“It’s gutter racism with real consequences,” one critic said of Trump’s rhetoric.

President Donald Trump went on a racist tirade on Thursday where he targeted both the Somali-American community and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

During a Cabinet meeting, the president once against lashed out at Minnesota residents of Somali descent, whom he said “come from a crooked country, disgusting country, one of the worst countries in the world.”

“They come to our country, low IQs, and they rob us blind,” Trump said of the Somali-American community. “They rob us blind because we have crooked politicians and dirty cops.”

The president then turned his attention specifically to Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general who in 2006 became the first Muslim elected to a statewide office in the US when he won the race to represent Minnesota’s 5th District in the US House of Representatives.

Trump: “In Minnesota, it’s very Somalia-oriented. These people come from a crooked country, disgusting country, one of the worst countries in the world. They come to our country — low IQs — and they rob us blind. Stupid people, and they rob us blind.” pic.twitter.com/2TRhf2gAMn

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 26, 2026

“The attorney general’s a dirty cop, that’s my opinion,” said Trump, who in 2024 was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. “And something should be done about him.”

Ellison hit back at Trump in a social media post.

“If Donald Trump thinks Minnesotans will turn on our neighbors, he doesn’t understand this state,” wrote Ellison. “When he surged ICE here and killed two Minnesotans, we stood up for each other, not against each other. Trump’s racist tirades can’t distract from the fact that his reckless and deeply unpopular war is driving up inflation, raising gas prices, and making life unaffordable for Minnesotans.”

The Minnesota attorney general added that “while Trump desperately protects the Epstein class and pardons outrageous fraudsters, I’ve been prosecuting and convicting them.”

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, slammed Trump for his “outright bigotry against an entire ethnic minority,” which he said “continues to stain this country.”

Reichlin-Melnick also referenced a recent New York Times report about a lawsuit alleging that the US Department of Justice has been expediting Somalis’ immigration cases and denying them fair hearings.

“It’s gutter racism with real consequences,” said Reichlin-Melnick of Trump’s rhetoric. “The government itself has been ordered to target this minority group for special disfavor.”

Trump drew criticism in December when he described Somali immigrants as “garbage.”

“I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you,” Trump said. “Their country’s no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country. I can say that about other countries too… We’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.”

  ellison, minnesota, rant, somalia, trump