This morning’s Free Press newsletter by Nellie Bowles gives us the quote of the day, if not the week and the month:
Jacob Frey is one of our great colony leaders: Do you know how Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey fended off his socialist challenger, the Somali American Omar Fateh? Apparently by exploiting Somali clan divisions. Here is Ilhan Omar standing next to Omar Fateh, slamming the community for fragmenting.
And here’s Jacob: “Whether you are from Galmudug or Garowe, you are from Minneapolis,” he says, the crowd roaring. “Whether you are from Bosaso or Mogadishu, you are from Minneapolis. Whether you are from Hargeisa, Somaliland, Ogadenia, you are from Minneapolis.” Frey spoke for nearly a minute in Somali. Truly impressive. How long do we think he spent on Duolingo? Or were they fed to him with an earpiece?
A lot of people made the joke afterward that Jacob Frey is, in fact, a brilliant colonial administrator. He exploited local tensions to be the great unifier. The weird thing is that he’s not in Hargeisa doing this—it’s just regular ol’ Minneapolis, Minnesota. A place that, until recently, was pretty boring, known for its wetlands and Mall of America, but is now the site of full-on Somalian tribal warfare and a Jewish king. Anyway, these are the skills a modern politician needs. America is Mogadishu and Jacob Frey is the man for the job.
The link on “And here’s Jacob” goes to this video on X. I wouldn’t want readers to miss it.
Jacob Frey apparently beat Omar Fateh in Minneapolis by exploiting Somali clan divisions.
Somali TikTok: “This guy is taking advantage of tribal politics we are too easy … This guy he understands how to divide our people.” pic.twitter.com/R8qGRCuzvg
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) November 7, 2025
