Morning Report

TODAY’S IMMIGRATION story

Trump targets ‘garbage’ Somalis for Twin Cities raids

What happened
President Donald Trump yesterday called Somali immigrants “garbage,” saying they have “ripped off” Minnesota and he doesn’t “want them in our country.” Trump’s comments, at the end of a two-hour Cabinet meeting, came as the Department of Homeland Security prepares to launch an immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, according to several news organizations. DHS last night announced it has also suspended all immigration applications for people from Somalia and 18 other non-European countries.

Who said what
Somali immigrants “do nothing but bitch” and “their country stinks,” Trump told reporters. The U.S. “is at a tipping point,” and ”we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.” Somali American Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) “is garbage,” he added. “She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.” Trump’s ”obsession with me is creepy,“ Omar responded on social media. ”I hope he gets the help he desperately needs.”

Trump’s “xenophobic tirade” was “shocking in its unapologetic bigotry,” The New York Times said, even for a president with a “long history of insulting Black people, particularly those from African countries.” Eleven of the 19 countries now temporarily barred from applying for visas, asylum, green cards or citizenship under last night’s DHS order are in Africa. All 19 have been under a partial travel ban since June.

What next?
The ICE-led operation in the Twin Cities, home to about 84,000 people of Somali descent, is “expected to target Somali and Afghan immigrants,” The Minnesota Star Tribune said. The raids “could begin in the coming days,” The Associated Press said, and “hundreds of people are expected to be targeted.”

TODAY’S POLITICS Story

GOP wins unexpectedly tight House race in Tennessee

What happened
Republican Matt Van Epps won yesterday’s special election in Tennessee’s deep-red 7th Congressional District, defeating Democratic state lawmaker Aftyn Behn 54% to 45%. Van Epps will replace former Rep. Mark Green (R), who won the seat by 21 percentage points last year as President Donald Trump carried the district by 22 points.

Who said what
Republicans won, maintaining their 219-213 advantage in the House, “but instead of celebrating, many are dreading what it means about the midterms,” Politico said. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) team “was bracing for a tighter-than-comfortable race,” but the “single-digit margin was still a hard pill to swallow after national Republicans pulled out all the stops — including a Trump tele-rally and Johnson visit to the district — to rescue Van Epps in the final days.” GOP-aligned groups spent $7 million in the race, versus $3 million for Democratic-aligned groups, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Trump hailed the “BIG Congressional WIN” on social media, calling it “another great night for the Republican Party!!!” Van Epps said his victory showed that “running from Trump is how you lose. Running with Trump is how you win.” Nobody in Washington “believed we could get even this close,” Behn said following her defeat. “Tonight isn’t the end. It is the beginning of a next chapter of Tennessee and American politics.”

What next?
The district’s “13-point shift toward Democrats” should be a “five-alarm fire” for Republicans “ahead of the 2026 midterms,” said elections analyst G. Elliott Morris. “A 13-point shift may seem extraordinary or jaw-dropping,” Nate Cohn said at The New York Times, but “for Republicans this year, it’s simply the norm.”

It’s not all bad

A new ultrasonic device works with atmospheric moisture harvesting materials to recover water from the air in a matter of minutes. MIT scientists designed the system as an alternative to thermal methods, which require heat from the sun and can take several hours to produce water. The device could potentially be a “big source of water” for deserts and regions where there is “not even saltwater to desalinate,” said MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering principal research scientist Svetlana Boriskina.

Under the radar

Taiwan eyes Iron Dome-like defense against China

Israel’s famed Iron Dome air defense system — the envy of many nations around the world — may eventually have a copycat version in Taiwan. Lai Ching-te, the president of Taiwan, announced a “historic” $40 billion defense spending package that will include developing a “T-dome” air defense system enhanced with artificial intelligence, drones and other high-tech equipment, aimed at boosting Taiwan’s “asymmetric” defense against a Chinese attack.

Tensions are mounting over the self-governing democracy, which Beijing considers Chinese territory. Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly expressed his intention to “reunify” Taiwan with China, and Lai, writing in The Washington Post, said Beijing’s “willingness to alter the status quo by force has become increasingly evident” through its “intensifying provocations” around the island.

Equipped with “multi-layered defense, high-level detection and effective interception,” the T-Dome shield would “weave a safety net” to protect citizens, said Lai. The planned missile defense system could be used to protect the island in case of invasion, or against “targeted strikes calibrated to force Taiwan to negotiate without triggering a military response from the U.S.,” according to the Financial Times.

But Taiwan’s defense spending has already doubled in recent years, and Lai will have to get the supplementary budget approved by a parliament controlled by the Kuomintang partly, which is closer to Beijing. Hsu Chiao-hsin, a Kuomintang politician, called the planned spending “astronomical,” said The Washington Post, and suggested that it could “turn Taiwan into a wartime state.” China responded with predictable aggression; its foreign ministry said Taiwan would “never succeed” in its attempts to resist reunification.

On this day

December 3, 1967

Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first human-to-human heart transplant in South Africa. The patient, a 54-year-old man, survived with the new heart for 18 days. Today, an estimated 5,000 heart transplants are performed annually around the world, according to Temple University Health.

TODAY’S newspaperS

‘New rules for war’

“Honduras’s ‘narco-state’ president is freed after Trump’s pardon,” The Washington Post says on Wednesday’s front page. “Trump pardon for Honduran defies drug war narrative,” says the Los Angeles Times. “Maduro defiant as Trump weighs escalation,” the Miami Herald says. “Hegseth has long sought new rules for war,” The Wall Street Journal says. “Sweeping policy changes block path for migrants,” The New York Times says. “Afghans living in U.S. are on edge,” says USA Today. “Korean diplomats visit Georgia to rebuild trust” after ICE “raid on Hyundai plant,” says The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Shear pride

Designer Michael Schmidt joined forces with LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr and Rainbow Wool, a German nonprofit that rescues non-mating rams, to host the first-ever fashion show using wool from gay sheep. The New York City event raised money and awareness of male sheep that often face slaughter because they prefer same-sex partners. The 37-piece knitwear collection, titled “I Wool Survive,” tells both an “animal rights story” and “human rights story,” Schmidt told The New York Times.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harriet Marsden, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.