new plan to elevat
Ramaswamy Campaign Admits It’s Behind Inflammatory Ad Featuring Rival’s Estranged Mother 2026
The Trump Administration has a new plan to elevate their midterm message about “government fraud”: a $25 million “Whistleblower Incentive Program”:
Through the program, journalists and “average Americans” can submit tips, and if that tip leads to a successful conviction for fraud or enforcement actions, that individual is eligible to receive up to $30k.
To kick off the stunt, President Donald Trump has presented conservative influencer Nick Shirley with a check for $10,000 for his “efforts to uncover fraud in Minnesota.”
Like a lot of the Trump administration’s initiatives, the policy is simultaneously difficult to take seriously and terrifying. The tallest hurdle to seriousness is the six-foot-something tax cheat who handed Shirley the check.
But the plan is also ridiculous because it shows yet again that Trump has no understanding of how government actually works. A whistleblower program is not a matter of sticking an intern a room with rotary phone, and fraud cases are generally complex beasts–they are not typically brought to light with the kind of iPhone-and-an-X-account theatrics of Nick Shirley. In fact, the “fraud” Shirley documented fell apart under the scrutiny of real journalists.
The irony of Shirley’s misadventure is that even as he was shoving his phone in Somali residents’ faces, a massive government embezzlement case based in Minnesota was already unfurling, the result of an investigation started under the Biden administration. The mastermind of that fraud operation was a White woman, Aimee Bock, who has since been sentenced to 500 months in prison. The FBI swept up Somali perpetrators as well; their involvement serves Trump’s narrative purposes while Bock’s crimes do not.
See, Trump and Stephen Miller and the rest of the goon squad are not actually interested in preventing and prosecuting fraud.
MAGA politicians who bang the drum of fraud are after two things. First, to gas up a Republican rhetorical staple since Reagan railed against “Welfare Queens:” Bigots’ suspicion that Black and brown people are less deserving — that they are hustling the system. The second objective is to send a message that’s even more corrosive to democracy: You, the Trump-supporting “average American” can do something about these con artists beyond just voting for the “tough-on-crime” candidates. This program turns self-identified patriots into mercenaries.
In the context of Trump’s racialized, sweeping accusations, this program puts a bounty on the heads of the people he points to as guilty–and we all know what color they will be. What’s more, we all know what level of due process the targets will receive. I do think it’s more likely that targets see a jail cell than snitches see dollar signs.
Still, the money is somewhat irrelevant (to the relief of the administration, I’m sure). What matter is the permission structure the money represents. I mean, Trump rally attendees are happy to punch a defenseless woman in the face for free.
These strong-arm tactics have backfired. Prior to Trump’s invasion and occupation of the Twin Cities, the Biden Justice Department investigation weighed heavily on Minnesota’s Democratic state leadership. Gov. Tim Walz abandoned his re-election campaign over the scandal. Then, citing Shirley’s “investigation,” DHS launched Operation Metro Surge.
DHS’s first arrests in Minneapolis were not of the Hispanic immigrants later associated with the crackdown. The department arrested people from the Somali community who Trump robbed of protected status en masse after learning of the fraud arrests of a few. The operation expanded, cruelly. Two citizens murdered in the streets, whole families disappeared. Trump’s determination to use the supposed criminality of minorities as a justification for violence pushed stories about real fraud entirely off the radar. Instead, it radicalized wine moms in Edina into resistance cells.
——
Reporter Who Was Chewed Out By Trump in Oval Office Fires Back: ‘I Was Doing My Job’ 2026
The post Trump’s Anti-Fraud ‘Whistleblower Program’ Is a Hypocritical Excuse for Vigilante Justice first appeared on Mediaite.
Trump’s Anti-Fraud ‘Whistleblower Program’ Is a Hypocritical Excuse for Vigilante Justice 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-10-20 22:12:34 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
БЪЛГАРИЯ НОВИНИТЕ – ИНФОРМАЦИОННА АГЕНЦИЯ 2009-2026 2026-10-20 22:12:34
Trump’s Anti-Fraud ‘Whistleblower Program’ Is a Hypocritical Excuse for Vigilante Justice 2026
Leave a Comment