On Thanksgiving, shortly after Donald Trump announced the passing of U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, who’d been shot a day earlier, the president started complaining about Somali immigrants, whom he said are “taking over Minnesota.” Asked what they had to do with the deadly shooting, the president replied, “Uh, nothing, but Somalians have caused a lot of trouble.”
Trump just thought he’d take the opportunity to target Somali immigrants, not because the circumstances warranted it, but rather, because he felt like it.
Five days later, he went considerably further down the same ugly path. The New York Times reported:
President Trump unleashed a xenophobic tirade against Somali immigrants on Tuesday, calling them ‘garbage’ he does not want in the United States in an outburst that captured the raw nativism that has animated his approach to immigration. Even for Mr. Trump — who has a long history of insulting Black people, particularly those from African countries — his outburst was shocking in its unapologetic bigotry.
During much of the White House Cabinet meeting, the president seemed to struggle to remain awake, but given an opportunity to launch into an ugly tirade about Black immigrants, he perked right up.
“I don’t want them in our country,” Trump said, referring to Somalis. “I’ll be honest with you, OK? Somebody would say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country.”
As his rant continued, the Republican added, “You know, our country is at a tipping point. We could go bad; we’re at a tipping point. I don’t know if people mind me saying that, but I’m saying it. We could go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”
The president concluded, “[Democratic Rep.] Ilhan Omar is garbage, she’s garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren’t people that work. These aren’t people that say, ‘Let’s go, come on, let’s make this place great.’ These are people that do nothing but complain. … When they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch, we don’t want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from.”
At that point, he wrapped up the two-hour event — and his Cabinet members applauded.
Melvin Carter, the mayor of St. Paul, called Trump’s comments racist, Islamophobic and xenophobic in a statement. “When the president responds with division and racism, it’s un-American and against everything we stand for,” the Democratic mayor said.
Omar added, “His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs.”
Around this time eight years ago, Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries” during a meeting with a bipartisan group of senators at the White House, sparking an immediate controversy. At the time, however, the incident occurred behind closed doors, and the comments were not recorded.
Eight years later, the Republican is still using similarly racist rhetoric, but he’s doing it in public.
Just as importantly, this isn’t merely about offensive comments. On the contrary, the administration is acting on this rhetoric: The Associated Press reported that federal authorities are preparing “a targeted immigration enforcement operation” in Minnesota that would primarily focus on Somali immigrants.
