Many will regard the ex-secretary of homeland security, Trump’s first fired cabinet member, as the worst yet seen
Kristi Noem once led a dog to a gravel pit and ended its life with the cold precision of a mafia hit. On Thursday, the homeland security secretary confronted the grim truth that she, too, was expendable.
Noem became the first cabinet member fired in Donald Trump’s second term, a striking contrast to the revolving-door chaos of his first. Like other members of Team Trump, she had assumed that ostentatious displays of fealty to the president would insulate her.
As the face of immigration enforcement, often putting herself in the centre of the action, she managed to turn Trump’s signature issue into a political liability. Add a disastrous appearance before Congress this week and it was enough for the president to finally resurrect his reality TV phrase: “You’re fired!”
Trump told a story on Wednesday about another cabinet member, the energy secretary Chris Wright, who recently made a speech in which, instead of merely mentioning “coal”, he used the phrase “clean, beautiful coal” every time in an effort to impress the president. “I said, Chris, easy!” Trump recalled to an amused audience.
