WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump returned to the theme of purported fraud in Minnesota in his State of the Union address to the nation Tuesday night.
Trump boasted of great accomplishments during his first year in office, including lowered inflation, tax breaks, fewer government regulations and a stock market boom that fattened 401Ks.
“But when it comes to the corruption that is plundering America, there has been no more stunning example than Minnesota — where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion dollars from the American taxpayer,” Trump said. He also said that the total of that fraud likely exceeded that amount.
While some Somalis have been convicted in the pandemic-era Feeding Our Future scandal, there is no evidence Somalis, whom Trump called “pirates,” have committed $19 billion of fraud in Minnesota.
Trump also said he had a new job for Vice President JD Vance – the leader of a “war on fraud.”
Trump said he had inherited “a nation in crisis” that included high inflation, “rampant crime” and “wars and chaos all over the world.” He said he had engineered “a turnaround for the ages.”
He also had plenty of red meat for his MAGA base, besides his attacks on Minnesota’s Somalis. “We ended DEI in America,” he said to Republican cheers.
Trump also invited guests to the gallery who had been harmed by and even lost family members because of undocumented immigrants and returned to the depiction of immigrants as criminals.
He asked lawmakers to stand up if they believe “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
Republicans stood and cheered, but Democrats stayed glum and seated. Trump called out the Democrats for remaining in their seats.
“You should be ashamed for not standing,” he said.
That resulted in pandemonium on the Democratic side.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” shouted Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-5th District. She also yelled “you have killed Americans” at Trump, a likely reference to the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.
Trump gave his address to the nation as polls show his popularity has fallen, the Supreme Court has ruled that he exceeded his authority in imposing certain tariffs and his constantly shifting agenda appears to have stalled.
Polls also show the American public doesn’t think Trump is paying enough attention to their problems, especially stubbornly persistent inflation and concerns over a weakening economy.
The first guest Trump introduced was the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team – winners over Canada in the gold medal game – which elicited a rare moment of bipartisan applause and cheers of “U.S.A., U.S.A.”
Trump announced that Connor Hellebuyck, the U.S. hockey team goalie, would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Minnesota lawmakers have their own message
Lawmakers usually bring guests from their states and districts who personify their priorities. But after Trump’s attacks on Minnesota and the chaos of Operation Metro Surge, most of the guests of the state’s congressional delegation were invited to bolster political messages.
Omar invited four Minnesotans who were harmed by Operation Metro Surge, including Aliya Rahman, who is disabled and was on her way to a doctor’s appointment when she was roughly pulled from her car by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and Mubashir Hussen, a Somali American and U.S. citizen who was detained by ICE.
Rahman told MinnPost she hoped her visit to the U.S. Capitol would give her the opportunity to speak to lawmakers about the excesses of ICE and the treatment of detainees.
“There’s power in that,” she said.
Rahman, a U.S. citizen, said she did not know why she was targeted or treated so violently that she was seriously injured. “And I don’t even know the names or faces of those who did this to me,” she said.
Omar also invited Gerardo Orozco Guzman, the son of a labor organizer who was arrested by ICE and taken to a detention center in New Mexico.
Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District, invited Angel Silva, whose mother has permission to work and live in the United States and was apprehended by ICE at her immigration hearing and decided to self-deport, leaving her family, including a 10-year-old son, behind in Rosemount.
To address the issue of political violence, Reps. Betty McCollum, D-4th District, and Kelly Morrison, D-3rd District, brought as a guest Colin Hortman, the son of the late Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman, who were fatally shot in their Brooklyn Park home last June. Colin Hortman’s wife Alina was also invited.
Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a chief Senate critic of Trump’s tariff policies, brought Sean Syverson of Swing Barrel Brewing in Moorhead, whose business has suffered from an increase in the price of aluminum due to the president’s import levies.
Syverson said the uncertainty wrought by the changeable tariff policy “makes it really hard for a business of our size to plan because we do not have a surplus of money to gamble with.”
Minnesota’s other Democratic senator, Tina Smith, skipped the State of the Union speech and gave her own speech instead at a “People’s State of the Union” counter-programming event just outside the Capitol on the National Mall.
She appeared with her guest, Fridley school superintendent Brenda Lewis, who spoke about the impact of Trump’s immigration raids on the state’s schools.
“I don’t want to see another school district in our state or in any other state go through what we went through,” Lewis told MinnPost.
Smith said her goal was to publicize how Minnesota had suffered because of Operation Metro Surge, but also “highlight how amazing Minnesotans have been.”
On stage at the mall, Smith said that inside the Capitol the president was “lying.” She also condemned Operation Metro Surge and said it has wrought “suffering and damage that will last a very long time.”
Craig said she respected the choice of Democrats like Smith who boycotted Trump’s speech.
“But I would rather stick a fork in my eyes than listen to Donald Trump,” Craig said at a press conference Tuesday morning with Omar and McCollum.
Craig and fellow Democrats said they felt the U.S. House chamber was their home and the Capitol was the “People’s House” and they were loath to abandon it.
Another Minnesota Democrat, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, also protested Trump’s speech at a “State of the Swamp” rebuttal at the National Press Club that also featured actor Robert DeNiro and other Trump critics from Hollywood and the nation’s capital.
Frey praised the success of his city’s resistance to Operation Metro Surge. “Minneapolis did not bow. We did not break. We did not betray our neighbors,” he said.
He also urged any Republicans who didn’t like what they were seeing to speak out.
“It is not liberal or conservative to think you should be able to walk down the street without being questioned because of the color of your skin,” Frey said.
He closed defiant and intense, bringing the crowd to their feet as he said, “Minneapolis has shown the world that the forces of terror and division can never conquer a city that loves its neighbors more than it fears retribution. That spirit does not belong to one city. It belongs to America.”
Minnesota Republicans also used State of the Union guests to amplify a political message.
Rep. Pete Stauber, R-8th District, for instance, invited conservative YouTubers Nick Shirley and David Hoch, who produced videos alleging widespread fraud in Somali-run childcare centers in Minnesota that caught Trump’s attention, even as many of the allegations in those videos have been contested.
And Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, sought to promote the Trump tax breaks the president has heralded as one of his major accomplishments through his invitation of Dean Dally, the board chair of the Blaine Brothers trucking company. Emmer also invited Blaine Police Chief Brian Podany.
Metro reporter Trevor Mitchell contributed to this story.
