We can now openly admit what has been unfolding before our eyes for a year: that 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 .Â
President Donald Trump’s 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.Â
The former South Dakota governor had no experience in , 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.Â
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.Â
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?
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.Â
The constant mistakes turned the public against ICE to the point that Trump had to bring in border czar to try to salvage the situation.
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 cant get their money. Some Republicans complained about this after taking heat from their constituents.Â
Meanwhile, spent millions on ads promoting the boss, not to mention the private plane used to ferry her around.Â
She posed at the , the shirtless inmates behind her reduced to props, wearing a $50,000 gold Rolex watch.
She posed riding a horse at Mount Rushmore to further that gun-toting image. Other agents nicknamed her “ICE Barbie.”Â
Noem was , 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.Â
But the thin ice didn’t crack until she flatly lied about the president.
Under aggressive questioning by Republican Sen. John Kennedy, she claimed Trump had approved a $220-million with her as the featured star. Even someone with a rusty political antenna would realize that Trump was the star of the show.Â
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.Â
This company 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 for governor.Â
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.Â
The president was so furious that he shuffled her off to a previously nonexistent job, as special envoy to a new Wes
