California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom got on his X account earlier this week where he posted an attempt to slam President Donald Trump for daring to put a boot to the backside of the biased left-wing media by banning several networks, like CNN and MS NOW, from being allowed on White House grounds. In the same post, he called for voters to cast their ballots for Democratic candidates in order to take over control of Congress.
“The President of the United States of America blocked access to the free press and launched state-run media. This is authoritarianism in action. We can end his unchecked power when we take back Congress this November. VOTE,” Newsom said in his post. However, independent journalist and YouTube star Nick Shirley immediately seized on the governor’s hypocrisy and called him out for it.
“Aren’t you the same guy who signed a bill into law that criminalizes and penalizes those who expose fraud in your state? You have no room to talk,” Shirley posted as a reply to Newsom on the platform. The point being made is that Newsom can’t hammer Trump for being authoritarian when he himself has implemented policies that are also clearly authoritarian.
The legislation that Shirley is talking about is a familiar one for the independent journalist. After all, it’s called the Stop Nick Shirley Act and was inspired by the work he himself has done in several states across the country to expose fraud and hold individuals accountable for stealing taxpayer money. That’s what put him on the map, so to speak.
Shirley catapulted to nationwide stardom in December 2025 after posting videos of himself and several members of his team visiting various daycare centers in Minneapolis, Minnesota that were run by migrants from the Somali community. Most of these “businesses” didn’t have students, even though they claimed to be open and operational.
Many of the daycare centers received money from programs like Medicaid to help pay for the care and services provided to the children who attended them. However, investigations found that many of these places had no students at all and were fraudulently signing kids up in order to get money from the government which, after providing parents with a kickback, they then pocketed.
After moving on from Minnesota, Shirley set his sights on California, where he once again started uncovering massive fraud. Not long afterward, according to ABC News 4, California Democratic Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, sponsored the Stop Nick Shirley Act. The bill allows workers and volunteers who help immigrants to keep their home addresses out of public records and also makes it illegal to post personal information online.
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Comments posted on Shirley’s response to Newsom were mostly in the independent journalist’s corner. “Hell yes, totally the same thing indeed!!! All Gavin Newscum is is a fraud who is putting California into the ground. But yet its never going to be his fault or the choices he made that was the “end” of such a beautiful state,” one user wrote. “He is the definition of a dirt bag and someone who wants to destroy America. Try to find all of the dirt on Gavin personally then expose it all!” another person commented.