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‘We should all want the best for our country’: Nick Shirley’s CPAC speech well worth watching

March 27, 2026 | | Print Article

Nick Shirley, who has made a name for himself exposing over $110 million in fraud at Somali-run daycare centers in Minnesota, delivered an epic speech to kick off this year’s CPAC event.

“I think nowadays we can all agree that we all just want to live the American dream and have the best life possible,” Shirley said to open. “However, it feels that sometimes, actually a lot of times, non-controversial issues are becoming controversial inside of America. For instance, if you take a look at the idea of deporting illegal migrants, that word is illegal. That should not be controversial.”

“Or the idea that showing your ID to vote has become controversial. That’s not controversial either,” he continued. “The idea that fraud is bad has become controversial. How is that controversial?”

Speaking of his own experiences with Democrats in Minnesota, Shirley said, “It’s crazy to think that we live in a world where somebody who exposes fraud can then be painted as the bad man,” before asking: “Shouldn’t they be excited to know that the fraud is being exposed?”

“We all live inside the same country, and we should all want the best for our country,” he said. “So the idea that here inside the United States when we have these non-controversial issues that have become controversial, it puts us into a weird culture war where it puts people into a position to think, okay, well wait, how are you supporting this when you’re actually not benefiting we the people.”

Shirley noted that much of the fraud being perpetrated by those here illegally happens in blue states and results in stolen dollars leaving the U.S. and never returning.

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He named California Gov. Gavin Newsom, pointing out that the Democrat targeted him, before asking, “How sick does a governor have to be to say that the kid exposing the fraud is the bad person versus the fraudsters who are stealing the money?”

The embattled independent journalist said his own experiences helped him understand why Elon Musk was viciously attacked for his efforts with DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), adding that he now must have personal security when visiting Democrat-run cities.

“That’s crazy to think that we live in a society nowadays where somebody going to do a big public service for the country has to worry for their life,” he said. “And it actually makes me a bit upset because how have we gotten to that point where we’ve lost common sense and where non-controversial issues have become controversial? And it’s actually very worrisome.”

At the same time, he referenced Theodore Roosevelt’s speech, best known for its Man in the Arena passage seen here:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

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The “critic” in this case, Shirley explained, is very often the media itself, pushing back on worthy causes that are best for America.

Here’s a quick sampling of the responses to Shirley’s speech, as seen on X:

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Tom Tillison
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