Reformer Columnist Argues Anti-Somali Rhetoric Backfired on Minnesota GOP

In a Minnesota Reformer commentary, the author argues that President Trump's derogatory remarks about Somali Americans and an immigration enforcement operation in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood drove higher voter turnout among Somali Minnesotans and contributed to Democratic gains statewide. The author cites voter interviews describing an ICE encounter during the operation and voters' decisions to back Democratic candidates in response to Trump's comments. The piece also references the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal and fraud in some Medicaid programs, noting the author's own past columns on the issue, while arguing it is hard to take fraud concerns seriously given a KARE 11 report that the Trump administration paid private prison operator CoreCivic $495 million for the Appleton prison, after the company had offered a year earlier to sell it to the state for $75 million.