Tom Emmer Leads Minnesota’s Congressional Delegation in Toxic Rhetoric

Minnesota’s congressional delegation is a mixed bag when it comes to civility on social media—but one name stands out for all the wrong reasons. Rep. Tom Emmer, House Majority Whip, has been identified as the most uncivil poster among Minnesota’s lawmakers, according to a comprehensive audit of every original tweet from the delegation over the past year.

Using AI text classification powered by Anthropic’s Claude, researchers analyzed 10,554 posts from eight House members and two senators, sorting them into categories including calls to violence, dehumanizing language, eliminationist framing, intimidation, enemy-of-the-people labels, and totalitarian identity slurs. The AI worked blind to party or identity, applying the same standards to all posts.

The results were stark: 99 posts (less than 1%) were flagged for problematic rhetoric, but 87 of those came from Republicans—71 of them from Emmer alone. That means 3% of Emmer’s 2,315 tweets contained harmful language, a rate far above his colleagues. Five members—including Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, and Reps. Betty McCollum, Angie Craig, and Kelly Morrison—had zero flagged posts.

Emmer’s flagged tweets overwhelmingly targeted Somali Minnesotans, using dehumanizing and criminalizing language such as “Somali fraudsters” and “rampant Somali fraud.” His posts often framed entire ethnic groups as criminals or threats, echoing the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration rhetoric. One particularly chilling example was a repost calling Somalis “unassimilable foreigners” who should be “denaturalized and deported.”

The timing is no coincidence. December 2025 saw a spike in Emmer’s hateful posts, coinciding with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota and viral videos alleging fraud in Somali childcare centers. This shift is especially notable given Emmer’s past as a co-founder of the House Somalia Caucus, a group that once worked to support Somali communities.

Other Minnesota Republicans posted fewer flagged tweets but still contributed to the toxic discourse. Rep. Pete Stauber had 10 flagged posts, Rep. Michelle Fischbach had four, and Rep. Brad Finstad had two—all using similar criminalizing and dehumanizing language.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Ilhan Omar had 12 flagged posts, mostly targeting Republicans as the “pedophile protection party” during battles over the release of Epstein files. While this language is inflammatory, the methodology treats criminalizing language applied to any group—ethnic, religious, or political—the same way.

Meanwhile, the rest of the delegation maintained a more civil tone, focusing on constituent service, bipartisan policy, and institutional criticism without resorting to dehumanizing rhetoric.

This analysis exposes the dangerous rhetoric coming from a key Republican leader in Minnesota, revealing how inflammatory language can fuel division and justify harsh policies. As the Trump administration continues its crackdown on immigrant communities, Emmer’s tweets serve as a stark reminder of the role elected officials play in stoking fear and prejudice.

For readers concerned about accountability and the health of our democracy, this audit offers clear evidence that some members of Congress are weaponizing language to target vulnerable communities. We will keep tracking this toxic trend and demand better from those sworn to serve all Americans.