Internet Media

MAGA Media Distorting Minnesota?

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Article in Media Matters by MAtt Gertz, 1/30/26

Headline:  “MAGA media demand Trump put down the Minnesota ‘revolution’ “

“A week after Border Patrol officers gunned down nurse Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis, MAGA media’s biggest stars are portraying locals who oppose immigration enforcement officers’ brutal tactics as China-backed ‘revolutionaries’ seeking ‘the complete overthrow of Western civilization’ which they are urging President Donald Trump to put down at all costs…”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/maga-media-demand-trump-put-down-minnesota-revolution

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 2/2/26

Headline: ” I Might Get Arrested, People’ “

Subhead: “How MAGA media outlets are fueling Trump’s crackdown on the press.”

“. . .In the immediate aftermath of the church protest, the right-wing, MAGA-aligned mediasphere reacted with fury. ‘Don Lemon storms the church, rushes the altar in the middle of the sermon, harasses and threatens the pastor on a live feed,’ Benny Johnson, the right-wing YouTuber, posted on X, twisting the facts as aggressively as a powerlifter wringing out a wet towel. Johnson called for Lemon to be “frog marched before the cameras” and face “full federal charges with decades of prison time.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/don-lemon-georgia-fort-arrests-church-st-saint-paul-ice-pastor-dhs-maga-media-benny-johnson-tim-pool.php

Citizen Journalists Expose Real Truth

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Article in The Nation by Mark Hertsgaard, 1/29/26

Headline:  “Citizen Journalists Are Minneapolis’s Unsung Heroes”

Subhead:  “Without their videos of ICE shootings, we wouldn’t know what is really happening.”

“n Sunday afternoon, CNN anchor Jake Tapper was interviewing US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hours after Border Patrol agents killed Alex Pretti. Suddenly, CNN cut away to live coverage of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference. Noem declared that Pretti had ‘attacked our officers’ while ‘brandishing’ a handgun and planned ‘to kill law enforcement.’ When a reporter tried to ask a question about her claim, she interrupted to say, ‘That is no claim. It is the facts.’ When another reporter noted that the White House had just called Pretti a ‘domestic terrorist,’ Noem forcefully agreed.

“By this time, bystanders’ videos of the shooting were appearing online and on news outlets. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/citizen-journalists-minneapolis-heroes/

Media discuss “help” or havoc?

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Article in FAIR by Ben Fernandezm 1/29/26

Headline:  “US Media Keen on Iranian Unrest—Less So on US and Israel’s Role in It”

“. . .On January 10, Donald Trump—fresh off his abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—took to his preferred social media platform to showcase his signature manic reliance on random capitalization and exclamation points: ‘Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!’. . .”

“The protests have since dissipated, without any successful ‘help’ thus far in the form of regime change or US/Israeli military attack, although Trump has dispatched a ‘massive fleet’ to the Middle East ‘just in case.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/us-media-keen-on-iranian-unrest-less-so-on-us-and-israels-role-in-it/

MAGA Media and Violence?

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Article in Raw Story by Robert Davis, 1/27/26

Headline:  ” ‘Bloodthirsty’: MAGA media calls for violence after nurse’s killing leaves analysts aghast”

“Two analysts were stunned on Tuesday after a flood of “bloodthirsty” MAGA media personalities called for President Donald Trump to inflict more violence against protesters in Minneapolis following the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti.

“Sam Stein, managing editor of The Bulwark, and Will Sommer, the publication’s senior reporter, discussed how the MAGA media sphere reacted to Pretti’s death during a new episode of ‘Bulwark Takes’ on Tuesday. They highlighted examples from commentators like Megyn Kelly, who claimed she felt no sympathy for Pretti after he was killed, and Greg Kelly, who said immigration officers were right to mistake Pretti’s phone for a gun. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/maga-2675052416/

Press Asks About Nobel

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Article in AlterNet by Adam Lynch, 1/9/26

Headline:   “Internet erupts after Trump’s ‘delusional’ press conference” 

Subhead:  “Critics across the internet tore into President Donald Trump’s impromptu meeting with reporters on Friday.”

“Trump took time out from a meeting to pressure oil executives to invest in the freshly decapitated nation of Venezuela. . .”

“When asked by a reporter If he would change his view on Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado running the country if she would give him her Nobel Peace Prize Trump answered: ‘Well, I’m going to have to speak to her. She might be involved in some aspect of it. I can’t think of anybody in history that should get the Nobel prize more than me’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/trump-delusional-presser/

Fake News for Fake Journalist?

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Article in Daily Beast by Jack Revell, 1/2/26

Headline:  “MAGA’s Favorite ‘Journalist’ Busted Paying to Fake ‘News’”

“The ‘journalist’ at the center of a viral clash over alleged Somalian welfare fraud once paid Hispanic laborers to protest outside the White House in support of President Joe Biden.

“Nick Shirley, 23, is currently being praised and amplified by the MAGA right, including FBI Director Kash Patel and billionaire Elon Musk, for a video purporting to reveal ‘Minnesota’s Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal.’

“While the YouTuber with no journalism background and only a high school-level education claims to ‘bring the truth to all’ of his 1.35 million subscribers, he has previously been shown to be staging his content. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/magas-fav-journalist-paid-hispanic-laborers-for-bizarre-stunt/

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Article in Babylon Bee by Staff, 1/2/26

Headline:  “Republicans Vow To Uncover All Somali Fraud And Then Do Nothing About It Except Fundraise”

“With allegations of money laundering in Minnesota and other states growing by the day, Republican lawmakers in Washington have vowed to uncover all Somali fraud in Minnesota and then do nothing about it except to fundraise for future elections.

“It is absolutely vital that we uncover as much fraud in Minnesota as possible so that we can fundraise off it,’Senate Majority Leader John Thune said. ‘Some of us have elections coming up.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://babylonbee.com/news/republicans-vow-to-uncover-all-somali-fraud-and-then-do-nothing-about-it-except-fundraise

 

Right-Wing Host Says Legacy Media Dead

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Article in Mediaite by Zoe Engels, 1/1/26

Headline:  ” ‘Nothing Will Happen at CBS’: Megyn Kelly Declares Legacy Media ‘Dead”

“SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly pronounced the death of legacy media on Thursday, declaring ‘nothing will happen at CBS’ in a post on X.

“She seized the opportunity to slam the network in her reply to a post featuring incoming CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil instructing viewers to make him ‘earn’ their trust.

“ ‘Nothing will happen at CBS,’ Kelly wrote on X. ‘Nothing. Legacy media is dead and evening news has been totally irrelevant for a long time.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/nothing-will-happen-at-cbs-megyn-kelly-declares-legacy-media-dead/

Nothing to Report Here

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Article in Daily Kos by Bidenmytime, 1/1/26

Headline:  “While the Media focuses on Childcare Fraud in Minnesota…”

Here is what else is going on…

Of course they are looting the Kennedy Center. They are looting everything.

”Democrats on the committee said they obtained documents that suggest the national cultural centre is being operated as a ‘slush fund and private club for Trump’s friends and political allies’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/1/1/2361007/-While-the-Media-focuses-on-Childcare-Fraud-in-Minnesota

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Article in The Washington Post by Elahe Izadi on MSN, 1/1/26

Headline:  “The ‘TrumpKennedyCenter.org’ website is taken. This comedian owns it.”

“The organization’s leaders might have wanted a new website to replace kennedy-center.org, too. But if they’d hoped for trumpkennedycenter.org, they were out of luck. A comedian bought it months ago.

“As soon as Trump began gutting the Kennedy Center board earlier this year, I thought, ‘Yep, that name’s going on the building,’” explains Toby Morton, a comedy writer with ‘South Park’ and ‘Mad TV’ credits who buys political domains and turns them into satirical websites as a form of activism. . . .”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-website-trumpkennedycenterorg-is-taken-this-comedian-owns-it/ar-AA1SJNVP

Fake News media “Influencer” Exposed?

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Article in The Intercept by Jonah Valdez, 12/31/25

Headline:  “Right-Wing YouTuber Behind Viral Minnesota Fraud Video Has Long Anti-Immigrant History”

Subhead:  “Before alleging fraud in Minnesota’s Somali community, right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley built a following with anti-immigrant clips.”

“The day after Christmas, far-right YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a video claiming to have exposed fraud at Somali-owned day care centers in Minnesota. . .”

“This isn’t the first time the conservative YouTuber has gotten the attention of the Trump administration. . . At age 23, his videos aren’t merely influencing his audiences — they’re also influencing government action. . .”

“ ‘The very real-world consequence is that it’s going to exacerbate the situation that we have in Minnesota right now where we have a lot of people, including U.S. citizens or people with lawful status being arrested and detained by ICE,’ said Ana Pottratz Acosta, who leads the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School.

“The video, she said, reinforces xenophobic tropes about the Somali community, specifically tying the community to fraud. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://theintercept.com/2025/12/31/nick-shirley-videos-minnesota-somali-day-cares-fraud-claims/

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Article in The Hill by Tara Suter, 12/31/25

Headline:  “CNN reporter grills YouTuber whose Minnesota day care video went viral”

“. . .In the video, shared by Elon Musk and Vice President Vance this week, Shirley knocks on doors at various day care centers, pointing out that no children are visible, which he cites as evidence that they are improperly collecting funds. . .”

“. . .Nikki Brown, commissioner of the new Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, responded to the video this week, saying the centers in question had active licenses, with the exception of the center with the misspelled name, which she said closed last week. . .”

“ ‘There have been ongoing investigations with several of those centers. None of those investigations uncovered findings of fraud,’ she added. .. .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5668221-cnn-reporter-confronts-youtuber-minnesota-daycares/

Reading the “Fake News” Now?

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Article in The Washington Post by Meryl Kornfield, Hannah Natanson, and Azi Paybarag, 12/25/25

Headline:  “Despite anti-media rhetoric, the government is still reading the news”

Subhead:  “The Trump administration is spending tens of thousands of dollars on paywalled news sites, including Politico and Bloomberg, despite earlier criticism of media outlets.”

“Agencies across the Trump administration have taken out subscriptions in recent months to news organizations that officials had very publicly cut off this year, reversing an earlier decision to cancel them that Elon Musk, senior White House aides and President Donald Trump had declared was necessary to end what they called a scandal. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/24/paywalled-news-sites-trump-administration/