Trapped between two fires
I’m writing as a Minnesota resident, Somali American, and former Republican candidate (2024). I’m not writing to attack either party. I’m writing because Minnesota increasingly feels trapped between two fires.
On one side, we have Democratic leadership that talks big but, to many families and small businesses, delivers rising costs, uneven education results, and a government that feels more confident than competent. 2025 felt like a low point for trust.
On the other side, we have a GOP that has not proven it can govern effectively — and too often tolerates rhetoric that paints entire groups with the same brush. That may excite national audiences, but it damages community trust here at home.
Many Somali Americans I know are frustrated with Rep. Ilhan Omar and feel under‑represented. I understand that frustration. But I won’t cross moral lines to “win.” Insults and blanket attacks are wrong, and they are also politically self‑defeating in Minnesota.
What worries me most is the complete lack of cooperation between state and federal leadership. When leaders choose rivalry over results, Minnesotans suffer — regardless of party.
So I’m stepping back from partisan politics for my own sanity. I’m focusing on building a business and serving our community in practical ways. But I’m asking our elected officials — left and right — to tone it down, talk to each other, and deliver on affordability, health care and public safety. We need adults in the room.
Fadil Jama, St. Paul
The danger of a single story
When President Trump labeled Somali immigrants “garbage,” he was weaponizing presidential power to diminish an entire community. As novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warned in her powerful TED Talk “The Danger of a Single Story,” power lies not only in the ability to tell another person’s story, but to make it the definitive story of that person.
Yes, some Somali Americans in Minnesota have been implicated in financial fraud. That fact should be reported, but it should never become the sole lens through which we view an entire community — thousands of Somali families including refugees, healthcare workers, business owners and students.
The Somali American story includes triumphs over war and displacement, civic engagement in American politics, and contributions to Minnesota’s economy. When politicians or the media reinforce the “single story” of crime and corruption, they obscure a larger truth.
Adichie reminds us that “stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.”
To honor the proud history of immigration in America, we must refuse the temptation to see any community through one distorted frame. As citizens and journalists, our duty is not to amplify division, but to choose storytelling that recognizes our shared humanity.
Terry Hansen, Grafton, Wis.
Badly mismanaged our finances
I’m an independent voter and both parties like to pretend we don’t matter. The truth is that no party wins without us. We handed the Democratic Party good progress in November, but Tim Walz is another story. He got so caught up in spending all the money after COVID and then the national spotlight shown on him, he forgot about his primary job – governor of Minnesota. He has badly mismanaged the finances of this state, and he and his Democratic followers have held no state employee accountable for this “criminally inefficient” management of millions of our tax dollars. If the DFL weren’t so lazy, they would realize they need a new candidate for governor. Joe Soucheray hit the nail on the head in his column on Sunday (“Walz can’t — or won’t — explain the fraud under his watch”)..
Nancy Lanthier Carroll, Roseville
Some things …
The Morning Report email on Thursday, Dec 4, started with “Some things never change…” You are right: The first two articles discuss St. Paul’s ever-increasing taxes. Er, “levies.” Why do we keep voting to impoverish our citizens?
Jeffrey G Thomas, St. Paul
Among my guardian angels, Somalis
Fourteen weeks ago I was in the ICU department at United Hospital in St. Paul after double-bypass heart surgery. Among the nurses, attendants, staff drawing blood, some were of Somali ancestry. They were my guardian angels and I wouldn’t be here today without their love and care.
Scott Frantzen, Woodbury
It’s been 10 years
It’s been 10 years since Donald Trump told us his federal tax returns were being audited. It seems like that should be sufficient time to complete an IRS audit. Just curious if he will ever make the results public? The citizens of the U.S.A. deserve to know. What could he possibly be hiding?
Ronald Rice, St. Paul
Compassion with a shovel
I, like many Minnesotans, like to think of myself as hardworking and compassionate. I think Minnesota’s hard winters give us a daily sense of what it means to work for something but also open our hearts to how quickly a person can come into need. Whether rich or poor, any one of us could forget to dress properly for the cold, or have our car stuck in the snow. To me, the truly compassionate Minnesotan is not one with an “all are welcome” sign in their yard, but rather one who welcomes their neighbor by shoveling the sidewalk next door, not because they were asked to do so, but simply because they were already outside and physically able.
Ryan McCabe, St. Paul
Millions lost, no big deal. Just raise taxes
I just received my notice from the Department of Public Safety. I need to send the state $442.25 to renew my vehicle registration. Ordinarily, I would not give this a second thought. I would sit down, make out my check to the state, mail it in and wait for my new license plate tabs.
This money did not come easily to me, and yet I now know that the state now views the oversight of our tax dollars as of very little importance. If the state lacks funds, they will just tax more. If they lose a million here or a million there, no big deal. Heck, if its a billion dollars lost, no big deal.
How can any state agency or agencies be so incompetent? How can Gov. Walz be so incompetent?
Don Lohrey, Shoreview
Needs greater than a gala
I recently received an invite to a victory celebration party for our new Mayor Her. The invite included a list of every local and national Minnesota Democratic office holder in the seven-county area, along with an impressive listing of the individual “hosts” for the gala. Hosts were asked to donate $1,000. Co-host status was only $500. I too could attend for a mere $100.
It’s ironic that just last month, these Democratic office holders were some of the same individuals wringing their hands over the threatened suspension of SNAP benefits. We were told of the potential tragedy that awaited thousands of starving Minnesotans. Yet now these same politicians are hosting a gala that no doubt will cost thousands of dollars. Likely costing no money out of their pockets, instead they tapped the unions and party faithful to foot the bill.
Instead, wouldn’t it have been better if this gala money was donated to Minnesota food shelters to help those in need? So no, I won’t be spending $100 to attend. Rather I’ll be sending a check to my favorite food bank. Congratulations to our new mayor, but her agreeing to this gala doesn’t agree with the candidate for whom I voted.
Peter D. Engel, St Paul
Stand up to oppression
Living under a country of dictatorship? Who would want that?
In the Bible, dignity refers to inherent worth and honor bestowed upon human beings of God. In simple terms, dignity is the state of being worthy of honor and respect just by being a human being. Think of immigrants, people out of a country, could that be you?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights emphasizes that all people are born with inherent dignity and equal rights. Adopted in 1948, the declaration outlines 30 rights and freedoms that belong to all of us, and that nobody can take that away from you.
Now is the time to stand up to oppression with justice and liberty for all. Today, in the year 2025, we have in only six months lost freedom of speech, due process, women’s rights, protection of climate change. Our National Guard, our sons and daughters who we raised and trained to protect us from harm, have now turned on the American family with guns pointed at us.
This is America today when we shout out God Bless America the land of the free and the brave. With liberty and justice for all.
Muriel Hinich, Bayport
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