Posted on 02/26/2026 12:57:17 AM PST by Libloather
As President Donald Trump vowed to wage a "war on fraud" during his State of the Union address Tuesday, a panel of voters across the political spectrum had mixed reactions.
The panel, assembled by polling group Maslansky + Partners and comprising 29 Democrats, 30 independents and 41 Republicans, gave real-time reactions as Trump spoke. The reactions were displayed on a line graph where high values represented positive reactions and low values indicated negative reactions.
Trump said corruption was "plundering America" and said the most "stunning example" was in Minnesota, where welfare fraud has been a focal point and a child nutrition program scheme, in particular, led to dozens of prosecutions under the Biden administration.
A line graph showed Republican voters were receptive as Trump spoke, while Democratic voters had a negative reaction and independents were neutral.
"Members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer," Trump said, an apparent reference to the potential cost of Medicaid fraud in the state since 2018, as revealed by a Minnesota federal prosecutor last year.
While it is unclear what links the Somali community has to the Medicaid claim, the vast majority of defendants in the separate $250 million child nutrition program fraud findings were of Somali descent.
Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has said Trump is "demonizing" the Somali community, that Trump's claims about his state are overstated and a political distraction and that the president is the "biggest fraudster."
Trump contended during his speech that California, Massachusetts, Maine and "many other states" were "even worse" than Minnesota.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
We have so many thieves entrenched within the house and senate that anyone (ELON’s DOGE) who gets near will be killed...it’s that bad. All of it can be traced and so many are guilty that they ban together and look the other way when an honest person gets taken out. Tim Burchett is the only person on the hill who to me seems honest and wants to serve America .
It has been always a mostly unwritten, but sometimes stated Democrat policy.
“It is our compassion to help the poor! We would rather loose billions to fraud, than leave somebody deserving to starve!”
They never had compassion to taxpayers!
There is only one thing the sick Democrats take pride in.
Yes. When you see house flying American flag, there is for sure Republican living there!
Somali ‘thievery’ in Minnesota is VERY WELL KNOWN-——
<><>refers to a massive and ongoing series of social services and Medicaid fraud cases,
<><>involves dozens of defendants, most of whom are Somalis
<><>Federal prosecutors describe it as “industrial-scale fraud” of tax dollars. (Cato Institute)
US Attorney Andrew Luger has suggested that as much as half of the $18 billion in federal and state tax dollars paid to 14 high-risk Medicaid programs in Minnesota since 2018 may be fraudulent. The total amount of potential fraud across all social service programs could be as high as $9 billion.
The schemes typically involve thieving Somali individuals registering as medical or social service providers and then billing the state for services that were never actually performed, falsifying patient records, and offering illegal kickbacks.
Specific programs targeted for Somali thievery include:
<><>pandemic-era child nutrition programs, AKA the Somali “Feeding Our Future” scandal,
<><>the Somali thievery involved the theft of over a billion dollars.
<><>Autism treatment programs—Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention.
<><>Housing stabilization services.
As of early 2026, 98 defendants have been charged in fraud cases, 85 of whom are of Somali descent, with 64 convictions so far. A Somali-American former investigator for the Minnesota Attorney General’s office noted it is “uncomfortable and true” that nearly all defendants in the high-profile cases come from that Somali community.
Somalis used stolen funds to purchase luxury vehicles, real estate in the US and overseas (e.g., Turkey and Kenya), and fund lavish lifestyles.
There are also ongoing investigations that some of the stolen tax dollars were funneled through Somali informal cash transfer networks (hawalas) to the terrorist group al-Shabaab in Somalia.
Federal and state authorities are continuing their investigations, with more indictments expected. The Minnesota Department of Human Services shut down the housing stabilization program in August 2025 due to “credible allegations of fraud”. U.S. House Oversight Committee members have also launched an investigation into state officials’ handling of the fraud and concerns about potential terrorist financing. (Minnesota Reformer)
For current information on ongoing cases, check official updates from the U.S. Department of Justice, District of Minnesota.
The thieving Somali pirates in MN are not done yet. They ripped off taxpayers for 100’s of billion of tax dollars and are now demanding “reparations” over “ICE trauma”......A litany of “We demand....” “We deserve....” “We need....” The ludicrous Somali demands:
- Free cash grants to Somali immigrant businesses under $200k
- Stop all Somali evictions
- Free rent for all Somalis
- Reparations to Somalis for “ICE trauma”
- US Government apology to Somalis & “accountability”
- ICE banned from their thieving communities.
Going to be interesting to see the difference in results between VP Vance as the lead as opposed to VP Harris leadership as the border czar.
98 defendants have been charged in fraud cases, 85 of whom are of Somali descent, with 64 convictions so far.
That’s painfully slow and I am sure a number of fraudsters will just decide to risk it and continue with their thefts.
Understand, I am aware that it takes time to build a case and we certainly do not have an “en masse” option.
I would suggest that the programs themselves help or be forced to help by freezing funds whenever fraud is suspected. They can keep them frozen until such time as fraud is uncovered or the allegations prove false.
Maybe each address should be physically surprise visited and confirmed as legit. It should be easy to search a database by address to find clients with the same address. Just to start.
If the recipients have to wait, I would suggest that’s too bad.
just a thought.
Adder insightfully posted: “Nailing the Somali tax thieves is too slow.”
<><>suggests tax-funded programs govt insiders help or be forced to help
<><>program honchos could start by by freezing funds whenever fraud is suspected.
<><>then keep them frozen until such time as fraud is uncovered (or allegations prove false).
<><>provider/client addresses should be physically surprise-visited and confirmed as legit.
<><>It’s easy to search a database by address to find perps with the same address.
<><>If legit recipients have to wait, I would suggest that’s too bad.
Some Democrats oppose fraud investigations because it exposes how gullible they are and undermines the big government welfare state. Other Democrats oppose investigations because they are profiting through kickbacks or other payoffs. Altogether Democrats are complicit to the loss of billions in wasted tax dollars a year.
My tagline says it all...
“Independents” are just America-hating leftist demonrats without the guts to admit it.
I’m hoping Vance won’t stop with Somalian fraud. I hope he goes after everything DOGE uncovered. If he does that, he’s a sure win in 2028.
To capture and prosecute all involved in all these frauds would require more personnel than we have in the US military. That is what they count on. On TV, 50 gets the complaint at 10pm and by 11pm the perps are in jail. In real life the hours maybe years apart.
The good news today is there an emphasis on these frauds from the top down. Just like in the 70s when the government had strike forces aimed at wiping out the mafia. Took years and the gang is not what it was. The bad news is the emphasis on this group relaxed oversight on other groups who filled the void.
Democrats are members with the Somali community it’s why they got away with it for so long.
That graph confirms my suspicion that most of the “independents” are about as independent as Bernie Sanders.
Unless it’s upside down - two of my neighbors fly upside down American flags. (California).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.