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We can now openly admit what has been unfolding before our eyes for a year: that Kristi Noem was an utter, complete, total catastrophe, her tenure in charge of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) little more than a self-promoting crusade.
She was unqualified for the job from day one, and largely responsible for the awful excesses of ICE and the frustrating failures of FEMA.
President Donald Trump’s decision to fire her, which took way too long, liberates many Republicans to acknowledge what many in the media, including me, along with Democrats and outside critics, have been saying all along: Noem was a slow-motion train wreck.
The former South Dakota governor had no experience in national security issues, and that became painfully evident.
This is a woman so determined to project the image of a tough cowgirl that when she wrote a memoir, she boasted about having shot her dog because she hated the pet. Talk about a self-inflicted wound.
This is a woman who trashed two American citizens tragically killed by ICE by calling them domestic terrorists, and in one case an agitator. And refused to take it back.
The proper response was simple: This is awful, we feel terrible for the family, we are investigating, and I’ll report back when we have more information. How hard is that?
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Tuesday, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
In the case of Renee Good, who was fatally shot after dropping off her child at school, there was no investigation. Noem simply declared the ICE agent had acted properly, and that was that.
Noem also bears responsibility for the hyper-aggressive approach of ICE in Minneapolis, which led to innocent Americans being dragged out of their cars and homes. The agents have a tough job to do, but many were hired after ICE slashed training for new recruits. She and the agency lied about that too.
The constant mistakes turned the public against ICE to the point that Trump had to bring in border czar Tom Homan to try to salvage the situation.
DHS SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM ADDRESSES CALLS FOR HER FIRING, NEW ALEX PRETTI VIDEO
Noem also exacerbated the mess at FEMA. By insisting that she approve every contract or grant over $100,000, she created a huge backlog in which people who had been through the process in disaster areas have waited months and months and can’t get their money. Some Republicans complained about this after taking heat from their constituents.
Meanwhile, DHS spent millions on ads promoting the boss, not to mention the private plane used to ferry her around.
She posed at the notorious El Salvador prison, the shirtless inmates behind her reduced to props, wearing a $50,000 gold Rolex watch.
Images of Alex Pretti and Renee Good are displayed during a forum, Feb. 3, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., held by Democratic lawmakers on use of force by Department of Homeland Security agents. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
She posed riding a horse at Mount Rushmore to further that gun-toting image. Other agents nicknamed her “ICE Barbie.”
Noem was awful at hearings, defensive and ill-prepared, as lawmakers hammered her. She even got grilled about her relationship with her special government employee, Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager, although both dismissed the rumors.
But the thin ice didn’t crack until she flatly lied about the president.
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Under aggressive questioning by Republican Sen. John Kennedy, she claimed Trump had approved a $220-million advertising contract with her as the featured star. Even someone with a rusty political antenna would realize that Trump was the star of the show.
Only four firms were deemed eligible to bid for this contract. And the award went to a firm that had not existed eight days earlier. It had no website. It had no known office. It had never done work for the government.
This company was created for the sole purpose of winning this lucrative windfall of federal money.
What the firm did have was a strong political connection to Noem. As revealed by Pro Publica, this Delaware outfit, the Strategy Group, played a key role in Noem’s 2022 campaign for governor.
When Kennedy let it be known that Trump had phoned him and called BS on her account, anyone with 10 minutes’ experience in Washington could tell that Noem was toast.
Anti-ICE protesters, using whistles to alert neighborhoods to ICE activity, face-off with Minneapolis police officers Jan. 24 in Minneapolis. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
The president was so furious that he shuffled her off to a previously nonexistent job, as special envoy to a new Western Hemisphere security initiative. Not exactly a golden parachute.
Trump, addressing the radioactive contract, told NBC News: “I wasn’t thrilled with it. I spent less money than that to become president. I didn’t know about it.”
The president’s replacement pick, Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, is widely respected as a more seasoned choice with aggressive views about deportation. He was classy with reporters, saying he and Noem are friends and that she did the best she could under difficult circumstances.
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It’s hardly unusual for a Cabinet to have a couple of clunkers. For Trump, who dismissed top officials left and right during his first term, this was the first Cabinet firing of his current tenure, and came while he’s waging war against Iran.
The president was extraordinarily patient with Noem, but she did serious damage to him, the administration and the country on his signature issue of immigration.
Virtually no one is defending her, except perhaps close family and friends. The need for pretense is over.
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