The Public Fires Kristi Noem

That's not the story you'll hear from Washington

Kristi Noem at a better time in her life

Donald Trump today announced his decision to remove Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, the first cabinet level official firing of his second term.

The media will credit her fall to some shady no-bid contract she was behind, her use of a private jet, or administration rivals like Stephen Miller and whatever boring DC drama. But the real reason is obvious: public activism.

The revolution is here, as I wrote last month, and the people of Minneapolis, Chicago and Los Angeles deserve credit for forcing Donald Trump to reassess the nature of his immigration war, and creating a massive shift in public opinion.

Yet the major media, which sees Washington as the main character in every story, remains oblivious to people power. Just take a look at The New York Times’ story on Noem’s departure. It solely ties it to her Congressional testimony about a shady border security ad campaign contracted out to former homeland spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin’s husband. It finally mentions Minneapolis for the first time in the seventeenth paragraph(!)

The first cabinet member ousting of his administration—before Hegseth, Bondi, or Kash Patel—is a big deal.

One senior ICE official I asked about Noem’s firing attributed it in large part to the Minneapolis protests, saying the whole episode has been devastating for ICE and its morale. The evidence for this seems overwhelming, with Congress repeatedly raising the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good repeatedly throughout Noem’s Senate hearing yesterday.

Trump seemed to hint at his frustration with Noem’s my-way-or-the-highway arrogance in his announcement on Truth Social. Touting her replacement, Senator Markwayne Mullen, Trump said: “Markwayne truly gets along well with people.”

Ouch.

Something tells me Americans were more incensed by the flagrant and needless killing of two American protesters than some sketchy contract award or incomprehensible Trumpworld beef that the media will point to.

The real story here is the political revolution that led to the fall of ICE Barbie. This is the same revolution that led to Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City, deemed impossible (until it wasn’t) by the news media and expert consensus. It's the revolution that just produced the biggest Senate primary turnout in Texas since 2008—with Democrats Talarico and Crockett both outpolling their Republican opponents (again, in Texas). It is the same revolution that has shifted public opinion regarding “ironclad” support for Israel in its many wars, and is skeptical about Trump’s war in Iran.

And the revolution isn’t a partisan phenomenon. Just look at the Epstein transparency movement, an everything-bagel of American politics that seems to run the gamut of public opinion, from liberal feminists and Me Too advocates to Evangelical and QAnon anti-human trafficking warriors. If this motley group seems weird to you, well, America is weird, so democracy will reflect that. Gone are the days of politics being the exclusive hangout of the silver-haired blue bloods, solemn statesmen and A-students.

Maybe that’s why Congress is seeing a record-shattering number of incumbent politicians who are not seeking reelection, while a strikingly high number of gubernatorial races are also up for grabs. The House of Representatives is on track to break a record, with some 32 Republicans and 21 Democrats not seeking re-election. The Senate is in a similar retreat, an effect not only of a tired and distrustful public that is sick of the status quo, but one precipitated by earlier clamoring for the gerontocracy to step away.

Unlike the Tea Party or the so-called Democratic Tea Party, the punditocracy keeps missing the point by framing this as a partisan battle when it's really just people who are fed up and getting louder.

It’s a revolution against what is supposedly possible, practical, or plausible—cudgels Washington uses to get ordinary people to check out because they don’t have the right credentials to have an authorized opinion and this is all just more complicated than you can understand. The message is to be happy with what they’re given, with what’s doable. People are done with these limp dick excuses for inaction.

The protests I’ve covered this year like No Kings make it clear that people are done waiting for change to come from Washington. They laugh at the notion that meaningful opposition might come from the Democrats, or the notion that the Republicans might stand up to Trump.

When I first read about Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas allegedly pressuring a married female staffer into having a relationship, leading to her committing suicide by setting herself on fire, my first thought was how quickly they were going to sweep this under the rug. But staffers in his office—conservative Republicans, mind you—got the word out and kept the pressure up enough that now other congresspeople (including Republicans) are calling for his resignation, which seems inevitable at this point.

If only such energy were acknowledged and encouraged by the media.

This fall, the Democrats will win at least one chamber of Congress and the “story” will be that it’s all about Trump and the renewal/resurgence/recovery of the Democratic Party. From day one, the media will focus on the next horse race, the 2028 presidential elections, and the sage will talk about the “fight” for the future. In my mind, this is a people-powered, anti-incumbency uprising aiming to kick out far more than just Donald Trump—or Kristi Noem, for that matter.

On that note, Trump has appointed Noem to be Special Envoy for “The Shield of The Americas”—whatever that is. The people won this fight.

— Edited by William M. Arkin