You can get away with a lot as a member of the Trump administration. You can be objectively bad at your job—looking at you, U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Pirro. You can be stupid enough to discuss military operations on Signal and not notice a journalist is there—howdy, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. But the one thing you cannot do, ever, is put the blame on Trump. When it comes to being under fire, you’re on your own, kid.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem seems to have forgotten this important lesson, and it cost her the Cabinet slot she was never qualified for in the first place. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is preparing to fire Noem after her disastrous appearance before Congress earlier this week. Only a few minutes later, news of Noem’s ouster was confirmed when Trump announced on Truth Social that he would be replacing Noem with Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
Markwayne Mullin, our new … Homeland Security Secretary?
Noem now has a brand-new made-up job where even the job title manages to sound Nazi-ish: Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas.
What?
Apparently, Trump will be announcing a new “Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere” on Saturday and he made sure to note that it will be launched from Doral, Florida, because god forbid Trump doesn’t get his relaxation time at Mar-a-Lago in.
Noem likely isn’t out based on how hard she flailed when pressed by Democrats about the unfortunate tendency of her ICE goons to murder people for the crime of watching them. Trump likely didn’t care all that much about that, as this administration’s position is clearly that the concerns of Democratic lawmakers are to be ignored.
Trump also probably didn’t care all that much that Noem straight-up lied about her paramour Corey Lewandowski’s role in approving contracts at the Department of Homeland Security, even though he has no role there that would allow him to do so. Indeed, given Lewandowski’s entirely unofficial role here, if Trump wanted Lewandowski gone, he’d be gone.
Related | Kristi Noem misled Congress about top aide’s role in DHS contracts
But where Noem went horribly wrong was not taking the blame for her $220 million ad campaign, where she rode a horse in front of Mount Rushmore and yelled at immigrants: “Break our laws, we’ll punish you.”
Given how awash in corruption and cash this administration is, Trump likely didn’t even care that she steered that incredibly lucrative deal to some close pals at Strategy Group without any real oversight.
But when Noem was pressed by GOP Sen. John Kennedy about that campaign and how it didn’t really seem to be about immigration enforcement but served more to just highlight Noem, she threw Trump under the bus:
Kennedy: The president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently?
Noem: Yes sir, we went through the legal processes …
Kennedy: Did the president know you were gonna do this?
Noem: Yes.
Kennedy: He did?
Noem: Uh-huh, yes.
Oh, oh no, no, no, Kristi. Never that. Trump can never be responsible for anything that is not perfect or not going well. If you’re catching heat for something, you take 100% of the heat, and you protect Trump from any blowback. Have you never paid attention to Trump?
So now, we get Markwayne Mullin, which is in no way an improvement.Mullin is categorically one of the dumbest people in the Senate, brick-thick and bellicose, which means he’s perfect for a Cabinet slot in this administration.
Related | Republicans duke it out for title of dumbest US senator
Getting Noem out of there also allows the administration to get oodles of good press about how they are “turning a new page” on immigration and “de-escalating,” when we all know Mullin will be as vicious as Noem, if not worse.
At least Mullin might not do as much cosplay as Noem, though he’s a dude that wears a cowboy hat indoors, so who can say? Either way, things are not going to get any less stupid or violent, no matter who Trump puts atop DHS. And if Noem really is out, she’ll land on her feet just fine. There’s always Fox News.
