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Get ready for a lot of dog jokes over the next few weeks. At one point, Kristi Noem looked like a solid choice for Donald Trump’s running mate, until the South Dakota governor decided to — what’s the best word? — overshare in her most recent memoir. Our late, great Jazz Shaw wrote at the time that killing a family dog because it wouldn’t hunt properly, rather than rehoming it, would end Noem’s electoral career.
Maybe it has, but it hasn’t stopped Noem yet. According to CNN, Trump has picked Noem to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security, home of the biggest domestic crisis Trump faces:
Noem will be tapped to take over the agency as two key immigration hardliners — Stephen Miller and Tom Homan — are slated to serve in senior roles, signaling Trump is serious about his promise to crack down on his immigration pledges. With his selection of Noem, Trump is ensuring a loyalist will head an agency he prioritizes and that is key to his domestic agenda.
The department saw an immense amount of turmoil the last time Trump was in office. Then, DHS had five different leaders, only two of whom were Senate-confirmed. The agency has a $60 billion budget and hundreds of thousands of employees.
Noem, who previously was a South Dakota representative, will now be tasked with overseeing a sprawling agency that oversees everything from US Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the US Secret Service.
Will this dog hunt? (I couldn’t help myself .) Probably, or at least it should.
