Kristi Noem
Governor of South Dakota · 2019–2025
Kristi Noem spent years positioning herself as a hard-edged conservative leader with national ambitions. She was widely considered a frontrunner for Trump's VP pick going into 2024. She had the look, the politics, the TV presence, the loyalty.
Then she published her book. In it, she described shooting her 14-month-old puppy, Cricket, in a gravel pit because the dog was "untrainable" and had killed a neighbor's chickens. She framed it as an act of decisiveness — proof she could make the hard calls. The public saw a woman who shot a puppy and wrote about it like a resume line.
Trump dropped her from VP consideration. She kept campaigning for him anyway. She kept showing up. She kept performing. And when he won, he gave her DHS — the department that runs Immigration and Customs Enforcement, border policy, and the agency she used to conduct mass deportation operations. She didn't miss a beat.
Under Noem, DHS coordinated raids in immigrant communities across the country, facilitated the transfer of detainees to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison without due process hearings, and deployed propaganda-style photo ops at the border. She was enthusiastic about every single part of it — right up until Trump fired her in March 2026 after congressional hearings went sideways and two American citizens died in ICE custody on her watch.
Noem serves as South Dakota governor. She becomes a fixture on Fox News and conservative media, emerging as a potential 2024 VP candidate and possibly a future presidential contender. She cultivates a national profile specifically around her perceived toughness and loyalty to Trump.
Noem's book, No Going Back, is released. In it, she describes shooting her 14-month-old wirehaired pointer puppy, Cricket, in a gravel pit after the dog mauled a neighbor's chickens. She also describes killing a family goat. She frames these stories as examples of her willingness to make difficult decisions. The reaction is immediate and severe — from both sides of the political aisle.
Trump removes Noem from his VP shortlist. Sources close to the campaign say the dog story damaged her standing. He selects JD Vance instead. Noem does not withdraw her support for Trump. She does not stop appearing at rallies. She does not stop trying.
Trump wins the 2024 presidential election. Noem, despite the book debacle, is nominated to lead the Department of Homeland Security. The Senate confirmed her. She oversaw ICE, CBP, FEMA, TSA, the Secret Service, and the Coast Guard.
As DHS Secretary, Noem oversees mass deportation operations that include sweeps in cities, schools, and churches. She publicly defends the transfer of migrants — many with no criminal records — to El Salvador's CECOT prison, a facility with documented human rights abuses, without judicial review. She holds press conferences smiling at the border. She describes the operations as a success every single time.
Trump fires Noem following a week of contentious congressional hearings and months of internal complaints about her performance. The White House had reportedly been frustrated with the pace of deportations and embarrassed by scrutiny of questionable DHS expenditures. She had also overseen the killing of two U.S. citizens — including Alex Pretti — by ICE agents in Minneapolis in January 2026. Noem is the first cabinet secretary fired in Trump's second term. She served just over a year. Democrats immediately open perjury investigations into her congressional testimony.