As the Republican Party copes with the pitfalls of its allegiance to a historically unpopular president ahead of the midterm elections, conservative lawmakers are scraping the barrel of desperate tactics and resorting to brazen racism.
Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, demonstrated this when he lobbed a deluded accusation on Fox News that “minority communities” in blue states are “especially” responsible for “rampant fraud.” It’s the sort of racist remark one might expect from a Ku Klux Klansman, not the leader of a congressional committee.
Comer: "What we're seeing especially in the blue states is there is rampant fraud, especially in the minority communities" pic.twitter.com/fkmHORqDGV
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 9, 2026
To state what should be obvious, Comer’s racist claim is also baseless. It aligns with bigoted claims that President Donald Trump — someone who has been found liable for fraud — has made while his administration has pushed debunked claims to portray the Somali community as rife with fraudsters. (Trump is appealing in his civil fraud case.)
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., echoed Trump’s racism back in December when he made the false claim that Somalians were responsible for “80%” of crime in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. The fundamental conceit behind these baseless attacks — apparent attempts to portray nonwhite people as more prone to crime — is a tired trope that has been deployed by white supremacists for centuries.
But with regard to Comer’s remarks, there’s no evidence that “minority communities” are responsible for rampant fraud. The term “minority” is a nonspecific one that can essentially mean whichever group the person uttering it wants to include, but in this case it’s effectively useless for all purposes except racist scapegoating.
To be clear: Racial or ethnic groups cannot be collectively responsible for fraud — individuals can be.
Otherwise, one could look at the growing list of fraudsters Trump has pardoned, note the large number of white dudes on that list and draw a conclusion that this data — along with Trump’s own history — proves there is a rampant fraud crisis among the white community.
I suspect Comer isn’t as interested in opening that can of worms as he is in peddling racist rhetoric to the masses.
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