WASHINGTON – The Minnesota Star Tribune has become President Donald Trump’s latest foe, though White House criticism of the Pulitzer-winning newspaper is much more than the latest attack on press freedom, analysts say.
A White House press release condemning several stories in the Star Tribune about the deportation of immigrants – as well as months-old column about the cost to Americans of deporting low-paid workers – is also part of a Trump campaign to target Minnesota institutions, said Steven Schier, a political scientist and Carleton College professor emeritus.
“(Gov. Tim) Walz’s prominence as a vice-presidential candidate running against Trump has raised the profile of the state as a potential target,” Schier said.
The press release attacking the Star Tribune, released late Tuesday, said the newspaper’s coverage of Trump immigration policies was “taking their (sic) cues from serial illegal immigrant defender Tim Walz and the state’s other ‘pro-sanctuary politicians,’ who would rather see killers, rapists, and gangbangers left on the streets than sent back where they belong.”
The Trump administration has launched investigations into the state’s voter rolls and the hiring practices of the Minnesota Department of Human Services and is suing the state over its policy of offering in-state tuition rates and scholarships to immigrant students.
“I think Minnesota has made the short list of enemies,” Schier said.
Institutions and government agencies in other “blue states,” including California, Massachusetts, New York and Illinois, have also come under attack by the Trump administration. Especially over the issue of immigration.
Walz was called before a GOP-led congressional panel in June, along with the governors of New York and Illinois, to be grilled about their “sanctuary status.” All of the witnesses testified that they were following federal law with their policies towards immigrants.
To David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University, the paper’s location in a city that is represented by progressive Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar, and has a socialist candidate running for mayor, was also a lightning rod.
“Trump is doing everything he can for people he perceives as enemies,” Schultz said.
Like other “blue state” governors who have come under attack, Walz is also considered a possible candidate for the White House in 2028. “Walz is possibly the only one who didn’t realize there was a ‘kick me’ sign on his back for the Trump administration,” Schultz said.
Walz’s office did not provide immediate comment on the White House’s latest attack.
The Star Tribune provided a brief statement, which said: “We stand by our reporting and don’t have any additional comment.”
‘An unprecedented escalation’
It’s one thing to attack political opponents and those who belong to an opposing party and another to slam a respected newspaper in the nation’s heartland, analysts say.
Trump vilified independent media as “fake news” during his first term in office, but in the past six months, Trump has waged an all-out war on the media.
He has sought to dismantle Voice of America, the federally funded news agency that broadcasts news to nations with limited press freedom. He has succeeded in having Congress cut funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
The Trump administration has also revived complaints about the 2024 election coverage by ABC, CBS and NBC and won a settlement from CBS for charges of “news distortion.”
Trump is also suing the Wall Street Journal for a story related to the Jeffrey Epstein saga and has threatened other media outlets on Truth Social.
“But what we have here is an unprecedented escalation,” said Aimee Edmondson, an associate dean in the Scripps College of Communications at Ohio University who teaches First Amendment law.
That’s because the Star Tribune does not have the reach or profile of the other media outlets that have come under attack, Edmondson said. “Singling out a regional journalistic outlet for fearless and accurate journalism shows that they are playing to the base with this,” she said.
The only other time Trump has attacked a regional newspaper was when he threatened the Des Moines Register for publishing a poll just before Election Day that showed his support was underwater in the key state of Iowa.
She also said Trump’s attacks on the mainstream media have been very effective because they are counting on the fact that many MAGA supporters don’t read unbiased news.
Edmondson also said the attack on stories about Trump immigration policies may be an indication of White House worries about a weakening of support for those policies, and objections to the way deportations are being carried out.
“They are probably panicking behind the scenes because the White House is concerned about poll results regarding the handling of immigration,” she said.
Last week, U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, seemed to bash the Star Tribune for another story it ran about Trump’s immigration policy.
“While the local, worthless media in my home state tries to spin that as a bad thing, the brave men of ICE are getting the worst of the worst illegal aliens in Minnesota off the streets,” Emmer said.
It’s unclear, but it seems Emmer may have been angered by a story that said more than 40% of the immigrants arrested under Trump had no criminal history, and several studies have found that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S. citizens.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
