CNN has finally picked up on the viral video made by Nick Shirley, showing him visiting Somali-owned daycares in Minnesota, where there are no children to be found. Did CNN send a correspondent to Minneapolis to knock on these same doors? Not surprisingly, CNN was more interested in the 23-year-old MAGA journalist. Does Shirley consider himself MAGA? We didn't pick that up from the video.
CNN has already gone after @nickshirleyy, attempting to write off his reporting in Minnesota and lamenting his lack of “fact checks” and “guardrails.”
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 30, 2025
I’m not sure I would hang my hat on the legacy media’s “fact checks” or “guardrails” but at least CNN accurately reported that… pic.twitter.com/b9OgNFpFMb
The post continues:
… only the Right appears to be concerned about stopping the massive fraud in Minnesota and beyond.
CNN Business reports:
The MAGA leaders promoted Shirley’s video of himself and a Minnesota activist investigating federally funded facilities in the state that allegedly posed as daycares without any children present. It’s part of what many on the right say is widespread government assistance fraud perpetuated by the Somali community there.…
Shirley and others like him present themselves as the future of journalism. They often claim the lack of traditional editing, fact checks and guardrails makes them more trustworthy. Meanwhile, the audience for mainstream media has been falling for years, and public trust in traditional journalists is at historic lows, amplified by political figures who make denigrating journalists part of their brand.
…
By 2025, Shirley was well-known in the MAGA universe and was invited to speak at the White House in October during a roundtable with President Donald Trump about Antifa, an anti-fascist movement with no leadership or organization.
A roundtable that the mainstream media decided to ignore.
CNN is more concerned that an independent journalist who doesn't work for them could garner more than 116 million views on X, and that doesn't include YouTube. CNN wishes it could come close to those numbers. CNN concludes, "But in today’s modern media environment, it’s the right figure — with the right following and with the style that resonates with the audience hitting at the right time — that can make all the viral difference."
Actually, doing real journalism makes all the viral difference.
The folks at @CNN are going to continue doing this: trying to dismiss journalists outside the corporate press, and suggest they represent a “danger” to the subjects of their coverage. https://t.co/n1wqiVXQ5g
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 30, 2025
It's called credentialism, it's a way they try to hide annoying facts by saying they don't count due to who found them.
— J.R. "Bob" Dogges (@CountryM0j0) December 30, 2025
How did he get labeled a “MAGA Journalist”?
— Scott G (@scttfrnks) December 30, 2025
Maybe he considers himself MAGA? Or is it that anyone who finds himself at odds with the left and legacy media is labeled “MAGA” as a delegitimization tactic? Could just call him an amateur…
They are more interested in investigating him than the crime.
— Dad (@FamilyCrazyLife) December 30, 2025
All they have to do is introduce doubt, they don't have to prove him wrong...
The thing is, if he really was so irrelevant and just chasing clout, why would CNN even care enough to write a hit piece about him?
— The Model Gamer (@TheModelGamerYT) December 30, 2025
Speaking of fact checks and guardrails, who has had to settle more defamation suits… CNN or this 23-year-old YouTuber?
— Brother Seamus (@WaynePelota) December 30, 2025
Decades ago, the story would have been, "Young independent journalist is taking on years of unchecked fraud."
— Abused Lives Matter (@AbusdLivesMattr) December 30, 2025
They would have applauded him for seeking the truth and bravely taking on corruption.
America used to love an underdog story.
He did their job and got more views than they could ever dream of, on a platform they hate.
— MaseMans (@masemans) December 30, 2025
Of course they wanna drag him through the mud. He’s the competition.
They also make sure to call him “MAGA” as much as possible, essentially telling their viewers to ignore and condemn him out of hand for simply existing.
— blanky mcblank (@f4z6nxjqvx) December 30, 2025
CNN could be spending its energy looking into the rampant fraud in Minnesota, but it's more concerned with investigating the independent journalist who uncovered the fraud and how he managed to garner so many views. They call him a MAGA journalist to immediately discredit him with their few viewers.
It's a story so stupid we would have thought senior media correspondent Brian Stelter would have written it.
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