Trump’s New Method of Humiliation
When a conspicuous presidential project goes awry—in this case, federal immigration agents killing two protesters in Minnesota—someone typically loses their job. And for much of this week, Kristi Noem’s deportation from the Trump administration seemed imminent.
Public confidence in the president’s handling of immigration has been plummeting. And as the secretary of Homeland Security—and the ostentatious face of President Trump’s high-profile ICE and Customs and Border Protection dragnets—Noem has seemed the logical sacrifice. Washington loves a good Cabinet deathwatch, just as Trump loves a good public expulsion. Or at least he used to. By this point in his first term, his “You’re fired” bit had migrated seamlessly from TV to politics: His White House had already bled out a national security adviser (Michael Flynn), press secretary (Sean Spicer), chief of staff (Reince Priebus), chief strategist (Steve Bannon), and secretary of Health and Human Services (Tom Price).
But in what can perhaps be called a minor upset, Noem was still in her role by week’s end. Instead, she had been left to twist very publicly in the wind. In a sense, this marks a subtle shift in Trump’s humiliation methods. Rather than firing officials outright—in a quick and relatively straightforward directive, or a tweet—he now seems to prefer sowing public doubt and maximizing attention upon the ultimate decider of someone’s fate: that person, of course, being himself.
[Read: Battles are raging inside the Department of Homeland Security]
For those wearing the putative target on their back, this can surely be agonizing. But Trump seems to rather enjoy this dance. He gets to be puppet master for the whole spectacle—dropping hints, leaving everybody guessing and at his mercy—and all without the hassle of having to find a replacement.
At certain points in his second term, various Cabinet secretaries have allegedly been on the outs but then managed to survive. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s name has circulated, especially since Trump sent her a direct message in September—and then accidentally posted it on Truth Social—urging her to be more aggressive in targeting his political enemies. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth survived a near miss last year after a group of high-level national-security officials erroneously added The Atlantic’s editor in chief to a private Signal group chat, where Hegseth shared military attack plans. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz was replaced over the episode but still wound up remaining in Trump’s Cabinet as ambassador to the United Nations.
The lack of high-level turnover in this White House says plenty about the nature of this Trump administration compared with the first. Whereas his previous term included several relatively experienced and responsible actors willing to disagree with the president, Trump consciously assembled a collection of hyper-loyalists this time around, people focused wholly on carrying out his wishes. Ultimately, if Trump sees a top aide as fulfilling that mission, he has been willing to overlook many shortcomings and embarrassments. He is also, clearly, trying to adhere to a “no scalps” rule, loath to be seen as bowing to pressure from anyone or giving his opponents any satisfaction.
For as much as he relishes his public perception as a tough-guy boss, the last thing Trump seems to want is friction from his underlings. And at least so far this term, he has tended to reward their overheated devotion with loyalty, up to a point. “I think she’s doing a very good job,” Trump said of Noem as he departed the White House on Tuesday for a trip to Iowa. His dutiful tone was reminiscent of a sports-team owner issuing a vote of confidence to a coach suffering through an extended losing streak.
Noem’s slow walk down the Cabinet plank started last weekend, when a 37-year-old ICU nurse, Alex Pretti, was fatally shot by CBP officers in Minneapolis while he was protesting Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city. Noem immediately labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and claimed, without proof, that his goal was “to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.” Noem’s performance did not play well, especially after videos of the incident contradicted her version of events. The White House distanced the president from her claims. A bacchanal of blame-shifting ensued.
In a statement, the White House immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller suggested that CBP—overseen by Noem’s department—might not have been following proper protocol, and that the initial assessment from DHS about the incident was based on reports from CBP on the ground. Border Patrol’s battering-ram commander, Gregory Bovino, was pulled out of Minnesota, and Trump dispatched his bull-necked “border czar,” Tom Homan, to take over operations there. My colleagues Michael Scherer and Nick Miroff reported this week that some career DHS officials “see Noem’s approach as ad hoc, performative, and possibly motivated by her own political ambitions.” According to an account in Axios, Noem has said, “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen.”
In announcing Homan’s assignment in Minnesota, Trump said Homan would report directly to him, not Noem. Homan held a news conference Thursday morning in which he said, “I didn’t come to Minnesota for photo ops or headlines,” which was impossible not to construe as a shot at Noem and Bovino. Noem’s zeal for photo ops in over-the-top military-style getups has been well established and widely mocked—and earned her the somewhat sexist nickname “ICE Barbie.”
[Nick Miroff: Greg Bovino loses his job]
Even as she has been sidelined, Noem has remained the majordomo of the debacle. Democrats have pushed for her removal and threatened her impeachment. Republican Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have also called for Noem’s resignation. “She has taken this administration into the ground on an issue that we should own,” Tillis told reporters, referring to the issue—immigration—that arguably got Trump reelected. Trump dismissed Tillis and Murkowski as “losers,” and Tillis, in turn, said that he was “thrilled” by the characterization, because it meant that he, too, was “qualified to be Homeland Security secretary.” “I continue to tell the president you’ve got to get the amateurs out of the Oval Office for his own sake,” Tillis told Politico, referring to Noem and Miller.
As is customary when any White House official faces heat, discussion of potential replacements has been rampant. “It is my informed opinion that Kristi Noem should go and Tom Homan should take her place,” the informed-opinion-haver Ben Shapiro said on the Daily Wire’s The Ben Shapiro Show. Also receiving speculation (informed or otherwise): former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and former Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah.
On Thursday, Trump convened a Cabinet meeting that featured the cringey exercise of top officials taking turns slathering praise upon the boss. This, at the very least, offered Noem the chance to show proof of life, as well as to grovel her way back into the president’s good graces. It also, in theory, allowed Trump the opportunity to toss some much-needed affirmation her way.
But it was not to be. Trump never called on Noem to speak. Like in Minnesota, it can get cold in Washington.