“Go back to where you came from”, he said to the Somali immigrants in Minnesota, employing an insulting slur unacceptable in polite society.
Last week Trump said on his social media channel, Truth Social, he’d send Somalis “back to where they came from.” Yesterday he said Somalis in the U.S. should “go back to where they came from and fix it.”
A person familiar with Trump’s plans told the Associated Press federal authorities are preparing a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that would primarily focus on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the U.S.
At a cabinet meeting yesterday, Trump said Somalis “contribute nothing.”
“I don’t want them in our country,” a snarling Trump told reporters. “Their country is no good for a reason. Your country stinks and we don’t want them in our country.”
I remember hearing that taunt directed at minorities by racist know-nothings in my youth in the 1950s, but I thought people had long ago been shamed from uttering it.
Trump, however, seems to enjoy denigrating “the other”.
Trump’s own Equal Employment Opportunity Commission cites “Go back to where you came from,” as an example of unlawful workplace conduct, along with the use of “insults, taunting, or ethnic epithets”.
I suppose in some respects nobody should really be surprised by Trump’s insults. That’s his modus operandi. Demean and slander his opponents, particularly those he deems not “real” Americans. And his supporters often embrace his scurrilous attacks.
He even goes after members of Congress with abandon. He has described Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, (D-Minn), who came to the United States from Somalia as a refugee and became a citizen 25 years ago, as “garbage.”
“We could go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country,” Trump said. “She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.”
And Trump’s recent explicit use of hateful speech is not original or unprecedented. It was a feature, not a bug, of his campaigns for office.
An analysis published by Presidential Studies Quarterly[1] , cited by the National Library of Medicine, concluded that “no other comparable candidate of either major US party has ever approached the level of negativity and vitriol toward racial/ethnic minorities that Trump did.”
A Washington Post column today by George Will is headlined “A sickening moral slum of an administration”.
Indeed.
[1] Çinar I, Stokes S, Uribe A. Presidential rhetoric and populism. Presidential Studies Quarterly. 2020;50(2):240–263. doi: 10.1111/psq.12656. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
Last time I wrote about how a local Missouri politician running for a county office is raising millions through deceptive online advertising that relies on highlighting inflammatory national issues.
This time I’m writing about how he and his online marketers are dialing up discord while cynically targeting deceptive fundraising pleas at overly trusting and vulnerable retired seniors, exploiting them in a new form of elder abuse other politicians across the country may be tempted to emulate.
William C. (Bill) Eigel, a conservative former state senator from the 23rd District in Missouri’s St. Charles County, lost in 2024’s Missouri Republican gubernatorial primary. Now he’s running to be St. Charles, Missouri’s County Executive, probably to establish a political perch to mount another gubernatorial race in 2028.
William C. (Bill) Eigel
To support his Charles County campaign, Eigel is soliciting contributions for his Believe in Life and Liberty political action committee, BILL PAC. Why doesn’t the PAC’s name say it’s connected to Eigel?
“Some states require PACs backing single candidates or with specific donors to include the politician or the funders in their name,” the Missouri Independent has explained. “Not Missouri. Instead, PAC names can be a set of initials used for a reason no one can remember, a feel-good name that doesn’t have anything to do with the interest being promoted or even the name of a favorite television character.
Not only is Eigel blurring his association with BILL PAC, but his online nationwide fundraising campaign is reaching out to potential supporters by emphasizing inflammatory national hot-button issues, not St. Charles County concerns. Recent email pleas focus on “mass deportations” and deporting “criminal illegal aliens”, federal payment of $5,000 “DOGE checks” to citizens, and “mandatory voter ID in ALL 50 states”.
A BILL PAC email that came today urged me to sign a petition to deport Ilhan Omar, a controversial Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota. An email I received recently went so far as to urge recipients to support President Trump’s use of the Insurrection Act, an alarming move that would gives him broad powers to authorize uses of the military in the domestic sphere while providing neither a role for Congress nor a basis for serious judicial review. Eigel’s message:
The Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC) requires that political candidates file quarterly reports on their fundraising and spending. The reports filed by Bill PAC in 2025 reveal that about 99% of the contributions Eigel has reported receiving have come from people who live out of state and identify themselves as “Retired”. It’s clear that retirees outside Missouri are Eigel’s primary target.
Seniors are a prime target for all sorts of online scams due to factors like social isolation, a trusting nature and declining cognitive function. Many also live alone, have significant savings and have no one overseeing their spending. (By the way, I’m retired, which is probably why I’ve been getting Eigel’s emails.)
The most recent emails I received from BILL PAC focused on deporting undocumented immigrants and “defunding a United Nations Global Climate tax”, issues that are hardly within the purview of St. Charles’ County Executive.
The deportation email said only:
“122 residents of your neighborhood have signed the GOP petition to deport every illegal alien, but your name is MISSING!
If you “Sign Now” you’ll be asked for a donation of $12.50 to $250 and up. And if you don’t uncheck a yellow box, you’ll be committing to making a recurring monthly donation of your initial pledge Ad infinitum. This is a practice the ACLU says “routinely takes advantage of older donors and first-time donors who are unfamiliar with navigating campaign fundraising platforms”.
Most individual online donations to Eigel detailed in reports submitted to the Missouri Ethics Commission in 2025 have been in small amounts, but they add up over time. Frequently, individuals have been making multiple contributions on the same day, almost as though they have been stuck in a loop, forgetting they’d already given that day:
For example, a retired man from Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey made six separate donations ($10, $2.50, $2.50, $2.50, $2.50, $4.75) on June 29, 2025. Another retired man from Spokane, WA made seven contributions ($20.24, $35, $10, $10, $10, $9.50, $10) on April 27, 2025.
Many prolific contributors seem almost addicted to online donations. An 86-year-old retired woman from Lititz, PA made online donations to Bill Eigel’s Believe in Life and Liberty political action committee, BILL PAC, 26 times.[1] A retired woman from Dalton, Georgia made donations 28 times[2].
Then there’s a retired man from Reston, VA, a consistent donor to Republican state and federal candidates and committees, who made an astonishing 65 separate online donations to BILL PAC, according to reports submitted to the Missouri Ethics Commission in 2025[3].
Organizations including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the National Council on Aging and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) repeatedly warn seniors about financial scams targeting them. The warnings, however, usually caution seniors about things such as funeral scams, phony investment schemes, telemarketing/phone scams and impersonation scams.
Clearly, it’s time to warn seniors about political fundraising scams, too.
William C. (Bill) Eigel, a conservative former state senator from the 23rd District in Missouri’s St. Charles County, may have come in second place in 2024’s Missouri Republican gubernatorial primary. And he may have lost in his push to be chairman of the state Republican Party in 2025. But he hasn’t abandoned his political drive or lost his fundraising bravado.
St. Charles Missouri County Executive candidate, Bill Eigel
In October 2024, he filed paperwork with the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC) that let him raise money for a possible run for St. Charles County Executive. On February 3, 2025, shortly after he lost his bid to become chair of the Missouri Republican Party, he confirmed that he would run for St. Charles County Executive in 2026. The election will be held on November 3, 2026, following party primaries on August 4, 2026.
According to the Missouri Independent, “no one sees the move as evidence that Eigel is ready to step off the statewide stage. To the contrary, the campaign is seen by Jefferson City denizens as Eigel simply looking for a political perch to mount another primary challenge against Kehoe in 2028.”
To support his Charles County campaign, Eigel is soliciting contributions for his Believe in Life and Liberty political action committee, BILL PAC. Why doesn’t the PAC’s name say it’s connected to Eiger?
“Some states require PACs backing single candidates or with specific donors to include the politician or the funders in their name,” the Missouri Independent has explained. “Not Missouri. Instead, PAC names can be a set of initials used for a reason no one can remember, a feel-good name that doesn’t have anything to do with the interest being promoted or even the name of a favorite television character.
On his Facebook page, Eigel is highlighting that “over 200 patriots showed up to our campaign event” on Sept. 27, suggesting high local enthusiasm for his candidacy. But what stands out when you examine the contributions in BILL PAC’s July 2025 report is how few are from locals. Most, in fact, are coming in from out of state. I haven’t contributed, but Eigel’s email came to me in Oregon.
Eigel faced criticism during his gubernatorial campaign for relying on nationwide out-of-state donors pursued by Targeted Victory, a Virginia consulting firm. This time he’s using a different firm for the same purpose.
In a July 2025 Quarterly Report to MEC, BILL PAC reported total receipts of $209,659.91.
In a list of itemized expenditures over $100, BILL PAC reported fundraising expenses of $93,304.66 paid to Nineonesix, 2311 Wilson Blvd., Suite 200, Arlington, VA 22201. Nineonesix defines itself as a “mobile marketing agency” that serves only Republicans. “We design and execute media plans with a focus on emerging digital platforms, using thumb-stopping mobile creative to drive results,” it says.
BILL PAC’s only other fundraising expense over $100 identified in its that quarter was $2,388.83 to the Old Hickory Golf Club in St. Peters, Missouri.
The July report to the MEC lists by name and address donations to BILL PAC from persons giving more than $100 to BILL PAC.
One interesting anomaly with the contributions to BILL PAC in the July report, some as small as $3 and some as high as $500, is that more than 99% of them came from people who identified themselves as retired. That suggests retired people have been Nineonesix’s primary online target. Seniors are a prime target for online scams due to factors like social isolation a trusting nature and declining cognitive function. Many also live alone and have no one overseeing their spending. (By the way, I’m retired, which is probably why I’ve been getting Eigel’s emails.)
The report also showed many donors made multiple donations over time, resulting in aggregate donations of as much as $2,000, which suggests multiple email appeals driven by repeated responses.
One donor, a retired woman from Abilene, Texas, typically gave $3.50 each time, for an aggregate of $194.16 as of April 27, 2025. Not to be outdone, a retired man from North Prince George, Virginia, gave a total of $83.50 in eleven separate donations ranging from $4 to $23 spread out over the quarter. In another case, a retired man from Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey made six separate donations ($10, $2.50, $2.50, $2.50, $2.50, $4.75) on just one day, June 29, 2025.
The PAC’s April and January 2025 quarterly reports to the Missouri Ethics Commission are similar in showing heavy reliance on retired out-of-state donors.
The oddest thing about BILL PAC’s appeals is that they don’t mention Bill Eigel’s name or even what office he’s running for. Instead, they rely on highlighting all sorts of hot-button issues and inflammatory stories that have nothing to do with the St. Charles race and are about issues over which a St. Charles County Executive would have no jurisdiction
On Oct.15, I received an email from BILL PAC calling on me to sign a petition calling for mandatory nationwide voter ID and to send money:
Another email I recently received from BILL PAC, labelled a “Voter Identification Survey” asks a series of questions, such as ” Do you believe Democrats are opposed to Voter ID laws because they negatively affect their chances of winning elections?” and “Should illegal immigrants be included in the US Census?” before asking for donations.
Then here’s this message I got from BILL PAC:
Friend, you can’t make this crap up!
A CRIMINAL, illegal alien FUGITIVE became a superintendent of a public school in Iowa.
When law enforcement caught him after he attempted to evade arrest, he was found in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash, and a hunting knife.
This was the SAME MAN who was the superintendent of a public school. Radical Democrats have put the safety and well-being of our children SECOND to an illegal alien.
How many other invaders are in positions of power in our country? The open-border invasion Biden helped cultivate is damaging our safety, schools, communities, and country.
We MUST ramp up deportations for these illegal criminals ONCE AND FOR ALL.
Click on “We need a strong wave of support…” and you go to a donations page that also allows you to make a single or monthly recurring donation.
At the bottom of the email in small print is the following:
Paid for by BILL PAC
1020 S Benton Avenue St. Charles, MO 63301
That’s all. A recipient would have to be motivated to do some digging to find out the email is from a PAC supporting Bill Eigel’s run for County Executive of St. Charles County in Missouri.
I also got this email message from BILL PAC, along with an appeal for a donation:
Friend, the fate of the $5,000 DOGE checks can go one of two ways:
They can be paid to YOU and the American people.
OR: They can be revoked, and continue to fund liberal pet projects.
And this message from BILL PAC urging me to sign a petition supporting deporting Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, along with an appeal for a donation:
HELP GET THE DOGE AUDIT TO OTHERS So far, 1,076 patriots have completed this audit, so don’t be the first person to refuse to complete it and leave DOGE in the dust!
On his Facebook page, Eigel describes himself as “Christian, Husband, Father, USAF Veteran, Small Business Owner, Former State Senator for St. Charles County, and the conservative candidate for St. Charles County Executive.”
The deceit and inflammatory messaging in his fundraising campaign aimed at vulnerable seniors doesn’t seem very Christian to me.
Sure, I know, it takes money to run for office and if we want to support dignified, well-meaning, thoughtful candidates somebody has to chip in. But as fundraising has gone digital, it has, to use a term technology critic and author Cory Doctorow came up with, undergone “Enshittification”. The whole damn enterprise has just made our daily lives worse and filled the internet with junk.
“Will you stand with President Trump and Senator Rubio in this critical moment?” was a message I got the other day from the Anti-Woke Fund, demanding my attention with the following:
This could be the end of faith, family, and freedom, if we do nothing.
Leaving aside the fact that Marco Rubio is no longer a senator, the message urged me to go on record now to tell every Republican to STAND WITH MARCO RUBIO AND TRUMP TODAY.
I guess all of my contribution will go to Trump and/or Rubio, right?
NOPE!
I clicked through and found this: “Your contribution will benefit Anti-Woke Fund, Trump National Committee, Anti-Woke Caucus JFC, and 1 other.”
Click through further and you’ll find that if you give $25, $23.50 of that will go to the Anti-Woke Fund PAC, $1.25 to the Trump National Committee JFC and 25 cents to Hageman for Wyoming, the fundraising site for Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY). Larger contributions will be apportioned in the same way.
What’s the Anti-Woke Fund PAC?
In 2024, Hageman was chair of the Anti-Woke Caucus, a group within the House of Representatives that says it is dedicated to fighting the growing influence of “woke” ideologies in government, business and society. But the Anti-Woke Fund has no clear connection to the Anti-Woke Caucus or Hageman.
According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Anti-Woke Fund is a political action committee (PAC) that registered on January 3, 2025. Its total receipts as of June 30, 2025 were $471,572.54. Almost all of its contributions were $200 or under.
Its expenditures totaled $364,113.90, all of it going to 27 companies engaged largely in digital fundraising and messaging.
More than 50% of its expenditures went to six firms:
Better Mousetrap Digital: a digital fundraising consulting firm for Republicans – $68,635.22
Launchpad Strategies LLC: A Republican online advertising, digital consulting and fundraising firm – $48,169.64
DonorBureau: Aggregates and analyzes data to create a deep understanding of donors – $26,600.36
O2M Digital LLC: Works to deliver conservative political messaging – $26,010.93
Apex Strategies LLC: Facilitates fundraising, specializing in Political Candidate Fundraising and Non-Profit Event fundraising – $24, 158.80
TMA Direct Inc: Specializes in Data Management, Data Brokerage, Email Marketing, Political Consulting, Fundraising, and Direct Mail – $21,787.95
The rest went to 21 other mostly similar companies.[1]
What politician or interest group benefited from the work of all these companies that were paid by the Anti-Woke Fund from monies contributed by people who responded to the Fund’s email? Who Knows.
Dozens of other political messages are similarly deceiving.
There’s the message from Team Crane.
National Debt or Refund Check
How would you like the tariff revenue spent, Friend?
Along with the usual plea for a contribution, the message says, “Your contribution will benefit Crane for Congress and Trump National Committee JFC.” But you have to dig deeper to find out that if you give $75, for example, $71.25 of that will go to Crane for Congress, a PAC affiliated with Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona. Only $3.75 will go Trump. Larger contributions will be apportioned in the same way.
Crane promoted the conspiracy theory that there were “massive amounts of fraud” in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and called upon the Arizona State Legislature to decertify Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
Republican Rep. Mary Miller from Illinois sent out a message alerting me that former FBI Director James Comey had been indicted:
This will be the FIERCEST battle for TRUTH in America! Comey LIED to the American people in order to PLOT against President Trump.
SIGN YOUR NAME to our petition of MAGA Patriots that are declaring I STAND WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP!
Of course, if you sign your name, you are asked to chip in. “Your contribution,” she says “will benefit Mary Miller for Congress and Trump National Committee JFC” but as with Eli Crane, if you give $25, only $1.25 will go to Trump; $23.75 will go to Mary Miller for Congress. Larger contributions will be apportioned in the same way.
“There’s a sucker born every minute”, the American showman P.T. Barnum is supposed to have said, thinking of how confidence tricksters operate.
Don’t be a sucker.
[1] WINRED TECHNICAL SERVICES LLC: an American fundraising platform for the Republican Party
TAILWINDS POLITICAL, LLC: Helps causes acquire, grow and enhance audiences, specializing in fundraising and political campaigns
NORTH COUNTRY STRATEGIES LLC: N/A
FRONTLINE STRATEGIES LLC: Data-driven fundraising
RED CURVE SOLUTIONS: Offers comprehensive treasury, budgeting and FEC compliance services for political campaigns, party organizations and PACS
A-TEAM DIGITAL LLC: a political digital marketing firm
ROC MEDIA, LLC: Digital media targeting firm.
LP BROKERING LLC: N/A
OLYMPIC MEDIA LLC: digital marketing and advertising firm
P2P MESSAGING: Delivers managed service text messaging solutions to political organizations, non-profits, and government officials.
TWENTY MANOR PROJECTS LLC: a digital advocacy and fundraising company
CONSERVATIVE OUTREACH GROUP, LLC: List acquisition
EDEE INC.: List acquisition
POP ACTA: Creates and uncovers highly targeted and curated audiences to raise funds, acquire donors and expand the reach of political candidates.
GRASSROOTS FOR YOU LLC: Political campaign marketing
MAWCO LLC: Elevates conservative campaigns with fundraising and marketing
NORTH COUNTRY STRATEGIES: Political consulting
GET OUT THE LISTS LLC: Curates updated lists of conservative Republicans, donors, and activists
RIGHT RAIL LIST COMPANY: N/A
BELIEVE MEDIA, LLC: Digital marketing agency
CHAIN BRIDGE BANK, N.A.: Delivers banking and trust services nationwide
ThinkingOregon 