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| Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski (MSN) |
Donald Trump is notorious for a lot of things, but perhaps No. 1 on the list is his prodigious ability to tolerate incompetence. In fact, Trump seems especially welcoming for any staffer who's is "mentally unstable and bad at his job." Kristi Noem certainly qualified on both counts; after all, this is a woman who earned the nickname "Puppy Killer" by fatally shooting her 14-month-old dog named Cricket, also shooting the family goat, and writing about both incidents in her book.
That tale, however, did not disqualify Noem in Trump's eyes. In fact, it might have ensured that he would name her secretary of homeland security, joining a "Cabinet of Horrors" that includes Kash Patel, Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr., and . . . well, you get the idea. But a pair of Congressional hearings this week -- a less damning one before the U.S. Senate and a highly damning one before the House of Representatives -- caused even Trump to reach his "puke point" with Kristi Noem. It wasn't because Noem directed an immigration operation that led to the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
Trump did not seem particularly bothered by that. But Noem's stumbling answers to questions at the House hearing about her alleged extramarital affair with former Trump staffer Corey Lewandowski proved more than the president could stomach, according to a report at the New York Post. From my vantage point, it looks like Trump was embarrassed, as if Lewandowski had "cucked" him. That suggests Trump had a vested interest in Noem maintaining at least a public appearance of "sexual purity" after a certain event, say a rendezvous (or two or three . . . ) with Trump.
With headlines blaring about the Noem-Lewandowski affair -- and with Noem's dodgy answers to questions on the subject captured for posterity in the Congressional Record -- Trump's tolerance for a DHS secretary soiled by scandal suddenly vanished. It's not that Trump minds scandal; in fact, he seems to roll around in it like a barnyard pig in slop. But a scandal that raises possible questions -- and (horror!) jokes -- about his sexual prowess, or lack thereof . . . well, that's not going to fly. Nope, as a malignant narcissist, Donnie J. Trump cannot tolerate the thought of people laughing at him. And so, Kristi Noem had gone a bridge too far and was ousted.
To be sure, Noem did not receive a much-deserved pink slip -- even though a number of news outlets used the term "fired" to describe her dismissal. In fact, Trump tossed bouquets in her direction and assigned her to a cushy position as "special envoy to the shield of the Americas."
What does the New York Post make of this? Let's check out their article under the headline "Noem's answer on 'sexual relations' with Lewandowski was "final straw' for Trump, sources say." It took three reporters to put it together, so it must be good. Steven Nelson, Emily Goodin, and Marisa Schultz write:
The “final straw” prompting President Trump to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was her stunning non-answer at a House hearing Wednesday about whether she had “sexual relations” with top aide Corey Lewandowski, sources inside and close to the White House told The Post.
Trump had been nearing a boiling point in his frustration with Noem and already was considering ousting her after she claimed to senators Tuesday that Trump approved $220 million in ads starring herself — but her inability to answer the affair questions sealed her fate.
“The question about the affair at the hearing was actually the final straw. It was f—ing brutal,” one source said of Noem’s reply, which was widely seen as an admission that she was sleeping with her subordinate. Her husband of 34 years Bryon Noem had joined her at the hearing.
Did it matter to Trump that Bryon Noem might have been embarrassed? That is doubtful. But did it matter to Trump that HE was embarrassed? Hell, yes. From the Post:
The soon-to-be axed DHS head refused to directly answer when asked if she is having sexual relations with Lewandowski, calling the question “garbage.”
“Have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) asked Noem during the hearing.
“I am shocked that we’re going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today,” Noem said in response. “All I would tell you is that he is a special government employee who works for the White House. There are thousands of them in the federal government.”
Noem's mistake, it appears, was picking a special government employee who happened to be a former aide to Trump. Even worse, Noem made it appear that she preferred Lewandowski's intimate company to whatever Trump could provide. That must have irked Ttump enough that he did not "axe" her (to use the Post's term), but he did ship her off to Nowheresville. Once news of Noem's ouster blows over, it will be interesting to see when Noem's name shows up again in headlines. My guess is that it will be, as Linda Ronstadt sang, "A Long, Long Time."
In testimony before the House, Noem kept digging a hole for herself, sources tell the Post:
After repeated pushing from other lawmakers for a yes or no response, Noem still deflected.
“I really think you need to say the word ‘no’ into the record so that you can clear that up,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) said.
Noem never did.
“It kept mounting up,” said another source, who agreed that it was the final straw.
A third source said, “There was just no going back with the two hearings. It all became about her and him.”
As for the role an affair might have played in Noem's ouster, Lewandowski had no answer for that one. Trump, however, also was displeased with Noem's answer to questions about spending on advertising:
Lewandowski himself told The Post he wasn’t sure what role the alleged affair played.
“You’re asking me to speculate on things that I have no insight into,” he said when reached by phone.
Trump’s ouster of Noem — the first cabinet shakeup of his second term — came shortly after he told Reuters that she lied to Congress about his approval of advertising spending, giving the impression that was the core reason for his decision to swap her out for Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).
“I never knew anything about it,” Trump told the outlet.
Some of the ad money flowed to a company run by the husband of Noem’s then-spokeswoman. One ad featured Noem, 54, on horseback, riding in front of the iconic Mount Rushmore, which sits in her home state of South Dakota.
And her voice-over featured tough words: “You cross the border illegally, we’ll find you. Break our laws, we’ll punish. You harm American citizens, there will be consequences. But if you come here the right way, your American dream can be as big as these endless skies.
From President Trump and me: Welcome home.”
That sounds like a pretty clever ad, but despite some tough language, it ultimately sends a squishy, feel-good message about immigration -- and that might not have pleased Trump:
Sources said that the ad issue was indeed a key motivation for Trump, though her poor handling of the affair query removed any doubt.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters after Noem’s termination that Trump was “mad as a murder hornet” and considering replacing her with Mullin on Tuesday night after her Senate testimony — though he didn’t do so until Thursday following her disastrous House testimony on Wednesday.
“The president, when he called me Tuesday night, the night of the hearing, when he was mad as a murder hornet, he asked me what I thought about Markwayne,” Kennedy said.
Noem thanked Trump for her new post, and she probably should be thankful. Under normal circumstances, she likely would have been canned outright. A lot of federal workers in the age of DOGE probably would love to have a soft landing like the one Noem received. Some of them probably are wondering how to stay out of foreclosure or bankruptcy. From the Post report:
For her part, Noem maintained a strong public facade. She spoke to a law enforcement conference in Nashville minutes after she was fired and kept it to business as usual.
She thanked Trump in a statement for her new appointment as the Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.
“In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise, I forged over my time as Secretary of Homeland Security. We have made historic accomplishments at the Department of Homeland Security to make America safe again,” she said.
Trump was already aware of Noem’s relationship with Lewandowski, who served as his first campaign manager in 2016, and has joked about it for years — but viewed her handling of the affair question as a disaster for her already crumbling credibility.
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