Fire Kristi Noem into the Sun
At a minimum, the DHS secretary should immediately become the least visible member of this administration.
I don’t need to explain to you what happened over the weekend in Minneapolis, though on the off chance you’ve been sheltering underneath a rock for the last two days, I will. Amid the ongoing anti-ICE/CBP protests in the Twin Cities, a protester named Alex Pretti was gunned down by Border Patrol authorities. Pretti was legally carrying a concealed weapon while filming federal authorities on the street. After trying to help a woman shoved by an officer, he was forced to the ground and disarmed (he did not reach for his weapon). At this point — and I regret having had to watch the footage as many times as I did — he was shot nine or ten times in the back and head.
This was a horrible tragedy, one that should be thoroughly and properly investigated.
This, however, was unlike the “is the dress gold or blue?” miasma of the Renee Good shooting, where multiple camera angles from equally oblique views allowed people online to create their own narratives. While questions remain unanswered, the videos create a more serious optics problem for the feds. Near as I can tell, the best possible narrative available is that this was the result of a tragic miscommunication among the ICE/CBP officers (when one of them shouted “gun” as he confiscated Pretti’s weapon), possibly fueled by an accidental discharge of the weapon. I also think that anyone who walks into a situation as explosive as this should have the sense to follow Johnny Cash’s sage advice: “Don’t take your guns to town.” That, however, can be of little consolation to a dead man or to his family and friends.
My constant counsel to the Trump administration is to know where to pick their battles. And President Trump — or whoever is really calling his domestic shots, perhaps Stephen Miller — has been supremely easy to manipulate into self-defeating conflicts: He chases PR heat rather than policy light, hence his focus on top-directed action in “high conflict” blue cities like Chicago and now — with the shiny object of Somalian fraud beckoning him into the trap — Minneapolis. And that’s why ICE and CBP have always been walking the thinnest of lines there: The goal for both sides is splashy, capital-C Confrontation. (The only way Trump knows how to think of the world is via headlines.) Trump will lose that game, even though he believes himself — with some reason — to be a master of it.
So no, I’m not going to offer any thoughts as to whether or not I believe the progressive activist left has successfully checkmated a blundering Trump (watch this space for more tomorrow), but I will say this: Any hope of Trump’s presidency clawing its way out of the hole it has dug for itself begins with firing Kristi Noem, current secretary of homeland security and the administration’s most prominent “ridealong disaster” during its first year. Preferably out of a rocket, and into the sun. Damage control is needed, and she is the most visible avatar of damage.
Honestly, I’d advise Trump to can nearly everybody within the remote orbit of DHS leadership except for Tom Homan — that is, if I thought he was reading me. But I will settle instead for the hope that this one message will break through: Stanch the bleeding by canning your most incompetent lieutenant.
Out came Noem this weekend, in the wake of the shooting, to announce via previously undisclosed powers of clairvoyance: “This individual who came, with weapons and ammunition, to stop a law-enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers, committed an act of domestic terrorism. That’s the facts.” Oh, are they? Alex Pretti committed “domestic terrorism” by being there? “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived to inflict maximum damage and kill law enforcement,” Noem said. I am envious of her mind-reading ability. For my own part, I saw a guy executed while face down on the street.
I could mention worse. I could cite Bill Essayli, low-level Trump myrmidon but high-level Twitter fool, writing, “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.” Kash Patel, director of the FBI, went to Fox in a panic to blubber: “You cannot bring a firearm, locked and loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want — it’s that simple.”
But I will advise him instead to simply cut bait on his most visibly over-her-head subordinate. Trump doesn’t even have to fire her — confirmations are dicey these days — but can at least denigrate and demote. Kristi Noem should immediately become the least visible member of this administration. I get that Trump doesn’t like admitting defeat, or error. (It is not in the nature of Trump to err, only to “win” in different, less recognized ways.) So instead, bank a win in this case by acknowledging that you have been let down by one of your subordinates, and restore public confidence by taking her to the figurative gravel pit.
Just my advice.
1 comment:
Turns out this wasn't Pretti's first physical run in with ICE so he decided to come back for more. "Don't Bring Your Guns to Town" by J. Cash fits the bill. 45-47 needs to heed good advice and place Noem at the back of the crowd in the next photo op. Put her in an office in Del Rio and let her judge the next Chili Cook off in Terlingua.
Post a Comment