"I didn't know we were hated like that."

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

That was the headline in the paper edition of this article:

Abubakar Abdi skipped his usual after-work stop to visit friends at the local Somali mall on Thursday, heading to his Minneapolis home instead to catch President Donald Trump’s speech.

As he watched, the 22-year-old IT specialist said he was taken aback by the loud boos at the packed campaign rally when Trump mentioned Somalis.

“As you know, for many years, leaders in Washington brought large numbers of refugees to your state from Somalia without considering the impact on schools and communities and taxpayers,” Trump said at the rally. “I promise you that as president, I would give local communities a greater say in refugee policy and put in place enhanced vetting and responsible immigration control, and I’ve done that since coming into office.”

Abdi, born and raised in Minnesota, said the president’s words and the crowd’s reaction left him wondering: “What if my former classmates were among the ones booing? What if it was my former teachers booing? I didn’t know we were hated like that,” he said. “Donald Trump is one man, but what scares me is the amount of support he has.”

http://www.startribune.com/somali-minnesotans-wonder-about-their-welcome-after-trump-s-speech/562938382/

I don't know who makes me feel more sick and disgusted - Trump or the people who cheer for him.

[leftieNanner]

1. I remember reading an article recently about the Somali community in Minnesota

And that they had largely moved into a blighted neighborhood and revitalized it with their families and hard work. What the US used to stand for.

This is what The Orange One demonizes. I guess only white men are capable of accomplishing anything. SMH

[superpatriotman]

2. His supporters are far more dangerous than he

I cannot and shall not forget nor forgive them and their hatred of America

[Progressive Jones]

35. They love an "America" that exists only in their minds.

Most Trump supporters are people who've rarely ventured outside of their communities.
They don't live a metropolitan life, even though some actually live in a metropolis.
They know few people who aren't just like themselves, if any at all.

[lame54]

3. Trump supporters are to blame...

W/o them - Trump collapses

[dawg]

4. Trump is nothing.

In a country full of engaged caring citizens he couldn't get elected dog catcher.

The real problem is the "base". And that includes at least 80% of the whole Republican Party.

It's a huge problem, and it'll still be there if we win in 2020.

[KT2000]

9. well said

every issue now from the local level up is polluted with the anger and hate from his base. I don't know how we will get beyond this.

[CousinIT]

5. How can anyone be oblivious to Trump cult hate?

Seriously. HOW?

[Haggis for Breakfast]

6. How ?

It's easy.

If you are raised to respect others, build bridges of communication and shared values, work toward making sure that everyone is heard/has their basic needs met/foster a sense of community, believe in the humanity of ALL people, have love in your heart, it is difficult to wrap your mind around such seething, poisonous hatred that makes NO rational sense.

That's how. I speak from personal experience. This cult of hate that trump has generated and nurtured caught me short. I never experienced anything like what these people are capable of displaying.

[CousinIT]

7. I understand what you're saying but surely they use social media and see news?

How could they have no idea how much the Trump cult hates anyone not like them?

It's like they cut themselves off from it - not a bad idea - but knowledge is power and safety. It's the kind of thing I'd think they' be aware of even outside their community of inclusion, shared values and humanity.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

8. Not everyone is as IT-connected as you may be, Cousin.

Not everyone's lives revolve around that degree of social media presence. Culture, age, background all play a role in the amount of social media one takes in on a daily basis.

For example, I do not own a telly. I'm not on any social media platforms, so no FaceBook, no Twitter or InstantGram either. I have a full live with family, hobbies, dedicated pursuits and I'm happy with that. I'm also a voracious reader, mostly history and current events, political science, international affairs and the occasional Clive Cussler, Kathy Reichs, Greg Iles, Gerald Elias (MY comfort go-to reads.) for a break from the news.

I have a laptop and get most of my news from sources I believe are giving me as accurate a depiction as possible.

[CousinIT]

11. Understood.

It's hard to imagine for me. But I believe you. I hope they can stay safe amidst the hate. It must be unnerving to learn it's so visceral.

[GetRidOfThem]

29. Nazis did not have social media,

Yet they took Germany by storm.

No, I think the fundamental issue is a constitutional weakness designed in different times under different circumstances: too muchm power to the rural regions.

This should be fixed, though it is very hard: get rid of the electoral college, and make the senate population dependent in representation.

[EgullIsCU]

38. However,

the Nazis did have Trump style rallies. The big difference being that the Nazi rally speeches actually contained complete sentences.

[CharleyDog]

17. when I read what my FAMILY writes on social media, so foul, so hate filled,

it takes my breath away and my heart pounds so fast I thought I would have a stroke.

We are now alienated because I said wow, that's fucked up. They were not raised this way.

It is brainwashing, and until we can tear down the towers at Fox News, and the Limpbaughs the cult will continue.

[LNM]

36. It's probably because of where he lives

If he lives in Minneapolis and especially in a Somalian neighborhood, he probably doesn't run into many people expressing hatred of Somalis. Ilhan Omar is the 5th district (Minneapolis) rep and defeated her opponent by 56 points.

[Garrett78]

10. 50+ years of increasingly cruel and unhinged rhetoric and policy created a monster.

The monster is the Republican electorate. Trump is merely a symptom.

[smirkymonkey]

12. This kind of hate speech should be outlawed.

I believe in the first amendment, but there is a limit and this is it. The hatred he is stirring up toward innocent fellow Americans is dangerous and people will get killed because of it.

He needs to be silenced. Right wing radio needs to be regulated and preferably taken off the air. It is one thing to have a political point of view, it is another to stir up murderous hatred toward your fellow countrymen and women.

[Nasruddin]

13. America has NEVER been welcoming to immigrants

There is nothing new about this in the US. Look at the Know-Nothing party and some of its campaign posters.
From the 1850's! (A party widely thought a forerunner to the Republican party.)

Any time there is concentration of immigrants in some area, the reaction against them seems to be inevitable.
Most people have a better nature (a few don't obviously) but it is at war with their paranoia and biases and can get out of hand. A wiser immigration policy could work against that by trying to keep resettlement concentrations low, but (from the experience of my own family) immigrants tend to live with their own, for a variety of good reasons.

It would help if we had some national leadership on being more open, helpful, and welcoming instead of bull like American exceptionalism, and worse.

And it's not unusual - look what happened in Germany, Hungary, and England.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. But I'm not aware of any time in modern history

where a president intentionally stirred up hatred of immigrants and refugees as part of his re-election campaign strategy.

[paleotn]

39. Seems we have a global cadre of grifters riding the same wave of hate...

Hate driven by immigration. You're right, that hate isn't anything new. That's what drove Brexit....non-Brits settling in Britain. The rise of the far right in Germany and Austria. It fueled LePen's failed campaign in France. The right wing takeover in Italy. It's causing consternation in Sweden for god's sake. And bad actors from NK, Russia, Turkey to Syria are profiting from it. And it probably will continue until the majority of us come to the realization I was taught by my old man...the vast majority of people simply want to live in peace and give their children a better life. It's really that simple. They're not hear to take over. In the US, they use public services at a significantly lower rate than natives. They just want the same freedom to live their lives as we have. But oh no. We must have "fear of the other" and all the bullshit that comes along with it. When W, moderate Republicans and Dems began negotiating sensible immigration reform in the 2000's, dear God the right went ape shit and killed it.

[ramen]

15. This is awful.

[ecstatic]

16. That's an awful feeling. Not knowing who you can trust,

not knowing which coworkers/teachers/ or others have smiled in your face while cheering on trump's neo-nazi agenda.

[patphil]

18. Somalis make up about 1.5% of the population of Minnesota.

That's a awful lot of hate to focus on such a small percentage of the state's total population.
And, of course, Trump has to play on it.
He never met a minority he couldn't hate.

What a dildo!
Note: A dildo is a mindless fu*ker.

Patrick Phillips

[catbyte]

19. This:

[progree]

21. And he's singled out Somalis in the past too. This from 2016

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/10/10/trump-hates-us-presidents-minneapolis-visit-gets-no-welcome-from-minnesota-somalis

“Here in Minnesota you have seen firsthand the problems caused with filthy refugee vetting, with large numbers of Somali refugees coming into your state, without your knowledge,” Trump said in 2016, with thousands of his audience spilling outside of the airport hangar.

“You’ve suffered enough in Minnesota,” he told them.

Thursday’s visit also coincides with the release of a new book, “Border Wars: Inside Trump’s Assault on Immigration,” which quotes Trump — a few months after he won the presidency — asking his former acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke to ban refugees from “f— Somalia.”

“Both [Trump] and [White House senior policy adviser Stephen] Miller seemed to have a particular dislike for Somalia, often citing it or its nationals when they spoke of the potential dangers of refugees and other immigrants,” authors Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael D. Shear wrote in the book.

Since Trump’s election, the arrival of refugees from Somalia has drastically decreased to a new low due to his travel ban from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Somalia. In 2018, only 48 people came from Somalia to Minnesota. That number was more than 1,400 people in 2016.

"problems caused with filthy refugee vetting"

What is "filthy refugee vetting"? Is the vetting a filthy process? Or the refugees filthy?

[Blue_true]

27. And he came close to winning that state too.

Unfortunately for many Americans, hatred of others sell.

[uponit7771]

22. OMG, this is the ... ***EXACT SAME RESPONSE*** ... from the Latina girls in El Paso !!!

[bullwinkle428]

23. Too bad we can't have "enhanced vetting" for Presidential candidates.

[muntrv]

24. The people who cheer for him.

Without them, Orange Julius doesn't get elected.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

25. I likewise wonder how this young man can possibly have been oblivious

to what Trump has been saying about immigrants all along. Just because this is the first time (I think) Trump has specifically singled out Somalis, did Abdi think that all of the other anti-immigrant and hate rhetoric wasn't also directed at people like him? Had he not noticed Trump recently suggesting that a couple of American born Representatives return to where they came from?

Perhaps this will serve as a wake-up call to pay more attention to such things from now on.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. I'm sure he was aware of its existence, but seeing it on live TV,

with all those people booing when Trump talked about his people must have been especially shocking. It's one thing to know about it but another to see it, and the magnitude of it. Seeing that mob of haters made him wonder whether his former classmates or teachers were among them. That had to have been a gut punch.

I see Somali people every day, they are my neighbors. This is not the first time Trump has singled them out, but it's probably the nastiest. I'm just sick about this.

[progree]

28. He singled them out in 2016 too (#21). Also, I don't think "shithole countries" and the Muslim ban

Last edited Mon Oct 14, 2019, 11:41 AM - Edit history (1)

and that only 48 Somalis came to the U.S. in 2018 (compared to 1,400 in 2016) in the wake of the Muslim ban and restrictions on refugee entries passed unnoticed by anyone in the Somali community here. Neither did all the venom directed at his (and my) Somali-born congressperson Ilhan Omar escape anyone's attention here.

I think he was talking more about seeing a whole sports facility full of people booing as being especially upsetting

Abubakar Abdi skipped his usual after-work stop to visit friends at the local Somali mall on Thursday, heading to his Minneapolis home instead to catch President Donald Trump’s speech.

As he watched, the 22-year-old IT specialist said he was taken aback by the loud boos at the packed campaign rally when Trump mentioned Somalis.

Abdi, born and raised in Minnesota, said the president’s words and the crowd’s reaction left him wondering: “What if my former classmates were among the ones booing? What if it was my former teachers booing? I didn’t know we were hated like that,” he said. “Donald Trump is one man, but what scares me is the amount of support he has.”

Those of us who know some Somalis don't find them to be "oblivious" idiots just because they don't say everything perfectly exactly right all the time. (Actually I think he did just fine). He was emoting and just making a point.

[joost5]

30. This is my neighborhood. These are my neighbors.

We have the biggest population of Somali immigrants than any other state. They are one thread in the tapestry of our nation. They give us strength with their strong value for community and family, and their hard work ethic. They love their children just as much as any other family. They love their country for allowing them to flee an unsafe one to give them a chance for a better and more secure life. They give back to our community many times over with their service - volunteering ALL THE TIME at the local food shelf, PTAs, running for school board, etc... They are involved because they care about the country's future and we should welcome them. Plus the local Somali halal deli has the best chicken and rice.

[GreenEyedLefty]

31. I tend to subscribe to John Fugelsang's quote about Trumpism

Basically:

"America is like an old couch and Trump is a black light."

There is nothing new here, it's just that we are finding out about it.

[the_sly_pig]

32. Can't be sure but likely most trumpanzees come from rural MN

I recently experienced rural MN and could not believe what I saw. A clear and definite divide between rural and people from “The Cities”.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

33. Definitely. In Minneapolis/St. Paul Trump is as popular as a hemorrhoid,

but head out to the sticks and you'll find plenty of MAGAts. I'm sure that crowd of mouth-breathers came mostly from outside the metro area, and I'm wondering if their knuckles have started to heal from all the dragging on the concrete city sidewalks.

[maddiemom]

34. Minnesota used to be a very progressive, liberal state, I've always felt...

because it was settled early on by a majority of Scandinavians. My maternal grandfather's Norwegian family was among them, before most moved to western Canada in the early years of the twentieth century. Some years ago a Jewish friend with family in Minnesota told me that many Jews also settled there because they felt accepted. Since my mother's death, I've lost track of more distant family still there, but I remember them as VERY liberal. to the point of quite left wing. I really don't know what's happening these days, but my mom's largely Scandinavian influence (and probably my German/Austrian dad's now obvious PTSD from WWII) was a big factor in my liberal upbringing.

[Hotler]

37. Racist being racist. Selfishness and hate is the repug way.

feel free to be sick if both.