rant · moment 13 of 21

Somali Tribal Politics in Minnesota

from The Epstein Files & Thanksgiving In Syria | The Tim Dillon Show #471 · #471

5 min

He connects the regime-change cycle to a tangent about Somali immigrants in Minnesota voting along tribal lines against a politician, and how similar sectarian dynamics are now playing out in American state politics.

In this bit9 moments
  • Tribal and ethnic conflict is emerging in Minnesota state politics.
  • Tim traces the post-9/11 promise that globalization and free trade would prevent war by making the world interconnected and interdependent.
  • Globalization enriched the ultra-wealthy and the very poor while telling middle classes everywhere they weren't needed and could kill themselves with fentanyl.
  • College-educated workers in tech and finance felt good about exporting Western civilization, discussing Afghan women learning to read over avocado toast at brunch.
  • The government convinced people their safety and morality both depended on funding endless wars to remove dictators and create opportunities abroad.
  • The strategy failed repeatedly—the Taliban returned, Syria's new leader is a jihadist, and the promised outcomes never materialized.
  • Tim outlines the early-2000s consensus: invade countries, decapitate their leadership, install pro-Western puppet governments, and build hotels and shopping malls instead of madrasas.
  • This neoconservative or neoliberal ideology dominated the Washington establishment, elite media, every journalism school, and Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
  • Tim grew up on this philosophy listening to Fox News in his Long Island house, as did everyone in his generation.
Mentioned here

globalizationThomas FriedmanLarry FinkneoliberalismBlack RockGoldman SachsApple

All 21 moments in this episode →