embarrassing.
One of the many benefits of a private system, when it comes to air traffic control, is that government dysfunction doesn&#8217;t strand tens of thousands of travelers and shut down the entire aviation industry. The ability of the country to travel using airplanes isn&#8217;t contingent on appropriations bills in Congress. Additionally, in a private system, government bureaucracy (in our case, the FAA) isn&#8217;t in charge of operating the same system that it&#8217;s supposed to regulate. If a private entity is in charge of air traffic control, then the private entity can focus on directing traffic and upgrading its systems, and the federal government can focus on checking its work. They can supervise. That&#8217;s the ideal arrangement.
But we don&#8217;t have a privatized system for air traffic control — even though most major airlines in the United States want one — for a very simple reason: Air traffic control, like many other government-run industries, is designed to be as inefficient as possible. It&#8217;s essentially a jobs program that saps taxpayer money while sabotaging any potential for innovation. And indeed, there hasn&#8217;t been innovation in the industry for many years.
Air traffic controllers are still using paper strips, which they shuffle around by hand, to track flights in many control towers — even though it&#8217;s obviously a less efficient and more dangerous system. And this system has persisted despite the fact that the FAA has been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/faa-nextgen-us-air-traffic-reform-effort-faces-lengthy-delays-over-budget-2025-10-01/">working</a> on a program called &#8220;NextGen&#8221; to update air traffic control systems (including the paper strips) for more than 20 years.
Yes, over more than two decades, the FAA has supposedly been working on a $15 billion project to modernize air traffic control. And they&#8217;re currently behind schedule and over-budget. Their plan to get rid of the paper flight strips has been delayed until 2030. They&#8217;re going to scale back the number of airports they update by 45%, and costs are over-budget by 20%.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1691-the-matt-walsh-show?elementPosition=1&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-976065 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Matt-watch-now-1.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
A private, self-funded corporation could fix all of these problems virtually overnight. And they could probably do it with fewer employees, too. They could update the software in the control towers, take some of the workload off the controllers, and make everyone safer. But the unions wouldn&#8217;t like that change, for obvious reasons. And apparently, no one in Washington wants to privatize air traffic control either, because as far as I can tell, no politician is even broaching the subject at the moment. Even though the government shutdown just exposed a gigantic vulnerability in the aviation industry, the possibility of reforming the air traffic control system is going totally unmentioned.
Instead, one after another, Republican politicians have been posting videos celebrating the end of the government shutdown because SNAP benefits are being restored. That&#8217;s what they&#8217;re focusing on. They&#8217;re not talking about the fact that, other than air traffic control, we don&#8217;t appear to need the federal government at all.
Instead, they&#8217;re thrilled that billions of dollars will continue to flow to the 40 million Americans on food stamps, even though 40 million Americans clearly don&#8217;t need handouts to afford food. It&#8217;s an absurdly, comically fraudulent program, and yet, to Republicans in Congress, SNAP recipients are worth mentioning in the same breath as military servicemembers and federal law enforcement officers. Watch:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Tonight, we ended the Democrat shutdown so that we can fund programs like SNAP and WIC and pay our troops, federal workers, and air traffic controllers. <a href="https://t.co/RdjMihaKeF">pic.twitter.com/RdjMihaKeF</a>
— Congressman Rudy Yakym (@RepRudyYakym) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepRudyYakym/status/1988792508374216936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @RepRudyYakym/X.com
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Just finished voting to end the 43-day Democratic-led shutdown. Tonight’s vote gets our troops and federal workers paid, restores SNAP, and lets us get back to legislating. And even while Washington was stuck, I kept working for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CO03?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CO03</a>, securing $450,000 for new,… <a href="https://t.co/ztHJRjkVwu">pic.twitter.com/ztHJRjkVwu</a>
— Rep. Jeff Hurd (@RepJeffHurd) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepJeffHurd/status/1988793628576133397?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @RepJeffHurd/X.com
One of those things is not like the others. We can all agree that law enforcement officers and military servicemembers, and air traffic controllers should be paid. That&#8217;s because they&#8217;re actually doing something. But SNAP recipients aren&#8217;t doing anything. They&#8217;re just taking handouts they don&#8217;t need. Seventy-five <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/do-food-stamps-make-people-fat-why-does-washington-subsidize-soda-and-candy-4d29659f?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqf9M-dHq1KxNxYg2R3rBtTfRzhDXrxuROSMQy3inDPuj_R5GWLSCZxazNO0wfA%3D&amp;gaa_ts=69016d5f&amp;gaa_sig=3m34s8qxfaT1rrz3S9qsK1YT5Q7s9NSWqVFlMhWSRcBIx5iqK27Kj4Grph_Nord1e6MdtldEOcVw7Sx3QmyCcg%3D%3D">percent</a> of SNAP recipients are overweight or obese. If you break it down, according to USDA data, 44% of SNAP recipients are obese, 28% are overweight, and only 2.5% are underweight. So at a minimum, we can cut this program by 75%, and no one would be affected. We&#8217;d be eliminating a massive amount of fraud, right off the bat, if we required SNAP recipients to step on a scale before we gave them their EBT card.
But really, the scale of the fraud is much greater than that, because pretty much every SNAP recipient is taking advantage of many other welfare programs too, including WIC, which, for many Americans, duplicates what the SNAP program does. (Actually, there&#8217;s one important difference. WIC only offers a list of pre-approved items like milk and bread. SNAP, on the other hand, will happily pay for your Oreo cookies and your two liters of Coke.)
And on top of that, grocery stores and so-called &#8220;bodegas&#8221; often defraud the SNAP program in plain sight. A few years ago, The Daily Wire&#8217;s Luke Rosiak spent a week standing around in various stores, writing down what people bought with food stamps. It turns out that the &#8220;bodegas&#8221; — whose trustworthiness the SNAP program is 100% reliant on — were openly selling ski masks in August, pipes for smoking crack, and cigarettes. They&#8217;re just criminal one-stop shops. In some cases, as Fox&#8217;s Will Cain reported, cashiers will run EBT cards for $100 in food, but return $50 cash to the customer instead of groceries. And then the SNAP recipient will sell the EBT card balance to someone else. Additionally, of course, many SNAP applications are simply fraudulent and include incorrect information about income, household members, and so on.
For her part, the Agriculture Secretary just disclosed that 5,000 dead people are getting SNAP, and half a million people are getting SNAP benefits twice under the same name. And that&#8217;s just the data they&#8217;ve been able to gather from conservative states. Left-wing states aren&#8217;t turning over the data at all, because obviously, the fraud is even worse there. Watch:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 BREAKING: In a jaw-dropping revelation, Sec. Brooke Rollins found 5,000 DEAD PEOPLE getting SNAP, and 500,000 PEOPLE getting SNAP &#8220;2 times under the same name.&#8221;
And that&#8217;s just what they&#8217;ve confirmed&#8230;
&#8220;This light has now been shined one of the most CORRUPT, DISFUNCTIONAL… <a href="https://t.co/GfCN49yAwN">pic.twitter.com/GfCN49yAwN</a>
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1988766862994289135?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @EricLDaugh/FoxNews/X.com
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins: “We found one guy [collecting SNAP benefits] in 6 states… under the same number… These are the red states that turned their data over. It’s the blue states that we’re trying to get data on.”
“Can you imagine if this fraud is happening in… <a href="https://t.co/iFbKI8zHO2">pic.twitter.com/iFbKI8zHO2</a>
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) <a href="https://twitter.com/RedWave_Press/status/1988775229225628098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @RedWave_Press/FoxNews/X.com
The Agriculture Secretary is promising some future action, which is all she can really do in her position. But that&#8217;s simply not good enough. The action that should&#8217;ve been taken, by every single Republican in Congress, was to abolish the SNAP program entirely. Don&#8217;t throw billions more dollars into the fire. Get rid of it. Keep the government shut down if you have to.
The fact that Republicans caved on this issue, by itself, makes this shutdown an abject failure for the party. Yes, Democrats didn&#8217;t get the Obamacare subsidies they wanted — at least not yet. And yes, if that holds, it&#8217;s going to save taxpayers money that would&#8217;ve gone to healthcare for illegal aliens and other loyal Democrat voters.
But there&#8217;s really no reason to think that this stopgap is going to hold. After all, Republican lawmakers have just demonstrated that they&#8217;re willing to tolerate billions of dollars in fraudulent handouts every year. Roughly 60% of these fraudulent SNAP handouts go to illegal alien households. And yet, Republicans won&#8217;t even condemn that fraud or mention it. Instead, they&#8217;ll celebrate the payment of SNAP benefits as if it&#8217;s some great win for the country because, at long last, the flight delays will end. We&#8217;re supposed to accept the proposition that your ability to fly on an airplane in this country — the world&#8217;s greatest superpower — is contingent on the ability of tens of millions of people to receive fraudulent benefits. That&#8217;s the position of the Republican Party. Give them about three months, and they&#8217;ll be rolling out healthcare subsidies for illegal aliens as well. Everyone knows it.
At this point, it&#8217;d be shocking if you could find anyone in this country who&#8217;s excited to vote for any of these Republican lawmakers in the midterms a year from now. They have refused again and again to take a principled stand on anything — from codifying the DOGE cuts in the federal government, to restricting H1-B visas, to impeaching federal judges who are flagrantly violating their oaths of office. And now, predictably, these same Republicans have decided to waste yet another opportunity with this government shutdown. Once again, nothing will change. Air travel will continue to be dependent on the federal government. Illegal aliens will get more of your tax money. And in January, when the next funding showdown is supposed to take place, we&#8217;ll probably get rolled all over again. That&#8217;s what millions of Republican voters have to look forward to. They can look forward to being taken advantage of, time and time again. The GOP majority can either address these voters directly and give them what they voted for, or they won&#8217;t be the majority for much longer.

US Capitol building at sunset

As The Longest Government Shutdown Ends, The SNAP Scam Returns

air traffic controllers

Air Travel

Federal Government

Government Shutdown

Firestorm Over Food Stamps Erupts With Funds Set to Expire

The EBT Scam Just Went From Bad To Worse

Amazon

Democrats

Walmart

The EBT Program Is A Massive Scam, And The Government Shutdown Just Proved It

Amy Klobuchar

Food

Schumer Shutdown

Taxes

We are not solving our deficit problem.
You can see what&#8217;s going to happen to the United States down the line, because no one takes this problem seriously. Most Republicans don&#8217;t. Most Democrats don&#8217;t. The American people certainly do not. 
All you have to do is take a look across the ocean at Great Britain. On Wednesday, there was a shocking and fraught moment that happened there. The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/uk/britains-chancellor-in-tears-as-investors-turn-on-government-22aee17f?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAjZpkxEZH_qTxXcl-zvbi7np_J3qYRtV5gD99cAFFKx9W04z7JDoMWZ-xkzK3w%3D&amp;gaa_ts=6866caec&amp;gaa_sig=0k3E5u5VSkXj7mYSs0Q3EQLJqtEknleCqra4ptlRa79N59RLrBTHOVLmsAPH4A3zsL6rpF65FSo9B8cDPH9nDA%3D%3D">reported</a>:
<blockquote>Investors sold off British government bonds and the pound fell sharply on Wednesday after the Labour government abandoned plans to cut ballooning welfare costs and the country’s Chancellor of the Exchequer was seen crying in parliament. The selloff came hours after the government of Prime Minister <a href="https://www.wsj.com/topics/person/keir-starmer">Keir Starmer</a> shelved a plan to cut disability payments following a rebellion by Labour’s own lawmakers. 
The U-turn raised the prospect of the government hiking taxes or issuing more debt to fund its welfare system. It also casts doubt over the future of Rachel Reeves, the U.K. chancellor, who took the job just over a year ago promising a return to economic stability in Britain by<a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-sp500-nasdaq-live-01-23-2025/card/u-k-will-stick-to-fiscal-rules-reeves-tells-wsj-lyApDGigeve1oDWxyzwP?mod=article_inline"> sticking to strict spending rules. </a> The pound sank in value, losing more than 1% to trade at $1.36. U.K. government bonds, too, tumbled in price, sending the yield on 10-year gilts up 0.12 percentage point to 4.581%. That far outpaced the more muted gains for yields in the U.S. and in other major markets. 
“Markets have latched onto the idea that Reeves’s departure might be much more imminent,” said Mark Dowding, chief investment officer for fixed income at RBC BlueBay Asset Management. “That is unsettling investors in terms of what that means of the Labour government’s commitment to the fiscal framework.” </blockquote>
Of course, the Labour Party didn&#8217;t have any commitment to the fiscal framework; they are a far-Left party. They were never going to be fiscally responsible.  
This is demonstrative of a crisis that is eventually going to face every Western government, including the government of the United States. “The government’s climbdown points to a broader truth for governments across Western Europe, where weak economic growth means countries are struggling to raise enough revenue to pay for rising costs from an aging population, the Journal stated “With voters largely wary of spending cuts, that leaves higher taxes, which could hurt growth further, as the most likely outcome.”
“Britain is already on course to register the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/uk/britains-labour-party-bets-on-big-taxes-borrowing-to-boost-economy-5d3eba82?mod=article_inline">highest tax burden</a> since World War II thanks to big spending during the pandemic and paying out for energy subsidies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile its growth prospects remain meager,” the Journal noted.
If you look into the future for the United States, this sort of thing could happen here, too. The United States is demographically growing only because of immigration.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2231?elementPosition=5&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
The reality is that the fertility rate in the United States is actually below replacement levels, at 1.66 births per woman. The United States is not replacing its own population. The only way we are able to do that is through large-scale immigration, which we have stopped, which means we have a shrinking tax base, an aging population, just like Western Europe, slower but similar.
We also have the possibility of serious economic stagnation, absent a massive breakthrough in AI that suddenly translates into higher productivity.
If all of that materializes and we don&#8217;t cut any of the massive welfare state that we have built, we are going to end up inflating our way out of this. That&#8217;s the reality. As I&#8217;ve said myriad times, there are only three solutions to massive debt: inflation, massive tax increases, or austerity. Our population is so used to its benefits that they do not want austerity.
But eventually, the West is going to have to grow up and recognize that the welfare state has costs attendant upon it. And those costs are going to have to be paid for by someone; they can&#8217;t be kicked down the road indefinitely. You can&#8217;t just magically manufacture money and hope the economy is going to continue to sail forward.
So, what does the United States need? It needs massive economic growth, and eventually it&#8217;s going to need some real cuts to the size and scope of government.
The kind of cuts in the Big, Beautiful Bill are not going to do it. They need to be a lot larger than that.
I know that&#8217;s an unpopular view. It also happens to be an economically sane view that very few people in politics are willing to take because most people don&#8217;t want to hear it.
But we must be willing to listen to reality, even if it’s painful, for one reason, and one reason alone: In the end, reality always wins.

NATO Leaders Attend 2025 Summit In The Hague

Reality And The Fiscal Wake-Up Call From Britain

England

Entitlement Reform

Europe

Great Britain

Keir Starmer

London

National Debt

Parliament

President Trump is apparently pushing for a higher tax rate. That’s a nonstarter.
The tax regime that President Trump put into place in his first term, his tax cuts, were a boon to the economy. They actually disproportionately benefited people who were middle and lower class. Revising the tax regime to pay for more loopholes and tax breaks in particular areas by increasing taxes on the highest income earners will sink investment capital. That&#8217;s what it does.
As somebody who has been in most tax brackets at one point in my life, I can tell you I will invest less if I have less money to invest. That&#8217;s true for everyone who is a high net earner. Increasing the income tax on the top income tax bracket in order to pay for more useless government spending — because nobody has the actual guts to say in American politics that we spend too much on our social welfare programs, which we do, particularly our means tested social welfare programs — will break the American economy.
It&#8217;s like shifting deckchairs on the Titanic.
Increasing the marginal tax rate at the top by 2% or something similar is not going to save anything. If the Republican Party is now the tax-raising party and the tariff party, we will have to see how that works out for them at the polls.
I do not think it is going to work out particularly well.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2196-member-exclusive?elementPosition=3&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
According to some reports, President Trump is privately urging speaker Mike Johnson to raise the top tax rate and close the so-called “carried interest loophole.”
You hear about the “carried interest loophole” all the time. Very often the media will use a term and call it a loophole when it&#8217;s not a loophole at all. Here’s an example: They will refer to a “gun show loophole,” claiming that if you&#8217;re a federally licensed firearms dealer, you can just go to a gun show and sell a gun randomly, which is not true. They say the “gun show loophole” means a private person who sells a gun to his friend doesn&#8217;t have to necessarily go through all of the federal background check, which just means that if you are a federally licensed firearms dealer and you&#8217;re a private individual, that these rules don&#8217;t apply to you in the same way.
So what is the “carried interest loophole”? Is it a loophole at all? What is carried interest? “Carried interest” works like this: Fund managers typically receive two forms of compensation. If you work at hedge fund or in private equity or venture capital, you have two forms of being paid.
One is a management fee, which is just income. You simply get paid a flat fee to handle people&#8217;s portfolios.
Then there&#8217;s the so-called “carried interest,” which is a share of the fund&#8217;s profits. The fund makes a profit; you get a share of the profit. But in order for it to qualify for capital gains tax as opposed to income tax, the underlying investments have to be held for more than three years.
Management fees are taxed at the regular income rate; carried interest is taxed as the long-term capital gain at a maximum rate of 20% if the underlying investments are held for more than three years.
So here is the question. If you have a share of the profits, isn&#8217;t that more like owning a stock? That&#8217;s the reason why it&#8217;s not treated as a form of typical income. It&#8217;s more like selling a stock because you actually are getting a share of stock that was profitable and then it was sold. Thus it&#8217;s more like a capital gain than it is like income.
Now you can make an argument that capital gains should be taxed the same as income. But stop pretending that the “carried interest loophole” is a form of normal income that&#8217;s getting carved out for hedge fund managers. That&#8217;s not what it is.
This populist leftist economic policy for heavy trade restrictionism for the sake of trade restrictionism as a subsidy to particular areas of the American economy added to higher tax rates, and I&#8217;m wondering what the difference is between that economic policy per se and leftist Democrat senator Sherrod Brown&#8217;s economic policy when he was senator from Ohio.
That is not the economic policy that President Trump enacted in his first term that was so wildly successful in increasing the earnings of everybody from the bottom part of the spectrum to the top part of the spectrum.
This would be a mistake.

Menu