Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in ad campaign that led to her firing
Kristi Noem, the now-former secretary of homeland security, recently had the dubious honor of being the first member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet to get fired, though she did score the consolation prize of becoming the “special envoy for the Shield of the Americas,” whatever that is.
But Noem shouldn’t shoulder all of the blame for the $220 million Department of Homeland Security ad campaign at the center of her downfall. While her pals did rake in the dollars from that nonsense, some Trump-connected companies did as well.
Over $22 million, according to Politico. And honestly, we should have known that folks connected to Trump would get paid—they always do.
There’s no question that a $220 million ad campaign that was ostensibly about DHS but was really about taking pictures of Noem on horsies was always a bad idea. Not because it was an absurd, corrupt waste of money, but because it highlighted Noem.
That was made all the worse when she shifted some of the blame to Trump, saying he signed off on the staggering sum, as she tried to wriggle out from under Senate questions about the contract.
For his part, inevitably, Trump threw Noem to the wolves, saying he’d never signed onto anything of the sort.
Now, we’ll never know if that’s true. The government is now operated in secret, with huge contracts being handed out like candy to favored vendors. The normal process of transparent, competitive contracting is gone.
What we do know, though, is that two companies run by political operatives connected to Trump were some of those favored vendors for this ad campaign, per Politico.
Safe America Media, run by two operatives connected to a company that handled media buys during Trump’s 2024 campaign, got $15.2 million to work on the $220 million contract. That company was incorporated just days before getting those millions, and it won a no-bid contract totalling $143 million.
It isn’t clear how that $143 million contract award netted Safe America only $15.2 million in the end, but it isn’t the only Trump-connected slimeball company here.
People Who Think—the dumbest name imaginable—also got at least $7.7 million as part of a commission on the $220 million ad campaign. Why on earth the government would be paying for such a thing is a mystery. That group was founded by Jay Connaughton, who worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign. Neat how that works.
This fiasco was hung around Noem’s neck, with much initial reporting focused on the Noem-tied Strategy Group’s role in the campaign. However, other fly-by-night conservative grifters were also making bank. And why shouldn’t that include some Trump connections?
DHS is awash in cash, which always meant it would be awash in corruption. But that isn’t just Noem’s fault. Trump is ultimately responsible for creating the culture of corruption and grift that animates his administration, and everyone he knows is definitely going to get paid—with your tax dollars, natch.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos
- Exclusive: Trump tells Reuters he did not sign off on ad campaign featuring homeland security secretary | Reuters ›
- ICYMI: Rep. Neguse’s “Consequential Questioning” of Kristi Noem on $200M+ Taxpayer-Funded Ad Campaign Leads to Her Termination | Congressman Joe Neguse ›
- The $220M ad campaign that brought down Kristi Noem | NewsNation ›
- Political operatives with Trump ties raked in millions of dollars in commissions from DHS ad campaign - POLITICO ›
- Fired DHS chief Kristi Noem faces criminal referral from congressional Democrats ›
- Kristi Noem referred to DOJ and accused of perjury in ‘brazen’ false statements about $220 million DHS ad campaign | The Independent ›
- The Real Reason Trump Fired Kristi Noem Is Not What You've Been Told – PJ Media ›
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