The legacy media has become completely unhinged in its hatred of citizen journalists.
One legacy media reporter crossed a line that left jaws on the floor.
And a Politico reporter urged Somali daycare owners to assassinate conservatives for this sick reason.
Conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley set the internet on fire when he posted a 42-minute video investigating alleged fraud at Somali-run daycare centers in Minnesota.
The video showed Shirley visiting multiple daycares receiving millions in taxpayer funds but appearing to have no children present.
One center collected $4 million in public money despite looking completely abandoned during business hours.
The video exploded to more than 127 million views on X and 1.6 million on YouTube.
Vice President JD Vance praised Shirley for doing "far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 Pulitzer prizes."
Instead of praising Shirley for exposing fraud that cost taxpayers potentially $100 million, legacy media journalists attacked him.
Politico's "legal expert" doesn't understand the law
Josh Gerstein, Politico's senior legal affairs reporter, posted a comment on X that critics interpreted as calling for violence against citizen journalists.
"At some point, the amateur effort to knock on doors of home daycares intersects with robust stand-your-ground laws," Gerstein wrote.
The implication was clear: Somali daycare owners could legally shoot journalists who came knocking on their doors.
ICE fired back immediately.
"You would think a 'Senior Legal Affairs Reporter' for POLITICO would know better than to tweet something inciting violence against federal agents," ICE posted on X.
The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway eviscerated him: "1) Stand Your Ground does not permit the murder of door knockers 2) MN is not a SYG state 3) in no world should Somali fraudsters be encouraged to murder taxpaying US citizens for doing the journalism well-funded reporters refuse to do."
That last point cut to the heart of the matter.
Gerstein and his legacy media colleagues had ignored this fraud story for years despite state auditors warning about problems since 2019.
Now an independent journalist was doing the work they refused to do, and the media class responded by suggesting he deserved to be shot.
The "legal expert" doesn't know Minnesota law
Gerstein's attack was particularly embarrassing because he got the law completely wrong.
Minnesota is a "duty to retreat" state, not a "stand your ground" state.
Stand-your-ground laws remove the duty to retreat when someone faces a threat in a place they have a legal right to be.
Knocking on the door of a supposedly public business during business hours doesn't constitute a threat under any interpretation of self-defense law.
"Stand your ground isn't castle doctrine, and castle doctrine doesn't apply to someone just knocking on your door in a peaceful manner," one commenter explained.
Conservative attorney Kostas Moros spelled it out: "1. No SYG in Minnesota. It's one of the only states outside of the Northeast to not have it. 2. If it's a home daycare, castle doctrine would apply in a legitimate self-defense scenario. 3. Neither SYG nor castle doctrine nor anything else lets you shoot someone for knocking on your door."
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld mocked the entire premise: "The media's best argument for not doing real reporting — it's safer working from home on your laptop, hitting 'send' after each piece you pasted together from other sources."
Gerstein's damage control backfired spectacularly
After getting hammered with criticism, Gerstein tried to walk back his comment.
"To observe that something is likely to happen or there's a serious risk of it happening is not to advocate for it happening," he posted.
Critics weren't buying it.
"Have you considered that there wouldn't be 'amateur efforts to knock on doors of home daycares' if there was a professional effort to knock on doors of [fake] home daycares?" one commenter asked.
"Nice shoe leather journalism you're doing there. Shame if someone stopped you from doing it by murdering you," another added sarcastically.
Political activist Christopher Rufo directly challenged Politico: "Hey @politico, come get your guy who is advocating the murder of American journalists."
The timing of Gerstein's comment was particularly grotesque.
America lost conservative icon Charlie Kirk to an assassin's bullet just over three months ago.
Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University.
Now a legacy media reporter was floating the idea that more citizen journalists could face deadly force for doing basic investigative work.
Politico's deafening silence speaks volumes
The Daily Wire reached out to Politico for comment on Gerstein's post and the massive backlash it generated.
After asking about the deadline for a response, a Politico publicist let that deadline pass without any statement.
More than 18 hours after Gerstein's original post, Politico still hadn't issued any clarification, correction, or reprimand.
The silence from Politico management told conservatives everything they needed to know.
Legacy media will attack citizen journalists who expose Democrat corruption while protecting their own reporters who suggest those journalists deserve to be shot.
Minnesota has faced persistent fraud allegations in child care and social services programs for years.
The infamous Feeding Our Future scandal involved $9 billion in COVID-era fraud, with 78 people arrested so far.
Mainstream outlets like Politico largely ignored the story until Nick Shirley's video forced them to pay attention.
Then instead of investigating the fraud, they attacked the messenger and suggested violence against him was justified.
That's the state of American journalism in 2025.
When independent citizens do the work legacy media refuses to do, the establishment attacks them for it.
And when those attacks cross the line into suggesting violence, outlets like Politico stay completely silent.
¹ Virginia Kruta, "POLITICO Silent As Reporter Suggests Journalists Investigating Minneapolis Fraud Can Be Legally Shot," Daily Wire, December 31, 2025.
² David Zimmermann, "ICE accuses Politico reporter of 'inciting violence' against feds in social media post," Washington Examiner, December 30, 2025.
³ Andrew Kugle, "CNN interviews Nick Shirley on his childcare fraud claims in Minnesota," CNN, December 30, 2025.
⁴ "How a viral video prompted investigations into alleged fraud at day care centers in Minnesota," CBS News, December 29, 2025.
⁵ Ibid.
