Trump’s Thanksgiving Day Message
Here is Trump’s message to the world on the day when Americans gather to eat, enjoy family, friends, and football, and, you know, give thanks.
First, this is one in a long string of truly bizarre and unpresidential holiday greetings from Trump on social media. I noted another recent example here, although he did it throughout the first term as well (at least this time he didn’t address the “haters and losers“). All of this is glossed over and ignored as “Trump being Trump.” I can’t help but note, yet again, that this is bizarre, antisocial, and disturbing behavior that we would not tolerate from pretty much anyone else, but somehow it is a-okay for the President of the United States to rant like this.
Second, I would highlight the 53 million number. He is there highlighting the foreign-born population of the United States. That number is not just recent immigrants and is decidedly not just illegal immigrants, whether they crossed in illegally or overstayed visas. Indeed, that number includes tens of millions of US citizens, many of whom have been in the US for a very long time. I think that the deep xenophobic nationalism inherent in his throwing that number the way he is here is noteworthy, especially given the remigration/reverse migration rhetoric being used by the administration.
He is stirring especially nasty notions, and no doubt inciting additional anti-foreign hatreds in some corners of our population by making it sound like all the foreigners are getting $50k each annually from the government and blaming foreigners for social dysfunction. Scapegoating foreigners for some combination of imagined horrors and real policy failures is a known fascist set of tropes, I would note.
Third, he then pivots to a specific claim: that Somalis (who are Black, for those keeping score at home) are “completely taking over” parts of Minnesota and that they roam the streets in gangs looking for prey. The imagery of roving gangs of Blacks forcing White people to cower in fear in their homes is right out of the lies that led to lynchings in the Jim Crow era.
These are all grotesque lies intended to divide us and to foment hatred and fear.
The notion that Walz is too afraid to stop it all and the further demonization of Ilhan Omar is just icing on the racist cake.
Trump also shared the following on Truth Social after this post:
And
And
There is no doubt that Trump uses his massive megaphone to blast out an endless stream of racist and xenophobic messages.
In other words, Trump being Trump.
And I wish that there was a bit more focus on what this means for the mainstream press (and for Trump voters who need to either admit what they really support or realize that something needs to change) rather than everyone dismissing all of this as nothing worth paying attention to.
“Trump being Trump” should not be a way to hand-wave away what is happening right in front of us.
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Dr. Taylor –
You’re overreacting. Trump is only speaking for his base. This isn’t that bad. You should wait until he, or his administration, does something really wrong before you react so strongly.
I am curious, how is this number calculated? I am a US citizen, born to US citizen parents, but abroad. My passport shows my country of birth, which is not the US. How am I, along with alllll of my foreign service/military/etc. friends counted?
I’ve always just assumed that because my parents were working for the US government, that there was a record of government employee overseas births and that we are added to the US statistics, but now I am wondering.
With Trump it is consistently exhausting and depressing.
These days, with Congressional Republicans sitting it out, I think that Democratic Party opposition to Trump is akin to (being relegated to) going to a NASCAR race and waiting for spin-outs into the infield and crashes into the walls.
The 2026 mid-term elections are about a year away, and even with the momentary spate of good news, the fact is with Trump commanding the newscycle … every … single … day … so much can and will change between now and then. Unless those 2x margin-of -error self-described ‘Independents’ and ‘Centrists’ suffer from Trump fatigue and turn a few Congressional Districts Blue, there is not much we can do to change the political landscape.
In the meantime hard work has to be done, and opposition has to be smart.
@Jen: The number has gone from “millions of aliens committing crimes” to “11 million illegal immigrants” to “35 million immigrants committing crimes” to “53 million immigrants”.
I think we can dispense with any idea that there’s accounting going on, it’s pulling a number that doesn’t have a verifiable anchor (or at least one that would ever be shared) to increase the fear factor. If you thought it was bad that there were 2 million illegal immigrants who committed crimes in this country, wait til you see how many kinda sorta immigrant-adjacent people there are!
@ptfe: Yeah, if what I’m saying isn’t landing hard enough, use a bigger number! That’s how I take it.
Both detestable and pathetic.
@Jen:
It is an official number generated by the US Census and counts those not a US citizen at birth, so someone like yourself wouldn’t count.
He is specifically targeting all residents who were not citizens at birth.
@ptfe: As per my previous comment, it is a number with a real anchor–which makes it worse, IMO, than if he was just making a number up.
I have to confess I dont understand the Somali thing. Have been immersed in some other stuff so haven’t followed it. Do have friends in Minnesota and daughter lived there for a few years. I emailed them and they said everything is fine.
Steve
@Steven L. Taylor: Ah, thank you. Safe for now, I guess…!
@steve222: It’s exactly what it appears to be: race baiting like the Haitian bit about them eating dogs and cats.
The idea that Blacks would behave like animals attacking whites is a common racist trope.
President Trump’s ghost-tweeter twoothed:
The be fair to the ghost-tweeter, the true message of the Thanksgiving story is to be wary of foreigners and maybe either let them starve or slaughter them, as otherwise they will kill you, steal your land and destroy your entire civilization.
An extra helping of xenophobia for Thanksgiving is just common sense.
@Jen: I get the slightly pedantic need to know exactly how the number is calculated, since I gave the equal and opposite pedantic need to let you know that you are a rounding error. In fact, my pedantic need may be stronger.
(I assume Dr. Taylor is right, but that does nothing to satisfy my need to point out that you’re a rounding error. I am a lot of fun at parties.)
@Steven L. Taylor:
Why is it always projection with the wingnuts?
@steve222: You would get the same response from your friends in LA, Portland and Chicago but for the ICE and border agents rampaging in their streets.
@Gustopher: I am a rounding error, yes. But add up all of the kids born out of country because their parents were serving the US government over many, many decades, and that adds up to real people.
Trump’s cabinet secretaries are anxious to demonstrate their zealous compliance with The Leader’s extreme rhetoric. Hegseth bellowed that the campaign of murder on the high seas was just getting started. And here’s Noem:
The Soccer World Cup next year will be a shambles if it goes ahead. And if the IOC has any integrity, it will be looking for an alternative venue for the 2028 summer games. Holding the event when friends, family and fans of the athletes from a fifth of the nations represented will be prevented from attending would make it a travesty.
@Ken_L:
If FIFA had any backbone and were less corrupt, they’d move the final to Mexico City. We’ve already hosted it twice (1970 and 1986). If you asked all adults here if they’d bear the cost, I’m sure a large majority would agree.