I wouldn't say President Trump fired Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security Chief so much as he demoted her.
I mean Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas - Western Hemisphere sounds like a groovy gig, but she will soon answer to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense, er, War Pete Hegseth. Imagine being a member of Trump's Cabinet one day and becoming a lackey for Hegseth the next.
To be sure, Noem will still live high off the hog and have horizontal jogging sessions with Corey Lewandowski at taxpayer expense as Lewandowski is leaving DHS with her. But Trump wants Noem out of the spotlight and is banishing her to Central America as punishment. Noem and Lewandowski became an albatross around Trump's neck.
It didn't help matters that Noem had a disastrous set of hearings on Capitol Hill. At the Senate hearing on Tuesday, Republicans were every bit as vigorous in their questions as Democrats with Louisiana's John Kennedy and Thom Tillis of North Carolina both taking her to the woodshed. Trump was unhappy with Noem claiming under oath that he had authorized an ad campaign worth nearly a quarter of a billion dollars which prominently featured her, but she further infuriated him when she would deny her affair with Lewandowski at a House hearing yesterday.
Of course, Trump knew full well about the affair and was surely aware of the ad campaign which was ubiquitous on radio and TV. So, he softened the blow with a cushy new job.
Naturally, Trump has appointed someone who might be every bit as bad if not worse than Noem as her successor - Oklahoma GOP Senator Markwayne Mullin. While Noem accused Alex Pretti of "domestic terrorism" claiming he was there to "perpetuate violence", Mullin was little better and characterized Pretti as "a deranged individual who came in to cause massive damage with a loaded pistol was shot and killed.”
Mullin has as much contempt for immigrants and those who disagree with Trump's immigration policies as Noem. The question is if he will be smart enough not to spend so lavishly on himself and furnish a government jet with a luxury bedroom for briefing sessions with female subordinates.
While Noem deserves her comeuppance, we must remember that it is Trump who set everything into motion concerning ICE's actions on kidnapping people off the streets, deportations and the murder of American citizens.
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