OPINION:
Secretary Kristi Noem has been an effective, strong, determined and unrelenting leader at the Department of Homeland Security — and this is why Democrats want her gone.
And this is why Republicans need to coalesce around her and refuse to bow to pressures from Democrats to have her ousted. Yes, Noem serves at the pleasure of President Trump. But Trump is not immune to pressures from his own party; to pressures from the political world.
This is no time for politics, petty or otherwise. The future of our nation’s national security is at stake. If Democrats win on Noem — if Republicans cave on Noem — then Democrats will use and exploit her ouster as fuel to the fire they’ve lit to burn the entire MAGA and America First movement.
Remember: Democrats don’t quit. They only dig in deeper. To them, existence is all about politics; they are the party of anti-God. They are the party of rebellion and wickedness and mayhem and deceit and death. They are the party of collectivists; they oppose all-things-individualist, which sets them in direct opposition to America’s founding principles.
“GOP on defense over Noem’s future as Congress nears shutdown deadline,” The Hill wrote in a headline.
“A growing number of Senate Democrats are calling for Noem to be ousted,” casting doubts on the prospect that they would agree to any concessions from President Trump to avoid a shutdown at the end of this week if Noem remains in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” The Hill wrote.
Democrats say it’s because of the fatal shootings by ICE of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
But that’s just the cover.
That’s just the excuse — and my, what an emotionally driven excuse it is.
Democrats really want Noem gone because of this: “Border crossings year-over-year have plunged 93 percent,” DHS reported in December, on its website.
Under Noem’s leadership, ICE has conducted sweeps of cities and communities that have been declared by Democrats to be safe havens for illegals for years, allowing the worst-of-the-worst of humanity to roam free and commit egregious crimes against innocent American citizens; against even the most innocent of innocent — children.
Democrats can’t fathom why their wailing and gnashing of teeth haven’t stopped this administration — this DHS — this Secretary Noem — from continuing these sweeps and operations and why their usual tactics of drumming up the outrage with their fawning friends in the press and defending the vicious physical attacks and violent protests in the street by their minions as First Amendment freedoms haven’t worked to shut down the ICE operations. They can’t fathom why this administration — this DHS — this Secretary Noem — have been able to withstand the court onslaughts that have come and why their usual tactics of activating their partnering judges haven’t stopped ICE in their tracks.
The Democrats can’t fathom why their normal and usual lies aren’t working as they normally and usually do, and how this administration keeps doing what this administration was hired by voters to do in the face of so much opposition from the left.
“In less than a year,” Noem said in a December statement, “President Trump has delivered some of the most historic and consequential achievements in presidential history — and this administration is just getting started. … [We] are making America safe again and putting the American people first. In record time, we have secured the border. Taken the fight to cartels and arrested thousands upon thousands of criminal illegal aliens. Though 2025 was historic, we won’t rest until the job is done.”
Democrats believe this.
And that’s why they must chip from this administration any way they can. Noem would be a significant win, because of all that Noem represents, through her work: safety, law and order, secure borders, America First.
If she sucked at her job, Democrats wouldn’t need her gone.
It’s the effectiveness Democrats fear.
Democrats aren’t warring so much against Noem or for Minnesotans, as they are warring against America the Great.
Republicans must see the long game Democrats are playing and rally around Noem, refuse to let the left cripple this White House and respond to calls for her ouster with even stronger statements in her support.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.