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On Thursday, President Trump flashed some weakness by ousting DHS Secretary Kristi Noem — the first high-profile dismissal of one of his nominees during his second term.¹
Noem, who of course was already under fire for her disastrous work overseeing ICE and CBP in Minnesota, was fired on the heels of her self-immolating appearances before Congress earlier this week. Her Senate testimony made clear she had increasingly lost the support of Republicans, including Thom Tillis (who is retiring) and John Kennedy (who notably is not).
Then, on Wednesday, Noem appeared before the House and was grilled about her relationship with “special adviser” Corey Lewandowski. Perhaps even more troubling for her, she was also pressed on false statements she made during her Senate testimony about her use of DHS funds for corrupt self-dealing. (Watch Joe Neguse’s brilliant questioning on this topic below.)
Democrats, including Rep. Becca Balint, reminded her that accountability is coming.
And Sen. Richard Blumenthal sent her a letter pointing out that it appeared her testimony about Lewandowski’s role in approving DHS contracts was false.
Noem was repeatedly publicly humiliated — see the clip below for an especially brutal example — and Trump reportedly was troubled in particular by her testimony that he was responsible for approving a $220 million DHS ad campaign starring her.
Still, more than a year into Trump 2.0, it has increasingly felt like the president’s refusal to fire anybody — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, currently beset by multiple scandals, has been in hiding for months — is meant to symbolize the inevitability of Trump’s cabinet and his refusal to consider accountability for anybody around him. So it was heartening to get the alert that Noem was out, because it’s a reminder that Trump not only is not immune to normal political dynamics (at least at home) but is in fact weakening in conjunction with his sinking popularity.
Then I actually read Trump’s Truth Social post and had to laugh. Because in it Trump announced that Markwayne Mullin will be Noem’s replacement.
“That was a misspoke”
I’ve been covering Republican politics for more than a dozen years now, so I’m used to absurd rhetoric and tragicomical gaffing. But Mullin’s performance in the days since Trump launched his war on Iran has nonetheless been special.
Mullin’s gaggle with reporters Tuesday after senators were briefed on Iran by Secretary of State Rubio produced a clip for the ages. He began by declaring of Trump’s bombing campaign that “this is war” — a reality most congressional Republicans have been loathe to acknowledge — but he suffered an apparent bout of amnesia moments later when a reporter asked him, “You’ll concede this is war?”
“We haven’t declared war,” Mullin said. “They declared war on us.”
But reporters promptly reminded Mullin that in addition to Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calling it a war, he himself had just done so moments earlier.
“Okay. That was a misspoke,” Mullin replied.