When a reporter told President Trump that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was “proud” of the city’s Somali community, Mr. Trump answered bluntly — and the Washington establishment predictably shrieked. Conservatives shouldn’t be ashamed of plain talk when the people in charge are more concerned with optics than with protecting taxpayers and enforcing the law. The president’s sharp rebuke forced a conversation about responsibility that local leaders have tried to dodge for years.
The uproar isn’t abstract; federal prosecutors have been unraveling massive schemes that siphoned taxpayer dollars from programs meant to feed kids and help vulnerable families. Investigations into the Feeding Our Future scandal and other cases have involved dozens of defendants and hundreds of millions of dollars in alleged theft, and many of those charged happen to be from Minneapolis’s Somali community. Americans are right to demand answers when public funds vanish and may be funneled out of state lines.
Instead of facing facts, Minneapolis politicians rushed to defend an entire population and weaponized identity politics to deflect blame, issuing orders to block federal enforcement from using city property. Mayor Frey’s proclamation that the city “stands up for our residents” sounds noble until you remember it’s coming from officials who presided over the very systems being looted. Clean governance means rooting out fraud wherever it hides, not issuing press releases to soothe national media.
Federal authorities have not sat idle: recent ICE operations and arrests in Minneapolis followed months of reporting and prosecutorial work, and the administration has signaled it will take tough steps to stop the hemorrhaging of taxpayer money. At the same time, the political left chose to play the perpetual victim card, trying to paint enforcement as racialized persecution rather than law enforcement. That cynical tactic protects crooked networks and undermines the rule of law the rest of us rely on.
Let’s be clear: calling for accountability is not a license to demonize immigrant communities as a whole, and conservatives should reject blanket scapegoating. But defending local officials who repeatedly flub oversight and then attacking the federal government for stepping in is indefensible. If millions or even billions were diverted from school meals, autism therapy, and housing programs, every leader who enabled that failure must be investigated and held to account.
This is a moment for serious governance, not partisan theater. Conservatives must demand prosecutions, stronger audits, and technological safeguards to prevent repeat schemes while also insisting that American citizens — regardless of background — be treated equally under the law. The test of leadership is protecting ordinary taxpayers from corruption; anything less is betrayal.
Donald Trump’s bluntness on this issue exposed a truth Democrats would rather hide: when you prioritize identity politics over accountability, ordinary people pay the price. If conservatives want to win back trust in government, we need to keep pressing for transparency, tougher enforcement, and consequences for officials who enable theft and chaos. The real humiliation should be reserved for those who chose politics over protecting our communities.
