South Dakota's first female governor, Kristi Noem, has secured a position within Donald Trump’s coveted entourage as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in his forthcoming cabinet, as reported by CNN.
However, Kristi Noem's controversial past has raised questions about her suitability for the role. According to a BBC news report, six of the nine tribes in South Dakota, including the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and Yankton Sioux, have taken steps to prohibit Kristi Noem from entering their lands. Although the Yankton Sioux clarified that their decision was not made through a full general council vote, the move reflects significant opposition to Kristi Noem among Native communities.
In 2019, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council banished Kristi Noem after she signed anti-riot legislation in response to Native-led protests opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. Earlier this year, she faced another ban, this time due to comments linking illegal immigration to crime on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Kristi Noem had also disregarded tribal opposition, moving forward with a 2020 fireworks event at Mount Rushmore despite tribal concerns. Additionally, she clashed with tribal leaders after they set up COVID-19 checkpoints to regulate access to their reservations. More recently, Noem stirred controversy by claiming Native children lack ‘hope’ due to absentee parents and baselessly implying that tribal leaders might be ‘personally benefiting’ from connections to drug cartels.
As if a ban from key Native American tribes wasn't enough, Kristi Neom has also been embroiled in controversy for various claims made in her book — No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward. In her book, Neom discloses that she killed her dog and a family goat:
“I hated that dog... she was 'untrainable', dangerous to anyone she came in contact with, and less than worthless … as a hunting dog. At that moment, I realised I had to put her down."
She continued by writing that she got her gun and then led Cricket to a gravel pit. In her book, Noem also detailed her family's experience with an aggressive, unneutered male goat that was 'mean and nasty.' Kristi Noem claims that she decided to put the troublesome goat down in the same way she had recently dealt with Cricket, the family dog.
What else does Kristi Noem claim in her controversial book?
Kristi Noem has been asked multiple times to clarify a part of her book where she describes meeting North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. Although the section has now been removed from the book, Noem has not disclaimed the portion or retracted her words.
In an interview with Elizabeth Vargas, an anchor on NewsNation, Kristi Noem was continuously pressed for an answer about the extract by Vargas but failed to provide a clear response. Vargas asked Noem:
“But clearly if you’re taking it out of the book it’s because it’s untrue"
Kristi Noem vaguely answered with :
“I’m giving you my answer, and no, that’s not the answer... This is something I asked to have adjusted and have the content and that name removed, and that is truly what the action has been.”
Megyn Kelly, a former FoxNews anchor has also been critical of Kristi Noem's claims of meeting Kim Jong Un in a separate NewsNation interview:
“She got caught because she didn’t think the rest of us were smart enough to figure out: It’s a big deal to meet with Kim Jong Un... It’s a very small collection of Americans who have done it, and some no-name congresswoman from South Dakota — which is what she was at the time — would not be on the list.”
Since the announcement, some people on the internet have been questioning her credibility. In a post on X, a user noted:
"Kristi Noem has ZERO experience in homeland security matters. This is dangerous. Get ready for more Trump picks that don’t make any sense at all."
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Kristi Noem’s previous controversies, especially concerning certain claims in her book, reportedly played a role in sidelining her from consideration as Trump’s vice-presidential pick.
Despite this, Kristi Noem has reportedly bagged the Homeland Security job in Trump’s future administration. Her appeal to Trump’s base and her strong stance on issues like border security and law enforcement are seen as assets for the Homeland Security role, reflecting Trump’s emphasis on tough immigration policies and national security measures.
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