OCTOBER 20, 2026 – This afternoon when I arrived at the car dealership to spring my vehicle from the service infirmary, I encountered another customer who happened to be a young Somali woman.
“Are you of Somali origins?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said, cautiously.
“I want you to know that despite all the negative campaign ads and the DOJ harassment of Ilhan Omar, lots of people are supportive of you.”
“Thank you,” she said, as relief crossed her face.
“Don’t be discouraged. We know the contributions that so many Somalis are making to our community.” I thought of the Somali clients I had and other members of the Somali enclave I’ve gotten to know over the years, and the truly remarkable efforts they’ve made to better their lives.
“Oh, don’t worry,” she said with growing confidence. “We’re not going anywhere. We know there are a lot of good people around who want us here, and we’re here to stay. Every day we have people like you telling us we’re welcome.” I thought of other immigrant groups who’ve landed here—struggling at first, but in the end, sinking down entrepreneurial roots and bringing their dreams to life. “Thank you very much for the encouragement.”
“Absolutely,” I said, as Casey, my assigned serviceperson called out to me.
On my way home, I listened to a BBC report on the American mid-term election campaign, including the item that Trump plans to dump $400 million of PAC money into the remaining two weeks of the marathon. The speculation by one observer was that we can expect a flood of negative ads aimed to sway viewers away from Democratic candidates. In Minnesota we’ll be swamped by more of the same theme that’s prevailed throughout the campaign: Somali fraud.
It’s the Minnesota Republican mantra—fraud, fraud, fraud. It’s a made-in-heaven issue for a party that hasn’t delivered on much of anything to anyone except big money donors. Worse than not delivering, the party of Trump has made things much worse for millions of Americans, starting with the price of gas—and the price of diesel, which fuels distribution of all that we consume—all because of a war launched and bungled with furious incompetence.
What to fall back upon? Fraud, of course, and to make it better, fraud committed by very dark Islamic immigrants easily identified by traditional apparel favored by women—a group of “Them” just one step removed from Haitians who eat their neighbors’ pets.
The bulk of the Republican attack ads in Minnesota pound away at this issue. Of course, the fraud was big, bad, wrong, and criminal. Omitted from the ads, however, is mention that the ringleader of the fraud was a white woman born and bred in Minnesota and that perpetrators of the wrongdoing were tried, convicted and sent to prison. Also left out of the hammer blows is any discussion of why Republican members of legislative committees with oversight hadn’t raise any questions, what the role of the state auditor should be in all of this, how exactly the fraud was allowed to occur without earlier detection and most pertinent, how this kind of fraud can be prevented in the future.
But the wooly mammoth in the production room of all those Republican attack ads is the combination of epic fraud, grift and corruption that define the current Republican president.
Later in the day, I encountered another Somali woman, who was pushing her grocery cart from her car back toward the entrance to the store, where she could return it to the corral to retrieve her quarter-deposit. “Do you want the cart?” She asked.
“No thanks,” I said, “but I’ll return the cart for you and bring back your quarter.”
“Thanks,” she said, as she handed the cart over to me, “but I don’t need the quarter.”
We went our separate ways—she to her car; I, into the store. But I wanted to say more. I parked the cart to the side and rushed to her car as she positioned herself behind the wheel with her door still open. I repeated what I’d said to the Somali woman at the car dealership. This older woman thanked me and said that she too had heard words of support and encouragement from many people.
I returned to the cart, then quickly rolled it into place to release the quarter. Next, I dashed back to the woman’s car, just as she turned on the ignition. I gave her window a gentle tap, and when she rolled it down, I handed her the quarter.
“Here you go,” I said. “Your quarter.”
It was nothing relative to a current grocery bill, but from a larger perspective, the return of the quarter served as an important symbol: most Minnesotans are respectful of their neighbors, contrary to all the fear, hate and vitriol spewed by those Republican attack ads. The overwhelming majority of Somali immigrants are not violent fraudsters plotting to impose Sharia law (and eat their neighbors’ pets)—just as the overwhelming majority of white Minnesotans aren’t big money donors to a charlatan who fleeces taxpayers and issues pardons to mega-million-dollar fraudsters and insurrectionists who destroyed public property, threatened the lives of members of Congress and Senators and called for the hanging of the Vice President of the United States.
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© 2026 by Eric Nilsson
