My satellite internet conked out last night, so my beau and I missed watching the end of The Rare Breed, and the early morning Google alert for the Rapid City Journal article, CNN: Trump to nominate South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for Homeland Security secretary.
But I should have suspected something was up when the New York Post reported last week, Trump beefs up security with robot dog seen patrolling Mar-a-Lago estate.
He's found a work around his proposed Homeland Security chief's dog shooting tendencies.
The Journal's Mike Brownlee reports in part:
CNN reported late Monday that President-elect Donald Trump will nominate South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Noem is in her second term as governor after being re-elected in 2022. She was previously a state representative and the state's sole member of the U.S. House of Representatives after being elected in 2010. . . .
The Department of Homeland Security has a more than $60 billion budget and includes oversight of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Customs Service, Secret Service and U.S. Coast Guard, among many agencies. . . .
The South Dakota FY2023 appropriated budget was $7.37 billion, so she'll be swimming in a bigger reservoir in D.C. Her administration has also been marked by record staff turnover, as Dakota News Watch's Stu Whitney reported in 2023's Noem’s ‘demanding’ style sparks staff turnover, turmoil: ‘It’s a tough gig.
We haven't seen much of Noem in these parts lately, since the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate banned her from the Lake Traverse Reservation months back for her baseless accusations about drug cartels working with tribal leadership. She's banned by all nine tribal nations for those remarks, as well as hateful comments about native families she made at a town hall in Winner, South Dakota.
The Dakota Scout's Joe Sneve and Austin Goss report in Reports: Trump to pick Noem for Homeland Security chief:
South Dakota governor would lead agency responsible for border security
Gov. Kristi Noem has been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to be the next Homeland Security secretary.
The second-term South Dakota governor is in line to be the soon-to-be two-time commander-in-chief’s preferred choice to lead the executive branch’s border security arm, countering reports that the Republican Trump loyalist was not on a list of high-profile cabinet positions within the new administration.
According to multiple national news outlets, which spoke with a transition official close to Trump’s team, Noem has been tapped by Trump to lead the agency central to Trump’s domestic agenda. The report was also confirmed by Fox News and other sources.
Trump’s appointment of Noem, who entered national politics in 2010 after winning election in the 2010 Tea Party wave, follows the 52-year-old Castlewood native’s meteoric rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic when she bucked worldwide lockdowns.
Noem’s slated position would oversee Stephen Miller and Tom Homan, two high-profile immigration hardliners, serving in senior roles. Miller has been one of Trump’s closest advisers over the duration of his political career, while Homan — a former director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — has been tapped by Trump to be his “border czar.”
Trump’s choice of Noem underscores his intent to prioritize immigration and national security issues, fulfilling campaign promises to tighten border control and enforce stricter immigration measures. , , ,
The governor has considered a return to the nation’s capital prior to the latest reports. She told The Dakota Scout in February after meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago that she’d be open to taking a position alongside him.
“I’ve known Trump for years; we worked together when I was in Congress, he’s come to South Dakota,” said Noem, who at the time was earning national attention for spotlighting crime on South Dakota’s nine Indian reservations. She blamed President Joe Biden’s southern border policies and alleged Mexican drug cartels were occupying tribal lands. Noem’s remarks got her banished from South Dakota’s nine tribal reservations. . . .
In the South Dakota Searchlight article, Trump reportedly picks South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to run Homeland Security, Seth Tupper and Joshua Haiar report:
. . . She was widely considered to be a potential running mate for Trump in his recent campaign, until last April. That’s when media reports began to emerge about her new book, “No Going Back,” in which she disclosed that she had once fatally shot a hunting dog in anger over its poor performance, and then fatally shot a goat while still angry about the dog.
She also retracted a story in the book about meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un after reports questioning whether the meeting had happened.
Those and other revelations from the book made Noem a figure of ridicule for weeks as she went on a book tour. National television anchors grilled her in interviews, late-night TV hosts mocked her, and she was the butt of jokes and memes on social media.
Yet, several months later, she delivered a televised speech at the Republican National Convention. As Trump continued his campaign, speculation grew that Noem could be considered for a job in his administration.
Jon Schaff, a professor of government at Northern State University in Aberdeen, in northeastern South Dakota, said Noem’s appointment would be the culmination of her yearslong devotion to Trump.
“Trump rewards loyalty, and Kristi Noem has been loyal,” Schaff said. . . .
Perhaps my favorite report on Noem's promotion appears in the Daily Mail's Trump selects puppy-shooting South Dakota governor Kristi Noem for major Cabinet position. Stephen Lepore reports:
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been selected to join Donald Trump's Cabinet as the head of Homeland Security, CNN reported.
The governor - whose vice presidential hopes were dashed when she admitted to shooting her puppy - will implement Trump's promises to clean up the mess at the southern border and deport millions of illegal migrants.
She joins Trump loyalists Stephen Miller, who was appointed as deputy chief of staff, and Tom Homan, who will serve as 'border czar.' The Department of Homeland Security has a $60 billion budget. . . ,
Trump and Honan have said they will start their work to deport 'millions' of migrants on his first day in the White House.
Noem, 52, was considered a rising star in the Republican Party until a scandal earlier this year where she revealed in her biography that she shot her own puppy, a 14-month-old named Cricket. . . .
. . . That wasn’t all. Noem writes that her family also owned a 'nasty and mean' male goat that smelled bad and liked to chase her kids, so she decided to go ahead and kill the goat, too. . . .
DailyMail.com also reported on rumors that Noem, who is married, was having an affair with Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski, who is also married, carrying on in 2019, if not before.
Neither denied the affair when asked by DailyMail.com. The Governor issued a statement attacking us for the timing of the article, while Lewandowski did not respond to a request for comment
However, after the initial publication of the article, Noem's spokesman Ian Fury vehemently insisted the pair had never had an affair. . . .
The conservative British tabloid should be one to watch in the coming days.
Photo: Noem tries out her flamethrower on a pile of cardboard boxes in South Dakota. From Twitter, via the Daily Mail,
Related posts
- Update: Nope. With Trump returning to office, is Noem poised for an administration role?
- Victory/History Day meal to be celebrated June 25 in Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Memorial Park
- Not reservation-only thing: cartels linked to every illegal fentanyl pill anywhere in South Dakota
- News digest: Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe to banish Noem; calls for Flute, State-Tribal Relations Committee chairs resignation
- Ihaƞktoƞwaƞ Dakota Oyate: Sixth tribe bans Governor Kristi Noem from reservation
- Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate bans Governor Kristi Noem from Lake Traverse Reservation
- Tensions continue between Noem, tribes
- News update on Noem's pairing reservations, tribal leaders with cartels; Rep. St. John's reply
- Noem calls for audit of tribes; ICT News/Rapid City Journal reporter finds the receipts
- Malice: she's on it. Tribal leaders insulted after Governor Noem claims they "are personally benefiting from the cartels being here
- In Winner, Noem links tribal leaders to cartels
- SWO Dakota to Governor Noem: don't single out reservations when drugs are a statewide problem
- Noem banned from Pine Ridge Reservation over remarks in border speech to state legislature
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