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Ilhan Omar: Trump’s 'Garbage' Rant Shows He 'Knows He Is Failing,' Says Somali Americans Will Resist

08:36 PM, 12/05/2025
Ilhan Omar: Trump’s 'Garbage' Rant Shows He 'Knows He Is Failing,' Says Somali Americans Will Resist

In a New York Times essay, Rep. Ilhan Omar says President Trump’s attacks on Somali Americans — including calling them “garbage” — are an attempt to distract from a failing agenda by stirring prejudice. She condemns proposed immigration-enforcement raids in Minnesota, highlights Somali-American resilience, and warns that the rhetoric endangers Black, Muslim and immigrant communities. Omar, a member of the progressive “Squad,” says she and her constituents will not be intimidated.

Ilhan Omar Says Trump’s Attacks Reflect Fear of Failure, Urges Community Resilience

Ilhan Omar, the Somali-born congresswoman from Minnesota, wrote in a New York Times essay that President Donald Trump’s recent denigration of Somali Americans — including calling them “garbage” — reflects a broader effort to distract from a faltering agenda by stoking bigotry.

Omar praised the resilience of Somali Americans and condemned the Trump administration’s reported plan to send federal agents to Minneapolis and other parts of Minnesota for immigration-enforcement raids. She described the president’s language as part of a pattern of demeaning rhetoric aimed particularly at Black and Muslim immigrants.

“The president knows he is failing, and so he is reverting to what he knows best: trying to divert attention by stoking bigotry,” Omar wrote.

Following a White House cabinet meeting, Mr. Trump escalated his attacks, saying the congresswoman “should be thrown the hell out of our country” and declaring, using the word he chose, “Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country. And all they do is complain, complain, complain.” Omar is a U.S. citizen and a sitting member of Congress.

In her essay, Omar noted that some Somali Americans even voted for Mr. Trump and argued that his hostility is both long-standing and resurfacing as his domestic policy proposals have faltered. She catalogued past examples of his rhetoric — from proposing a pause on Muslim immigration to his comments about Haiti and some African nations, and broad claims about migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border — to show this is not an isolated incident.

Omar, 43, first joined the U.S. House of Representatives in 2019 as one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. A former Minnesota state senator and a member of the progressive group known as “the Squad,” she was removed from her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2023 after remarks critical of Israel.

While asserting Somali Americans’ resilience, Omar expressed deep concern about the real-world consequences of such presidential rhetoric. “What keeps me up at night is that people who share the identities I hold — Black, Somali, hijabi, immigrant — will suffer the consequences of [Trump’s] words,” she wrote, warning that bigotry from the White House often goes unchecked in Washington.

“We will not let Mr. Trump intimidate or debilitate us. We are not afraid. After all, Minnesotans not only welcome refugees, they also sent one to Congress.”

The essay frames the exchange as part of a larger national debate over immigration, race and the limits of presidential rhetoric, while underscoring the activism and perseverance of Somali American communities in Minnesota and beyond.

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