The Trump administration’s crusade against purported systemic fraud against liberals has largely looked like a racist project.

To promote such claims, the White House has relied in part on activists like Nick Shirley, who has targeted Somali Americans with unproven allegations of fraud and promoted a blatantly antisemitic video about a “Jewish invasion” in New Jersey. Trump, a man found liable for fraud in civil court and convicted of fraudulent activity in criminal court, has himself gone on repeated racist rants about Somali immigrants engaging in fraud. And his administration has launched a bogus fraud indictment against the anti-racist Southern Poverty Law Center, charges that some conservatives are using to downplay the existence of racist extremism.

Amid all of this, Arizona Republicans are dealing with a scandal over a massive school voucher initiative they backed, with accusations of scammy and fraudulent behavior happening for years.

Arizona’s billion-dollar Empowerment Scholarship Account has set aside mountains of cash for parents and guardians to send children to private schools — which Brookings has described as a “handout to the wealthy.” Nevertheless, national Republicans, including at The Heritage Foundation, have portrayed the effort as a model for other states.

Unfortunately for MAGA world, the ESA program has become a public relations disaster. Just last week, an Arizona mother pleaded guilty to collecting nearly $30,000 in ESA funds after moving to Texas. And Arizona’s auditor general recently unearthed what a Phoenix television station described as “explosive findings.” As KPNX-TV explained:

Ja’han Jones

Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.