President Donald Trump delivered the longest State of the Union address in history Tuesday night, and buried within the nearly two-hour speech was a series of attacks on undocumented migrants and Somali Americans, attacks that qualified the address as the “most openly racist State of the Union in modern history," Zeteo argued in an analysis published Wednesday.
“President Trump spent protracted portions of the nationally televised address spewing his hatred of Somali Americans with all the dignity and panache of banned 4chan content,” the analysis reads, authored by Zeteo reporters Asawin Suebsaeng and Andrew Perez. “After nearly an hour of wind-up, Trump went full ethnic-cleanser.”
Trump has attacked Somali Americans since last year, calling them “garbage” and declaring that he didn’t “want them in our country.” His attacks were first sparked by the alleged mass fraud scandal in Minnesota uncovered by the controversial investigation into Somali daycares by MAGA influencer Nick Shirley.
Those attacks only ramped up Tuesday night after Trump, again, went after the Somali community.
“The Somali pirates who ransack Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption, and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception,” Trump said during his address. “Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here to the USA.”
Outside of Trump’s racially charged attacks, Suebsaeng and Perez also declared the address to be “certainly one of the worst” in history, noting what they characterized as the lukewarm response from lawmakers in attendance.
“It was also the longest State of the Union address ever – and certainly one of the worst – and Republicans’ constant agreement and laughing along with Trump came across like the sound of one hand clapping,” the analysis reads.