On Thursday, March 5, President Donald Trump announced that Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) would replace Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). What provoked this decision? Rumors abound, but Noem has not been completely cast out, and the man who has been tapped to replace her may have critics of Trump's immigration policies wishing that Noem were back at the helm at DHS.
Was Noem replaced to appease Democrats and soften them up for some other policy proposal? To give them a symbolic victory? The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump has told aides, “He doesn’t want to make personnel decisions based on Democratic messaging or media pressure.” Still, it seems entirely possible that the idea factored in, but that’s not the whole story.
There are reports of an affair with Corey Lewandowski, one of Noem’s top aides. Neither she nor Lewandowski has categorically denied the existence of that relationship, though both have, at various times, been dismissive of the rumors. There is also the matter of a multi-million-dollar ad campaign that Kristi Noem, under oath, asserted Trump approved. The president insists he did not approve it.
There was a great deal of talk about the secretary’s difficult working relationships with some DHS agencies.
The final straw, so the media narrative claims, was Noem’s performance at recent congressional hearings. That may indeed be true. But Noem hasn’t exactly been cast into the wilderness.
Kristi Noem and Shield of the Americas
A new Trump initiative is the Shield of the Americas, a kind of Monroe Doctrine on steroids – indeed, it has been dubbed the Donroe Doctrine. The inaugural gathering of some 13 South and Central American countries will take place in Miami over the weekend, beginning Friday, March 6. Kristi Noem will take on the role of special envoy.
If this project works out, who becomes the de facto head of this coalition – or at least the one who is really calling the shots – if not the special envoy of the United States of America? So, was this really an enraged president canning his DHS secretary, or did Kristi Noem, understanding that the heat was on, accept a lower-profile job that could potentially become enormously significant?
If a US president wanted to rapidly expand American influence throughout the Americas – without military conquest – what better way than to create a forum for all of the North, Central, and South American nations and make your former DHS boss the special envoy? This might just be a right-wing conspiracy theory, though.
Announcing the personnel change on Truth Social, President Trump said, in part:
“The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!), will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida. I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland.’”
Meet the New Boss
Markwayne Mullin is a Trump loyalist and an immigration hawk. "The president and I have a really good relationship; we talk all the time anyway. I wasn’t, to be quite honest with you, expecting the call today. But it's super exciting," Mullin told reporters. But this isn’t exactly a bid to soften Homeland Security’s image. "Nothing is going to prevent me from doing my job," Mullin asserted. "I’m going to enforce the policies and the laws that Congress has passed, and we’re going to protect the homeland."
Assuming that Mullin is confirmed to replace Kristi Noem at DHS, the governor of Oklahoma, Republican Kevin Stitt, will nominate someone to fill Mullin’s Senate seat for the remainder of his term.
The Department of Homeland Security, created in the aftermath of 9/11, absorbed several agencies that were previously branches of other executive departments. It has become a federal behemoth. Running it, particularly in the age of Trump, is no easy task. For better or worse, though, it seems Kristi Noem is far from being shuffled off into obscurity, while the DHS, pending Senate confirmation, may be getting a new boss who makes the old boss seem easygoing.
This development is perhaps not a sign of chaos and fracture within the Trump administration, but, in fact, a bit of tactical reshuffling. Still, when what is supposed to be a well-oiled political machine begins to squeak – with midterms just about on the horizon – the potential repercussions are as wild as they are unpredictable.
