Since the two recent ICE-related shootings in Minneapolis, howls of outrage have reached a zenith on the left for the resignation of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. This past Tuesday, reporters asked President Donald Trump if Noem was going to step down. Trump’s one-word response was “No.”
And good for him.
In the wake of these shootings, the fence-sitters have started to slither out. As we knew they would. Gov. J. Kevin Stitt (R-Okla.) said that President Trump is getting “bad advice” on immigration enforcement. Sens. Thom Tillis (RINO-N.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (RINO-Alaska) have also called for Noem to step down. Because, of course, they did.
For what? For a shooting that’s still under investigation? Even if it turns out that the agent was in the wrong, this is no more an indictment of Noem’s leadership than it would be the fault of the CEO of McDonalds should a fry cook somewhere assault a customer.
Border crossings in 2025 were down 95% from the year before. In the last year, over 600,000 criminals have been deported and nearly 2 million illegals have left on their own. And for the first time in decades, the United States is experiencing negative net migration (more people are leaving the country than are coming in). If this isn’t exactly the sort of leadership conservatives voted for, I don’t know what is.
But the calls for Noem’s resignation have nothing to do with her capabilities as DHS Secretary. Indeed, if anything, the Left wants her gone because she is too competent. They want an Alejandro Mayorkas-style loser at the helm.
Have no illusions. The calls for Noem’s resignation are not intended to bring about any form of accountability or justice, no matter how convoluted. The calls for her resignation have nothing to do with Renee Good or Alex Pretti. The left cares not one iota about Good or Pretti beyond their usefulness as insta-martyrs for the cause.
Rather, these calls for resignation are a probing mission by the left to see if the mob can effect the removal of a cabinet member. That’s all this is — an attempt to see how much sway the street mob and its Democrat handlers in Congress can wield.
And for this reason alone, President Trump was right to forcefully rebuff their calls.
The President enjoys the privilege of choosing his cabinet members. If and when President Trump decides to replace a cabinet member, the decision must be his and his alone. And that decision should be based on the effectiveness, performance, and integrity of that particular cabinet member, not the shrieking of the unhinged mob.
Because by now, we all know the drill. Had Trump fired Noem, this would have done nothing to placate the mob. It would have emboldened the mob. Next on their list would be Tom Homan, Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, or whoever else they felt was the next biggest impediment to their agenda. As minority leader Hakeem Jeffries himself said yesterday, “She’s got to go. And by the way, she’s not the only one.”
The irony is that, had the Left really wanted Noem gone, its best bet would have been to shut its mouth and let it happen. Trump’s decision to put Homan in charge of the Minneapolis operation was an implicit admission that he wasn’t 100% certain in Noem’s ability to handle this particular crisis. Had he not outright replaced her, he might have quietly sidelined her behind the scenes on future operations.
But again, that isn’t the goal of the mob. The goal of the mob is unchecked power. Had Trump voluntarily replaced Noem because he felt she wasn’t up to the task, it would have done nothing to empower the mob. But had he replaced Noem because the mob demanded it, that would do everything to empower the mob.
And because the mob made this point so bloody obvious (no pun intended), Trump had no choice but to keep Noem at the helm. Had he replaced her, even if it was warranted and necessary, the optics would appear that he deferred to the feral hordes.
Trump is getting criticism for this decision, even from some conservatives who, to this day, still are unable to see the bigger picture. But the point of contention between Trump and the mob is not justice or accountability; it's who gets to decide the composition of a president’s cabinet. The point of contention is whether we are a nation of constitutional rule or a nation of mob rule.
Trump understands this, even if some conservatives don’t.
Related: The Inevitable
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