Dave Rubin released a Direct Message clip highlighting a private exchange between Elon Musk and Palantir co?founder Joe Lonsdale in which the two tech figures point to the same behavioral “tell” that often accompanies fraud. Rubin framed the segment as part of his ongoing Direct Message series, arguing that elite insiders sometimes see patterns the mainstream media refuses to notice.
What they were talking about is not abstract theory: federal prosecutors in Minnesota have described the Feeding Our Future case as one of the largest pandemic fraud schemes, with multiple trials, guilty pleas, and convictions showing how quickly taxpayer programs can be looted. Investigations revealed nonprofits and shell vendors that ballooned their billing during COVID and siphoned off millions meant to feed children.
Reporters and officials have repeatedly noted the overwhelmingly Somali composition of many defendants in these cases, and that fact has become political lightning rod with members of Congress and the White House trading accusations. Rep. Ilhan Omar has publicly rejected claims she had knowledge of wrongdoing and says she returned donations tied to suspects, but critics rightly ask how such widespread theft went unnoticed for so long.
Musk and Lonsdale’s point — that fraud often leaves obvious behavioral traces like sudden unexplained wealth, rapid creation of shell companies, and implausible service claims — is exactly what prosecutors uncovered in Minnesota: dramatic spikes in billing and phantom meal sites that never served children. Those are the pragmatic red flags that should have been caught by auditors and elected officials months or years earlier.
Instead of demanding answers and fixes, too many in the media reflexively defend local political figures and sidestep the accountability question whenever ethnicity or immigration status enters the story. That reflex has real consequences: it protects corrupt networks, erodes trust in institutions, and allows bad actors to keep gaming the system.
This episode should be a wake?up call: private citizens and entrepreneurs are spotting the same rot that prosecutors are prosecuting, and their warnings matter because they come from people who build systems for a living. Lawmakers must stop playing politics, tighten oversight, and restore common?sense guardrails so taxpayer money actually serves Americans in need rather than lining the pockets of grifters.
