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Yesterday President Donald Trump fired Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem from her post, a decision she reportedly learned of only minutes before giving a speech at a conference in Nashville.
The immediate trigger appears to have been a contentious Senate hearing in which Senator John Kennedy questioned the Secretary about a $220 million DHS media contract. Under oath, Noem told the committee that Trump had personally approved the ad campaign.
The president quickly disputed that claim.
Noem’s dismissal was abrupt but not surprising. For weeks, criticism of Noem had been mounting, with even several Republican senators calling for her resignation, while doubts about her leadership
quietly grew inside the White House. Trump had not forgotten her mishandling of the Minnesota incidents earlier this year, in which two protesters were killed by DHS agents during heightened immigration enforcement operations. The episode proved to be a major
political disaster for the president during his first year back in office and dented public support of his top domestic priority.
The president had already begun signaling his dissatisfaction. At a January cabinet meeting—an event Trump has used in his second term as a kind of televised performance review for his secretaries—he
went around the table asking each official to report on their department’s progress. When the turn came for Homeland Security, Trump moved on, skipping Noem entirely.
Noem’s removal was not simply the result of management failures. At a deeper level, it reflected her inability to transition from electoral politics to running a federal agency. For Noem, the campaign
never seemed to end. Her rise in national Republican politics came less from her legislative accomplishments and governing experience than through her talent for political showmanship. Media appearances, a combative rhetorical style, and a carefully cultivated
television persona made her a perfect fit for the Trump era. Like many figures who rose alongside the MAGA movement over the past decade, Noem mastered the aesthetics of modern Republican political branding—dramatic presentation and the language of confrontation.
For her campaign efforts to help Trump win the White House once again, she was rewarded with her selection as Department of Homeland Security secretary. But while the persona she cultivated in
her rise in national politics served her well during the campaign, it proved far less suited to leadership. Managing an agency as complex as DHS, with its 260,000 personnel and critical missions of maintaining national security and responding to natural disasters,
is unglamorous work. It requires a deep understanding of the workings of the agency and a background in bureaucratic management. Yet throughout her tenure Noem often seemed more drawn toward the political spotlight.
“Noem often seemed more drawn toward the political spotlight.”
Her social media presence frequently resembled campaign advertising rather than official communication. Her public appearances, always with full television makeup, included her dressing in firefighter
gear operating hoses at training facilities, posing with high-powered rifles alongside DHS agents, and standing in front of the southern border wall in a cowboy hat. Even conservative commentators who had supported her nomination began expressing criticism
of her performative tone.
The campaign mentality extended beyond publicity into the way the department itself was run. Noem delegated substantial influence to senior adviser Corey Lewandowski, a longtime political operative
with no federal agency experience. Rumors swirled about the exact nature of his relationship with Noem. Lewandowski first rose to prominence as Trump’s campaign manager in 2016, and his work at DHS reflected the instincts of a political strategist who prioritized
highly visible enforcement actions that would generate immediate media attention.
Several of the administration’s most dramatic immigration enforcement initiatives had the Lewandowski touch. The construction of large open-air detention facilities designed for rapid deportation
processing, including the widely publicized Florida site nicknamed “Alligator City,” as well as the aggressive urban enforcement operations led by the controversial Customs and Border Patrol officer Greg Bovino were attention-getting and polarizing. They stood
in stark contrast to the quieter, more methodical approach typical of career agency leadership.
Noem’s blurring of political campaigning and agency management within the department extended beyond Lewandowski. Noem also relied heavily on her network of political operatives who had surrounded
her during her rise in Republican politics. Among the most prominent was Ben Yoho, the head of the Ohio-based consulting firm the Strategy Group and a longtime adviser to Noem’s political career. Yoho himself did not serve inside DHS, but several individuals
connected to Yoho moved into roles within the department, including former DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin, who is married to Yoho, and former ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan, who served as Noem’s political director when Noem
was governor of South Dakota and who worked for Yoho’s consulting firm. (Sheahan left her agency role in January after just eight months to run for Ohio’s ninth congressional district.)
The Senate hearing that preceded Noem’s dismissal centered on a $220 million advertising campaign warning migrants not to enter the United States illegally. The ads themselves were unusual not
just for their cost but for their presentation, which prominently featured Secretary Noem personally delivering the message. Most troubling, procurement records reveal that competition for the contract had been limited to a small number of firms, a potential
violation of government bidding rules. One of the companies that received subcontracted work was The Strategy Group, the political consulting firm run by Yoho. In her congressional hearing, Noem insisted the media campaign had been effective and had followed
proper procedures. Senator Kennedy was unconvinced. “They were effective,” he told her during the hearing. “Effective in your name recognition.” That exchange captured the deeper problem of Noem’s tenure. For Kristi Noem, the instincts of the campaign trail
never fully gave way to the responsibilities of governing.
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