When Kristi Noem disclosed she once shot the family dog, Cricket, because Cricket was “untrainable”, the world wrote her off as unfit to be Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate. According to a new book, her dog-killing ruthlessness was, in fact, one of the key reasons Trump picked her for Homeland Security Secretary. It may have helped that Trump doesn’t like dogs.
Now that uncompromising approach has been her downfall. Trump has finally snapped and fired her for overshadowing his administration’s immigration achievements – achievements she has made – by turning public sentiment against ICE. There was the crackdown in Minnesota and the protester killings, but also the spending of hundreds of millions of dollars on unsanctioned ads, not to mention rumors that she is apparently sleeping with her advisor. Just like poor Cricket, Noem turned out to be untrainable.
Trump is in no way backing down. He is replacing a firebrand with a firebrand
Her final misstep came at a calamitous appearance at the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Noem lied about the President signing off a $200 million ad campaign, featuring herself on a horse urging illegal immigrants to self-deport. She also potentially committed perjury in the process. “I never knew anything about it,” Trump told Reuters on Thursday when asked about the adverts.
Trump was also said to be furious about Noem’s non-answer when she was asked if she was having an affair with her top advisor Corey Lewandowski, who is married. Noem’s husband – a more understanding man than the President is – watched as she floundered and told lawmakers “I am shocked we’re peddling tabloid garbage in this committee.”
But Trump was shocked with her performance and he posted on Truth Social on Thursday that Noem would be replaced by Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma. Which was clearly news to Mullin. “It happened quick,” the slightly befuddled looking senator told the press. It was unclear if Noem knew she had been fired before she delivered a scheduled address in Nashville or if she found out on the stage.
Whether it was the alleged corruption or adultery that was the final straw, the reason her neck was anywhere near the chopping block was her handling of Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. Noem managed almost singlehandedly to turn immigration – an issue that propelled Trump to the White House – into a net loss for Republicans.
Trump stepped in after Renée Good and Alex Pretti were shot dead by federal agents and Noem combatively branded them both “domestic terrorists.” White House border czar Tom Homan was dispatched to Minnesota to take over. Americans were already unhappy with the new confrontational ICE tactics ordered by Noem. A poll found that 47 percent believed ICE was making the country less safe, compared to 37 percent who said ICE was making it safer. And 46 to 43 percent said they would support abolishing ICE altogether. Noem was becoming a midterms risk.
That Noem survived so long was down to the fact that she had achieved what other administrations had considered to be the impossible: the southern border is effectively closed, migrant releases in the US have been at zero for nine consecutive months and drug seizures are down dramatically. Three million illegal immigrants have been deported, ICE arrests have doubled and the number of illegal immigrants in detention is at an all-time high.
Trump spoke proudly of her achievements at his State of the Union address: “We now have the strongest and most secure border in American history, by far.” But behind the scenes his fury with Noem was building. Allegations of wasteful spending and corruption go well beyond just one ad contract. Noem and Lewandowski have also been accused of using a luxury 737 MAX jet, with a private cabin in back, for their own travel, while claiming it was being used for deportations.
As he pushed her out of DHS, Trump did hand Noem a consolation prize – in all likelihood to spare his own embarrassment at caving to the negative headlines. He made her the Special Envoy for The Shield of Americas, a new coalition of countries in Latin America that will work together to help secure the Western Hemisphere, according to the White House. Marco Rubio is her boss now. Trump hands him all his thorniest problems.
Trump is in no way backing down. He is replacing a firebrand with a firebrand. Noem’s successor, Mullin, a married father of six, is a rancher, businessman and Cherokee Nation citizen. He is also a former mixed martial arts fighter who is known by colleagues to be pugilistic.
Congressional Democrats might find they get even shorter shrift from Mullin than Noem. The Democrats are currently trying to exploit what happened in Minnesota by blocking a DHS funding bill until changes are made to immigration enforcement operations. Mullin, who it appears will be confirmed on party-line vote, is close to Trump and will continue pursuing the same tough-nosed immigration policies – just without the circus that Noem brought to town.
It is noteworthy that Trump 2.0 has been remarkably loyal to his team. It took him 409 days to find his trigger finger. At the same point in his first term, he had already fired or forced out 21 people from his cabinet and the White House.
We shouldn’t expect this to be the start of a bloodletting. Trump believes he has assembled a team of winners; Noem no longer had a place in that company because, by almost every metric, she had become a loser. Noem might even understand. She wrote that Cricket “was dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and putting a bullet in her head “had to be done.” Trump clearly felt the same.
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