A 23-year-old with a camera exposed $170 million in fraud that California's governor never touched.
Now Newsom's response is in – and it's not investigations, arrests, or outrage at the fraudsters.
It's a meme calling the journalist a pedophile.
Rogan Went Nuclear Over the Response
Joe Rogan watched Gavin Newsom's press office post an AI-generated image of Nick Shirley standing outside a daycare with the caption, "Hey, can I see your kids?" – and he couldn't contain himself.
"Did you see what the governor posted, what Newsom's press office posted?" Rogan asked comedian Mark Normand on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. "They posted a photo of Nick Shirley, like a fake Nick Shirley, like a meme of Nick Shirley peeking in the window."
Rogan's reaction cut right to the bone: "He's doing YOUR job! He's uncovering FRAUD, and what you're doing is MOCKING him?"
https://twitter.com/RedWavePress/status/2035857864095367635?s=20
Normand's response landed just as hard: "Right. You should go, 'Oh, there's fraud? I'm the governor.'"
A podcaster and a stand-up comedian both immediately grasped what California's governor apparently cannot – that a citizen finding $170 million in fraud is something a governor should be grateful for, not terrified of.
Rogan didn't stop there.
"They should just open up the investigations into all these places immediately if you cared," Rogan said. "But all they want to do is just obfuscate, cover it up, make it look silly. Make it look like he's something, whatever he is, a white supremacist, Nazi, whatever, MAGA. Come up with a name."
Newsom Managed to Unite Rogan and Fetterman Against Him
One meme. Two critics Newsom will never recover from politically.
He got Joe Rogan and John Fetterman – a right-leaning podcaster and a Pennsylvania Democrat senator – standing shoulder to shoulder calling him out.
Fetterman went first, blasting Newsom on the "All-In Podcast" earlier that week.
"Why can't you celebrate any journalist or any activist doing that?" he demanded. "Governor Newsom put out a disgusting video implying that he's a pedophile. You want to disagree, but to imply that someone in one of the most gross kinds of terms like that – it's like, hey, shouldn't we agree, eliminate all the waste?"
https://twitter.com/DefiantLs/status/2034376798054805507?s=20
Fetterman added the line that should haunt every California Democrat: "Fraud can happen on both sides, but when it's identified, I don't care if it's in a Democratic state. We should all just acknowledge maybe there is a problem here."
Even Shirley kept his composure. "You do realize I'm trying to help America eliminate fraud and waste right?" he replied to Newsom's press office. "No need to try and make me look like the bad guy for exposing fraud. People are over it."
What Shirley Actually Found
Nick Shirley is 23 years old.
He flew to California with a crew, spent $15,000 on three days of private security he raised from supporters, and documented fraud that California's massive government apparatus apparently never looked for.
His 40-minute video zeroed in on supposed hospices in Los Angeles – rundown motels claiming to house 30 hospice operations in dilapidated rooms – and daycare centers in San Diego where no children were present.
One daycare operator spotted Shirley at the door and screamed through the frosted glass that she was naked and could sue him.
She never explained why she was naked in a daycare.
California's Medi-Cal program has more than doubled since 2022 – from $108 billion to a proposed $222 billion in 2026.
The state's population didn't double.
Los Angeles County alone has seen a 1,000 percent increase in hospice care billing.
Shirley says the fraud he personally documented tops $170 million – and that the total across California could reach hundreds of billions.
The Pattern Newsom Cannot Explain Away
This is exactly what happened in Minnesota.
Shirley's Minnesota investigation – more than 135 million views on X – caught state-funded daycare centers collecting taxpayer money for children who never showed up.
Federal investigators froze childcare payments. ICE surged under Operation Metro Surge. JD Vance reposted Shirley's video and said he had "done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 Pulitzer prizes."
https://twitter.com/nickshirleyy/status/2033708929398845886?s=20
Within hours of a public confrontation with Shirley online, Tim Walz announced he would not seek reelection.
Newsom watched all of this happen to a fellow Democratic governor – and still chose the meme.
Newsom's own attack drove the traffic.
His mocking post got 26,000 likes. Shirley's response got 275,000.
Every person Newsom sent to mock Shirley watched the fraud video instead.
Newsom wants to run for president in 2028 on the argument that Democrats know how to govern.
He wants to be the competent alternative, the adult in the room who actually manages a state.
A 23-year-old with a camera just blew a $170 million hole in that argument.
Joe Rogan has 50 million listeners. Every single one of them just heard what happened.
Sources:
- Warner Todd Huston, "Joe Rogan Hammers Gavin Newsom for Mocking Citizen Journalist Nick Shirley," Breitbart, March 23, 2026.
- "Joe Rogan Rips Gavin Newsom for Mocking Nick Shirley Over His 'Billion Dollar' Fraud Investigations," Fox News, March 23, 2026.
- "John Fetterman Blasts Gavin Newsom For 'Disgusting' Attack On Nick Shirley," The Daily Caller, March 18, 2026.
- Matt Margolis, "Democrat Senator Nukes Gavin Newsom Over His Creepy Smear of Nick Shirley," PJ Media, March 18, 2026.
- Emmy Griffin, "Nick Shirley Exposes More California Fraud," The Patriot Post, March 20, 2026.
- Cristina Laila, "Investigative Journalist Nick Shirley Releases Video Uncovering $170 Million in Fraud in California," The Gateway Pundit, March 17, 2026.
- "Citizen Journalist Seeks Security Funding Amid Threats," Minneapolis Today, March 22, 2026.