Noem No More

Lots to talk about this week. Rather than delving into our war with Iran, which is clearly in its infancy with much more to unfold, I’ll take a look at the other big story last week: the ouster of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 

I could end this column by simply saying “it’s about time,” but there are other interesting threads here that could use some pulling, starting with her sheer incompetence. 

She was single-handedly responsible for helping the administration snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on its immigration policies. President Trump reversed the disastrous Biden immigration approach and secured our borders, bringing illegal immigration to a virtual standstill in comparison, proving it was possible to do so without Congress. The President should be taking a deserved victory lap now for doing what many Americans elected him to do. 

Instead, the administration and Republicans have been mopping up for months after a heavy-handed deportation and enforcement approach that left two Americans dead in our streets, non-criminals rounded up, detained and in some cases deported, and people scratching their heads wondering if this is what they voted for.  

Bipartisan calls for Noem’s resignation had been building for weeks and came to a head at her March 3 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, during which Republican Senators Thom Tillis (NC) and John Kennedy (LA) delivered a masterclass in fact-based grilling that left the secretary shell-shocked and mortally wounded.   

When asked by Sen. Kennedy if the President approved the $220 million TV ad campaign featuring her on horseback in a weird cowboy cosplay that could have come from an episode of Tombstone, she said he had. The President later told Reuters he hadn’t. In his words: “I spent less money than that to become president. I didn’t know about it.” 

I suppose it’s possible the President didn’t “approve” the spend. In the grand scheme of our massive federal budget, a $220 million campaign is a blip. Less plausible was that he didn’t know about it. The self-aggrandizing campaign was all over the airwaves, especially on Fox News, and it garnered a ton of media coverage, most of it mocking and dismissive.   

There wasn’t really much of an explanation from the White House on Noem’s firing from her prior job, and they moved her into a new role called “Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.”   

But it’s pretty clear she crossed two red lines with the President.  

The first was dragging him into her mess on live television. For a man who demands unflinching loyalty from his team, she stepped on the third rail. 

The other was creating a fawning advertising campaign that seemed designed to elevate her status to heroic levels rivaling the President’s. She flew a little too close to the sun and paid the price. 

The biggest and most obvious question is how she ended up in the job in the first place, given her complete lack of qualification for it. Once again, blame a weak-kneed Congress for allowing the President to nominate an unqualified cabinet member whom he measured with loyalty and telegenic looks over competence and leadership.  As I’ve said in this column previously, I believe any President should generally be given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to cabinet appointments, but within reason.   

Noem’s tenure has been a self-serving, rolling disaster from the start and we’re all better off with her riding her beautiful horse into the sunset.