Behind the Somali daycare panic is a mother-and-son duo angling to be top Maga influencers
<p>Nick and Brooke Shirley have for years published conspiracy-minded takes on hot-button rightwing issues</p><p>YouTube influencer Nick Shirley, whose viral video alleging fraud by daycare centers servicing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/minneapolis">Minneapolis’s</a> Somali American community came days ahead of the Trump administration’s declaration of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/31/trump-walz-omar-minnesota-childcare-funding">a national funding freeze</a>, has for years published conspiracy-minded takes on hot-button rightwing issues.</p><p>He also has close ties to the White House, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/republicans">Republicans</a>, and to representatives of an earlier generation of rightwing partisan “<a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/washington-journal/government-and-the-media/315801">ambush journalists</a>” such as <a href="https://www.cjr.org/opinion/james-okeefe-media-sting-undercover.php">James O’Keefe</a>. He worked with Minnesota Republicans to produce the viral video on Somali-run daycares.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/10/nick-brooke-shirley-maga-influencer">Continue reading...</a>
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