Will - I read the interview where you talked about how you study everything Trump says. Can you describe how much you think he believes his own lies? I think he is a con man, but I realize this doesn't mean he can't also con himself. I'm especially interested in whether he believes he has caused a golden age. Does he know that what's actually fake is his constant hyperbolic sales pitch?
Dangerous and downright psychotic, if that's the case. I'll try again later, but so far I can't quite imagine it. It's easier to imagine him with some deep-down self-awareness that he is pulling a big con. I mean, just the way he accuses everyone else of whatever he is guilty of... Too scary.
I think he does partly believe his own lies. He has surrounded himself with sycophants who constantly reaffirm his lies and almost everyone who tells him something he doesn't want to hear has been driven away from his inner circle.
Thank you for documenting this and calling it out. And then we have someone like David Frum, past Bulwark guest, who wrote on X a couple days ago how he "wrote 10 years ago in the Atlantic that Somali immigrantion to Minnesota was proving an assimilation failure." Can anyone explain how this is different than somone in 1933 saying how they wrote 10 years ago in the Kreuzzeitung that Jews in Germany were proving an assimilation failure? This rot runs deeper than just MAGA.
The Trump era has offered plenty of opportunities to reflect on whether we’re really a worse country than I once thought.
Besides Minnesota, Columbus, OH—where I went to college—was a major center for Somali refugee settlement in the 1990s.
One summer—over 20 years ago now—I applied for a job at a bank in a part of town where they were particularly concentrated. The bank manager was black, but clearly not a recent immigrant. After a rather banal short interview, he basically went off on the most bigoted, ugly rant about how awful the Somali customers there were, and why I should not want to work there—as my jaw hung open—like unfiltered shit you’d expect Stephen Miller after three beers or a neo-Nazi on a prison documentary to say.
I awkwardly left and never interacted with that bank again—whoever they wanted to hire clearly would never be me. At the time and for many years after, I figured the guy had a complex, didn’t like the cut of my jib, and was insinuating I would agree with what I presumed were strawman sentiments that he wanted to posit people who looked like me would hold.
Now—having known a few minority Trump supporters—I wonder if I read it wrong, those were actually his bona fide beliefs, and enthusiasticly agreeing would have gotten me the job (not that I would).
The “Ilhan Omar married her brother to get him in the country” slur needs to be pushed back on more explicitly. I’m not exactly a founding member of Omar’s fan club, but this is otherizing misinformation that I’ve seen circulating a lot around social media, and it’s heavily featured in at least one of the videos Trump rebleated.
Trump and the rest of his billionaire grotesques in the uniparty of these United States are the folks driving us to hate each other and blame each other for our miseries. When it was them the whole time. They got rich off of our isolation. They got rich off of our destroyed communities. They got rich off the social media that drives us all crazy.
Don't tell me to "cut that shit out". Grow up and look at the real world around you.
I doubt that any of the lickspittles and flunkies with whom Trump surrounds himself will point out to Trump that Norwegians, Swedes, Danes and Finns, as well as citizens of the EU are very unlikely to immigrate to the U.S.when they live in nations with good social safety nets, universal health care, education, excellent public transit systems, etc.
Adding that the administration 's proposal to demand access to FIVE YEARS of social media information from European tourists before they may get tourists visas, I foresee a cratering of tourism to the U.S.
I mean, why would educated Europeans or Any foreign tourist want to spend their vacation in a "sh*thole" country?
Replace Somalis, or any other group listed, with "The Jews". That's a pretty foolproof test to see how close the language is to what was used in the 1930s.
Thanks for the link, good though sobering article. The Brennan Center is a great org for surfacing anti-civil liberties issues. I read Pam Bondi’s recently published memo supporting NSPM-7 and it’s chilling. See Ken Klippenstein’s Substack for a copy he published last Saturday-it’s embedded in his article. He was interviewed by Democracy Now recently. https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/leak-fbi-list-of-extremists-is-coming
It basically encompasses anyone who doesn’t support Trump and stipulates that the gov should go back five years in its investigations if I read it correctly. Scary.
Yes, it’s scary, but my reaction to it was to immediately get out my credit card and donate to United 24 (Ukraine) and NPR. The best response we can give these people is to suddenly “flood the zone” with donations to all the organizations they hate. They can’t catch all of us.
Thanks for putting this together. A single instance is disgusting and vile and it’s useful to see it as planned for political purposes.
To me, this highlights why anti-MAGA Americans need to focus on removing Republicans from office by expanding the political playing field and intensely contesting more difficult Senate races. Ohio, Texas and Iowa for sure, but also NE, MS, SC, FL, AK, MT, LA, and even the open seats in AL and KY. The chances of victory are small and the effort might not bear fruit for many cycles, but otherwise MAGA will continue to grow in those places.
Will - I read the interview where you talked about how you study everything Trump says. Can you describe how much you think he believes his own lies? I think he is a con man, but I realize this doesn't mean he can't also con himself. I'm especially interested in whether he believes he has caused a golden age. Does he know that what's actually fake is his constant hyperbolic sales pitch?
I think he believes his fictions. And I think that’s far more dangerous than lying. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/donald-trump-delusional-fox-news-interview-lies-gaza-tariffs-canada-usaid
Dangerous and downright psychotic, if that's the case. I'll try again later, but so far I can't quite imagine it. It's easier to imagine him with some deep-down self-awareness that he is pulling a big con. I mean, just the way he accuses everyone else of whatever he is guilty of... Too scary.
edit: thanks for the link!
I think he does partly believe his own lies. He has surrounded himself with sycophants who constantly reaffirm his lies and almost everyone who tells him something he doesn't want to hear has been driven away from his inner circle.
We Minnesotans are standing up for and protecting our Somali friends and neighbors.
Thank you for documenting this and calling it out. And then we have someone like David Frum, past Bulwark guest, who wrote on X a couple days ago how he "wrote 10 years ago in the Atlantic that Somali immigrantion to Minnesota was proving an assimilation failure." Can anyone explain how this is different than somone in 1933 saying how they wrote 10 years ago in the Kreuzzeitung that Jews in Germany were proving an assimilation failure? This rot runs deeper than just MAGA.
could be a fascist in need of Rexulti
The attacks will continue because the cowards on the left and the right refuse to stand up to the attacks.
The Trump era has offered plenty of opportunities to reflect on whether we’re really a worse country than I once thought.
Besides Minnesota, Columbus, OH—where I went to college—was a major center for Somali refugee settlement in the 1990s.
One summer—over 20 years ago now—I applied for a job at a bank in a part of town where they were particularly concentrated. The bank manager was black, but clearly not a recent immigrant. After a rather banal short interview, he basically went off on the most bigoted, ugly rant about how awful the Somali customers there were, and why I should not want to work there—as my jaw hung open—like unfiltered shit you’d expect Stephen Miller after three beers or a neo-Nazi on a prison documentary to say.
I awkwardly left and never interacted with that bank again—whoever they wanted to hire clearly would never be me. At the time and for many years after, I figured the guy had a complex, didn’t like the cut of my jib, and was insinuating I would agree with what I presumed were strawman sentiments that he wanted to posit people who looked like me would hold.
Now—having known a few minority Trump supporters—I wonder if I read it wrong, those were actually his bona fide beliefs, and enthusiasticly agreeing would have gotten me the job (not that I would).
The “Ilhan Omar married her brother to get him in the country” slur needs to be pushed back on more explicitly. I’m not exactly a founding member of Omar’s fan club, but this is otherizing misinformation that I’ve seen circulating a lot around social media, and it’s heavily featured in at least one of the videos Trump rebleated.
Thank you Will for documenting this. Being anti-fascist is one of the most American things you can be, imo.
The billionaires are doubling down on race and culture issues because they are tired of us talking about inequality and affordability.
The real divide between Americans isn’t black v white or even citizen v immigrant. It’s rich vs everyone else.
Cut that shit out. Are the “billionaires” in the room with us right now?
Trump and the rest of his billionaire grotesques in the uniparty of these United States are the folks driving us to hate each other and blame each other for our miseries. When it was them the whole time. They got rich off of our isolation. They got rich off of our destroyed communities. They got rich off the social media that drives us all crazy.
Don't tell me to "cut that shit out". Grow up and look at the real world around you.
Thanks, Will, for wading through such ugly stuff. We need to know!
I doubt that any of the lickspittles and flunkies with whom Trump surrounds himself will point out to Trump that Norwegians, Swedes, Danes and Finns, as well as citizens of the EU are very unlikely to immigrate to the U.S.when they live in nations with good social safety nets, universal health care, education, excellent public transit systems, etc.
Adding that the administration 's proposal to demand access to FIVE YEARS of social media information from European tourists before they may get tourists visas, I foresee a cratering of tourism to the U.S.
I mean, why would educated Europeans or Any foreign tourist want to spend their vacation in a "sh*thole" country?
Amen Mr. Saletan.
Replace Somalis, or any other group listed, with "The Jews". That's a pretty foolproof test to see how close the language is to what was used in the 1930s.
There's one piece of good news out of all of Trump's racist attacks on the Somalis.
Rep Ilhan Omar is virtually guaranteed to be reëlected by her Somali community in Minnesota with a landslide of over 90% of the vote.
Better watch out, Will, or the Feds will come and arrest you for calling legitimate government activities “fascism”. See the National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) on Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/trumps-orders-targeting-antifascism-aim-criminalize-opposition
Thanks for the link, good though sobering article. The Brennan Center is a great org for surfacing anti-civil liberties issues. I read Pam Bondi’s recently published memo supporting NSPM-7 and it’s chilling. See Ken Klippenstein’s Substack for a copy he published last Saturday-it’s embedded in his article. He was interviewed by Democracy Now recently. https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/leak-fbi-list-of-extremists-is-coming
It basically encompasses anyone who doesn’t support Trump and stipulates that the gov should go back five years in its investigations if I read it correctly. Scary.
Yes, it’s scary, but my reaction to it was to immediately get out my credit card and donate to United 24 (Ukraine) and NPR. The best response we can give these people is to suddenly “flood the zone” with donations to all the organizations they hate. They can’t catch all of us.
Thanks for putting this together. A single instance is disgusting and vile and it’s useful to see it as planned for political purposes.
To me, this highlights why anti-MAGA Americans need to focus on removing Republicans from office by expanding the political playing field and intensely contesting more difficult Senate races. Ohio, Texas and Iowa for sure, but also NE, MS, SC, FL, AK, MT, LA, and even the open seats in AL and KY. The chances of victory are small and the effort might not bear fruit for many cycles, but otherwise MAGA will continue to grow in those places.