The confrontation that broke out during the State of the Nation address did not end with the final round of applause. The next day, he escalated his rhetoric, launching a personal attack on two Democratic congresswomen, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, saying they should be “institutionalized” and sent back “where they came from.”
During his speech on Tuesday, Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, and Omar, who is of Somali descent, fired back as Trump touted his administration’s tough immigration policy and enforcement operations. Both shouted “you’re killing Americans”, while Omar called him a “liar”.
“mentally disturbed”
In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump called the two congresswomen “insane with a low IQ” and “mentally disturbed,” writing that they “looked like people who should be institutionalized.” “We need to send them back where they came from as soon as possible,” he added. Both Omar and Tlaib are American citizens.
House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the president’s rhetoric “xenophobic” and “disgraceful.” Tlieb, in a post on the X platform, argued that Trump’s comments prove that he is “losing control”.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also condemned the remarks, calling them racist. “It is racist and bigoted to say that two Muslim American congresswomen should be sent back to the country of their birth or ancestry because they criticize the killings of Americans by ICE,” said the agency’s deputy national director, Edward Ahmed Mitchell.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Press secretary Caroline Levitt said last week that the media is “slandering” the president by calling him a racist.
This fierce confrontation is unfolding against a background of growing criticism. In January, two separate incidents of fatal shootings of American citizens by federal agents in Minnesota sparked strong reactions. Since the beginning of 2026, at least eight people have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, following at least 31 deaths the previous year.
“Somali pirates” had “looted” Minnesota
In his speech, Trump repeated his allegations of fraud on Somali communities in the US and claimed that “Somali pirates” had “looted” Minnesota, accusations that his critics said were used as a basis for sending armed federal agents to the state.
He presents his actions as an effort to combat fraud and strengthen internal security. Rights groups, however, argue that the crackdown has created a climate of fear and that isolated cases of fraud are being used as a pretext to target migrant communities.
The confrontation comes days after a video from Trump’s social media account containing a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama was released, sparking a new wave of backlash.
