Breaking: Noem Out at DHS
But, unfortunately, not exactly gone, either.
Via the NYT: Trump announces he is replacing Noem with Markwayne Mullin.
President Trump fired his embattled homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, on Thursday and announced plans to replace her with Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, after she was grilled by Republican lawmakers this week at congressional hearings on a variety of topics, including her knowledge of a lucrative advertising contract.
Mr. Trump announced the change on social media, along with a new, and previously nonexistent, role for Ms. Noem: special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, which he said would be a new security initiative for the Western Hemisphere.
So, on the one hand, what a shame. (/s)
On the other hand, Markwayne Mullin? Good grief.
(Poor Mullin, he had the chance to be the dumbest Senator with Tuberville likely the next Governor of Alabama, but now he won’t get the chance.)
On the third hand, WTF is a “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas”?
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, the US Senator who thought that the Ayatollah Khamenei was the same person as the Ayatollah Khomeini. That guy?
Sigh.
Waste, fraud, and abuse.
I think “Shield of the Americas” is Trump’s implementation of the Monroe Doctrine. He’ll be announcing the details from his Doral golf club. Of course.
Replacing dumb with dumber.
Markwayne can’t get the smell of war out of his nostrils. He remembers seeing “Apocalypse Now” on cable like it was yesterday. It’s doubtful he can find Iran on an unmarked map, or Delaware for that matter. And likely, to Markwayne, Iranians, Iraqis are all A-rabs.
His penchant for garbled speech and muddled thinking will not serve the position, or our nation well, but helps instituting the uniformity of The Oval Office.
@Rob1: That’s the deal with the Trump administration – the replacement is almost always worse (and always dumber) than the original. Mullin is the guy who body slammed a reporter for asking him a question he didn’t like during his senatorial campaign a couple of years ago.
Anyone know off the top of their head when his term is up? I couldn’t find it.
@Jen: In fairness, Mullin was just shy of his 12th birthday when Khomeini died. Considering the similarity of the names and how old Khamenei was, it’s not really shocking to think they were the same guy.
Reported gnome was giving a speech as director when the noose broke.
@James Joyner: You cut Markwayne too much slack. He’s has the “form factor” of a fully grown adult for crying out loud! Education is there for all who would avail themselves. We can’t keep lowering our expectations of adulthood, man!
For example, most of us know that Markwayne is not Mark or Wayne, and he’s not “the same guy” as either of them. We made a minimal effort to know who he was. At age 12 I knew that Karl Marx was not Groucho Marx, and Vladimir Lenin was not John Lennon. Being knowledgeable about our world takes so little effort, and even less so today. In fact, a world of knowledge fits in the palm of our hand. Markwayne recently on FOX kept confusing Iraq with Iran. Just like our President. We really need better minds on the job. And better ethics. And better morals.
@Beth:
Markwayne’s senatorial term concludes in Jan. 2027.
@James Joyner:
@Rob1:
At the time of the revolution in Iran, I wasn’t clear on who was the Shah and who was the Ayatollah (also who was the President and who was the Governor of California, but that was a different place). I was a year or two younger than Mullin.
I know the difference now.
@Jen:
I thought you were still commenting on Markwayne Mullin.
@Charley in Cleveland:
I tried to delete a double-post and also deleted the original.
That was Gianforte. Mullin was asked to comment quite a bit, because he was an MMA fighter.
He did challenge a Teamster official to a fight during a Senate hearing.
@Rob1:
I can’t help but think of the “tell ‘em Steve-Dave” scene from Mallrats when I see his name.
What happens to the luxury 737 Klaus Barbie bought? Does it go with her to her new post, whatever the f*ck that is, or does the new head of the Brownshirt department get to use it?
Only the best people, remember, only the best people. Sigh
@Kurtz:
The talking point that he was/is and MMA fighter needs to be shut down immediately – especially to real MMA fans. Mullin had three “fights” total – two against the same opponent – for a total of five minutes. That’s FIVE TOTAL MINUTES in three fights.
The league he fought in – The XFL “Xtreme Fighting League” is about three levels below the UFC. To call it a professional league is stretching the definition of “professional”. It’s a regional development league, based in Oklahoma.
Here is the hierarchy breakdown:
Top Tier: UFC (Global leader).
Second Tier: Major international promotions (e.g., PFL/Bellator, ONE Championship, Rizin).
Third Tier/Developmental: High-level regional promotions (e.g., LFA, Cage Warriors, XFC).
Fourth Tier: Local/Regional Promotion: Xtreme Fighting League (XFL – Oklahoma).
Mark Wayne Mullen MMA Resume
Dumbest cabinet secretary ain’t too shabby.
Welp, when the news broke that Kristi had been shitcanned by Trump, I immediately scurried, so to speak, over to Lucianne.com to see what the MAGAs had to say about this. Turns out that they believe Kristi got a promotion, to be Guardian of the Galaxy or some such.
@Kurtz:
Mullin and Teamster President Sean O’Brien reportedly became friends after that.
But what I’m really wondering is whether there was any chance of a challenge for Markwaynemullin’s Senate seat. I don’t know why someone would give up an Oklahoma-safe Senate seat for a temp position in this administration, but I expect such a person would do what’s necessary to please their employer.
@Jen: The same guy who was widely mocked yesterday for writing colourfully about his familiarity with the awful smell of war.
Mullin has never served in the military, or been anywhere near a combat zone.
@Eusebio: The numbers are there for a flip. 62-35 in a climate of double-digit swings can definitely turn into a dogfight.
The Oklahoma replacement appointment law is not kind to the GOP here:
The party will need to find a throwaway senator for the interim and run a primary and hope the person who comes out of that can distance themselves enough from Trump that the Least Popular President Ever doesn’t drag them down 13 points.
It’s hard to imagine an elected official’s résumé with fewer qualifications for an office like Secretary of DHS. He will be so far out of his depth he’ll make Noem look like a consummate professional. Per Wikipedia:
This was an epic humiliation for that horrible, corrupt, incompetent, heartless, narcissistic and, I’ll say it, leathery woman. Her career is over. It all came crashing down. So many sad cowboy hats. Imagine the rage, the impotent rage, as she and Lewandowski turn it against each other. Jet? What jet? Savor it.
George W. Trump fired Kristi Noem not because she unleashed masked ICE thugs to tear gas children and murder a VA nurse…
…but because Republican senators used Noem’s congressional grilling this week to bust her authorization of a $200 million DHS ad campaign — slick Kristi 2028 commercials that made President Trumpstein Files an afterthought.
Noem should’ve known better than upstaging the narcissist-in-chief and his anointed minion JD Cheney. Who does she think she is with such a takeover? Diana Ross? Beyoncé? Melania?
Looking forward to the puppy killer’s divorce and marriage to and divorce from Corey Lewandowski, to six Dem senators using Noem’s departure as their reason to help Fetterman end the DHS funding blockade (real reason: TSA agents’ unpaid, sad, angry faces), to the controversy forcing ABC backtrack on Noem’s DWTS invite, or to libtard howling over the six figure advance for Mrs. Noem-Lewandowski’s tell all revenge memoir.
@James Joyner: If he were some Man on the Street, I would agree. But I think it is reasonable to expect a US Senator to know better, especially one who is a frequent spokesperson for the admin on TV.
@Gustopher: You take what you can get, to be sure.
@Gustopher:
“Dumbest cabinet secretary ain’t too shabby.”
In a cabinet with Kennedy, Jr. and Hegseth? Not sure that Mullin is the clear favorite.
@James Joyner: “Considering the similarity of the names and how old Khamenei was, it’s not really shocking to think they were the same guy.”
For your mechanic or the guy delivering your Chipotle, sure. We’re talking about a United States senator, and one who has been incredibly vocal about the necessity of this war. Such people are supposed to know what the hell they’re talking about.
@Steven L. Taylor: @wr: Fair enough. But he’s not on the foreign affairs committee and I don’t expect Senators to have deep knowledge of political transitions that happened when they were children and likely wouldn’t have studied in school.
To be sure, he’s on the Armed Services Committee. But “Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989 and he was replaced by a lookalike named Ayatollah Khamenei” likely never came up in his briefing materials.
@James Joyner: This is going to sound snarky, but it is more depressed resignation: I guess if we don’t expect US Senators to have this surface-level knowledge of allegedly major adversaries, then no wonder we are in the mess we are in.
@James Joyner: Anybody who follows the news about the Middle East with any interest would be well aware that Khamenei was not Khomenei. They wouldn’t need to have been taught it at school or be given a special briefing.