My first reaction, of course, was an unrestrained “Hallelujah!!” And then I read the rest of the article.

You know what I’m talking about: yesterday’s announcement that Kristi Noem had finally been removed as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Along with most of the rest of the country, I had a mental image of her back on the farm, wielding a double-barreled shotgun instead of an automatic weapon, searching for another poor animal to shoot because she no longer had human beings in her sights.

As House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries succinctly put it:

“ICE Barbie is gone. Good riddance.” [BBC, March 5, 2026.]

But alas! She was not to disappear completely . . . at least, not yet. Instead of total banishment for her sins, she was given a new job — one that seems to have been hastily created especially for her — as Special Envoy for something called “The Shield of the Americas,” described by Donald Trump as “a new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere.” [Id.]

. . . whatever that is. We have yet to be told anything about it: its purpose and mandate, under which government agency it is being established, how it is to be funded, or whether the post of “special envoy” is permanent or temporary. But for the moment, the bigger question is what finally caused Trump to give her the boot.

It wasn’t the mass roundups of law-abiding immigrants along with the few who were actual criminals; nor was it her alleged affair with her unofficial, unpaid “chief of staff,” Corey Lewandowski. It wasn’t even the killing of two innocent American citizens in Minneapolis. In the long run, her undoing appears to have been her big mouth, her craving for the spotlight, and one too many lies — the latest one reflecting on Trump himself.

Her viciousness, her vengefulness, and her limitless capacity for sheer cruelty have become legendary during her tenure with DHS. But her performance before Congress, during hearings in which she was called out by Democrats and Republicans alike, finally laid bare the extent of her crimes, including the expenditure of DHS funds for her use of a leased luxury jet, allegedly intended to be utilized for deportation of illegals, but somehow outfitted with a rather anomalous luxury bedroom.

She also made the mistake of becoming too fond of the spotlight, spending millions of DHS dollars on ads in which she was prominently featured — something that was certain to irritate Trump, who, as everyone knows, reserves the spotlight for himself.

And then there was the lie: the one that said those ads had been approved by Trump, when — according to a White House source — they had not. [Id.]

Bad move, Barbie.

The question now naturally arises: Why is she being reassigned, rather than just fired outright? My guess would be that firing her would create the impression that the White House was aware of — and thus complicit in — those of her official acts that were blatantly illegal. It would also leave her vulnerable to criminal prosecution, in turn opening a whole new can of worms for the administration.

As if the Epstein Files weren’t enough.

So instead, the White House did the usual dance — I call it the “Two-Step Shuffle” — typical of government administrations everywhere. By removing her from the public eye and replacing her with someone relatively unknown, they hope we’ll just forget about her. And they may be right; after all, we have so many other items on the agenda: a couple of hot wars, a reincarnated cold war, the economy, measles outbreaks, Chinese advances in AI technology, and the nasty-looking rash on Trump’s neck, to name just a few.

Incidentally, Noem’s aide and close friend Corey also lost his job in the shuffle. It is not yet known where he will wind up; but really . . . who cares? Judging from his history, it’s just one more in a long series of professional failures.

Finally, about her proposed replacement at DHS: the junior Senator from Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin.

A member of the Republican Party and a Trump supporter (of course), Mullin, age 48, was elected to the Senate in 2022 in a special election to serve the remainder of the late Jim Inhofe’s term. His educational background is limited; he is the only serving member of the Senate without at least a bachelor’s degree, having dropped out of college to take over the family’s plumbing business when his father became ill. He later earned an associate degree in construction technology from Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology. At the end of 2021, his reported assets ranged between $31.6 and $75.6, primarily from the sale of his plumbing-related companies to a large multi-state company. [Wikipedia bio.]

Even more interesting, though — in addition to stories of his fiery temper — is his hard-line stance on immigration, which completely aligns with Noem’s and Trump’s. Following ICE’s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Mullin placed the blame on the victim, posting on social media:

“Obstructing federal law enforcement is a felony. Most Americans follow ICE instructions without thinking twice.” [Ana Faguy, BBC, March 5, 2026.]

And about the killing of Renee Good, also at the hands of an ICE officer in Minneapolis, he said that the officer “didn’t have an option,” because Good was driving a vehicle that he (Mullin) said should be considered a deadly weapon. [Id.]

So, even as we celebrate Noem’s departure, it’s probably safe to assume that there won’t be any noticeable changes at DHS, with Mullin ensconced as Acting Secretary pending Congressional confirmation of his permanent appointment.

That confirmation, of course, is not a given, even with a Republican majority. There is always the hope — though admittedly a slim one — that Congress will do the right thing.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
3/6/26