Brehm: Why electing Omar Fateh mayor of Minneapolis would be a bad idea — and could help Trump

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When I accepted the invitation to write this semi-regular column for the Minnesota Star Tribune, I made clear to the editors that I would call balls and strikes like I see them. And that includes, at times, calling to task even those on the right flank of American politics, where I sit, for saying or doing dumb things.

That brings me to Charlie Kirk, the conservative founder of Turning Point USA, who connected state Sen. and democratic socialist Omar Fateh’s run for Minneapolis mayor this year to an “attempted Islamic takeover of America.”

Nutty conspiracy theories and Islamophobia might get Kirk likes and clicks from that certain segment of our society that finds such noxious things tantalizing, but such bigotry is worthy of condemnation, and my fellow contributors on this opinion page have been right to provide it.

America is a great country because of its pluralism and it is a place where Sen. Fateh can practice his faith freely. Our Constitution wisely instructs us that religion cannot be a qualification for public office. And moreover, it’s a factor voters ought not to consider when choosing who to lead. It wasn’t long ago my own Catholic faith was considered taboo; Fateh’s shouldn’t be either.

That aside, to call Fateh’s democratic socialist platform radical is an understatement. If voters in Minneapolis hand over the mayoral reins to him, as it appears the DFL would like to do given their endorsement this past weekend, the city’s already problematic decline of population and downtown businesses will worsen dramatically. Minneapolis has seen fits and spurts of good news in recent years, but a Mayor Fateh would put the municipality right back into steep decline.

New housing construction plummeted, with the number of multifamily building permits pulled dropping by a massive 80% in just six months. While St. Paul tenants, particularly low-income ones, have been hurt by the limited number of housing options they now have because of this policy boondoggle, Minneapolis benefited as its residential permitting surged after its sister city passed rent control. Developers have lots of choices where to build and invest, and the Saintly City gave them good reason not to there. Minneapolis would be wise not to repeat its twin city’s folly, but Fateh is campaigning on rent stabilization, and I take him at his word.

While public safety has been getting a little better in Minneapolis lately, electing Fateh as the next mayor would make things worse and surely send more members of the already understaffed and beleaguered Minneapolis Police Department fleeing — and for good reason.

He has long been a vocal adversary of law enforcement. He supported the insane 2021 ballot initiative to eliminate the MPD altogether and has regularly opposed increased funding for law enforcement at a time when his too-dangerous city desperately has needed it. He also wants to prohibit MPD altogether from assisting ICE in any kind of law enforcement action whatsoever — even drug and sex trafficking raids that protect innocent Minneapolitans from dangerous criminals and are unrelated to any immigration issues. Hard-left political activism is always the first of Fateh’s bizarre priorities, foremost to even the safety of the citizens he serves.

And while the attacks on Fateh as a Muslim should be denounced, so too should the senator’s own wildly insensitive racial remarks in 2023. Recall during that year’s legislative session he likened Minnesota Senate Republicans to terrorists and white supremacists because of the color of his colleagues’ skin during a speech on the Senate floor, a remarkably offensive move for which an ethics complaint was filed, but then was later dropped.

“You wanna know who the real threat is, Madam President?” he said. “I’ll give you a hint. They don’t look like our chief author. They don’t look like the folks up in the gallery. They don’t look like the folks out in the rotunda. They look like many of the [white Republican] members that sit in the front.”

It’s understandable that many in a progressive city like Minneapolis want to push back on the Trump administration. Even I take issue from time to time with some of the more extreme policies pushed by the president. But electing a far-left democratic socialist like Fateh will only make Minneapolis more dysfunctional, dangerous and harder to do business and live in. That won’t hurt Trump; it will help him. The mismanagement of blue American metropolitan areas helped facilitate Donald Trump’s return to the White House this year, as the visible deterioration of our once-thriving cities has been a poignant Republican talking point that Democratic ideas just don’t work.

As Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan advised Democrats “trying to figure out how to save their party … . You run nearly every great city in the nation. Make one work — clean it up, control crime, smash corruption, educate the kids. You want everyone in the country to know who you are? Save a city.”

If Minneapolis Democrats want to make MAGA nervous, elect sensible and pragmatic Democratic leaders this November who can make their city as vibrant and safe as it’s ever been. As they say, there’s no better revenge than massive success. But electing a radical like Fateh and the consequences that will follow will only affirm the impression mainstream voters had in 2024 that Democrats remain unserious about governing and cannot be trusted with power.