Kristi Noem survived many crises. Then she crossed a Trump red line

Mr Trump values loyalty but Ms Noem threw him under the bus during a congressional hearing. Read more at straitstimes.com.

WASHINGTON - Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem was not fired after federal agents in Minneapolis shot and killed two American citizens.

She was not ousted when a chief judge in Minnesota said her immigration agency had violated more court orders than some federal agencies do in their entire existence. Nor did it happen when she described a Veterans Affairs nurse shot by her agents as a domestic terrorist or when she falsely claimed he had brandished a weapon before he was pinned down and killed.

Rather, Ms Noem was ousted shortly after she appeared to cross one of the few red lines of the Trump White House: She appeared to shift responsibility for her own political problems back to President Donald Trump.

During a congressional hearing on March 3 and 4, Ms Noem was asked if Mr Trump had approved a more than US$200 million (S$255 million) government ad campaign in which she was prominently featured. Ms Noem said Mr Trump had tasked her with “getting the message out to the country”. Asked if Mr Trump had signed off on the campaign before the ads aired, she responded: “We had that conversation, yes, before I was put in this position and sworn in and confirmed. And since then as well.”

Ms Noem’s comments suggested Mr Trump had signed off on a massively expensive ad campaign that even some in her Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found cringeworthy – with Ms Noem on a horse at Mount Rushmore. And by indicating Mr Trump had ownership of the messaging campaign, Ms Noem rattled Mr Trump out of one of his comfort zones, which is as a spectator to his own policies. Shortly after her statement, Mr Trump told Reuters he did not know about the contract.

The decision to remove Ms Noem was another reminder that Mr Trump’s barometer for his Cabinet is not just measuring policy actions on the ground, as much as an appearance of disloyalty and political optics.