S ince Alex Pretti’s killing three weeks ago, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been trying to distance herself from Minneapolis—politically and geographically. Last week, Noem went to southern Arizona to give a speech about border-wall construction. Yesterday, she was at a warehouse along the border in California, straining to tout the Trump administration’s drug-seizure data above the clamor of protesters outside. Noem returned to Arizona today to promote President Trump’s proposed election legislation, describing voting in the swing state as “an absolute disaster.”
Trump made clear that Noem’s approach to carrying out mass deportations had become a liability when he sent Tom Homan, the White House “border czar,” to take over in Minnesota. Homan’s job was to defuse anger and remediate the political debacle that Noem and her team created when federal agents killed two U.S. citizens, detained young children, and triggered daily scenes of mayhem, corroding Trump’s approval ratings on what he has long viewed as his strongest issue.
In public, Trump has continued to praise Noem and shrug off calls for her resignation. But White House officials have privately grown frustrated with her performance, as Republican midterm strategists raise alarms about the political damage. One person familiar with the discussions told us that Noem’s position is no longer secure, even though the president has not yet moved against her…