Kristi Noem has had a rough few months, and the latest developments suggest things aren’t getting better anytime soon.
According to The New York Times, President Donald Trump intends to nominate Cameron Hamilton to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the same man Noem ousted after he publicly opposed the administration’s plans to significantly scale back the agency he was then running as acting head. Adding another layer of irony, Hamilton reportedly clashed frequently with Corey Lewandowski, who is alleged to have had an affair with Noem. Lewandowski is now gone. Hamilton is coming back.
He’s not alone. Troy Edgar, who served as Noem’s deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, is also returning to that same role after a departure widely attributed to friction with Noem. Because Edgar left without formally resigning and briefly appeared on track to become ambassador to El Salvador — he can resume the position without requiring Senate confirmation. Newly appointed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin appears unbothered by the reversals.
While these men reclaim their former posts, Noem has been navigating a softer exit. Rather than a clean dismissal, Trump created the title of “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas” widely interpreted, according to multiple sources, as a face-saving measure before her full departure from the administration.
“This post was intended as a soft landing so it didn’t look like Noem was immediately being fired,” sources told the Daily Mail, adding that the State Department was less than enthusiastic about her placement and that her tenure there is not expected to last.
By most accounts, Noem has been largely absent from the role regardless.
Her personal life has also become tabloid fodder. Last month, reports emerged that her husband, Bryon Noem, had been active in the “bimbofication” kink community and was regularly in contact with fetish models. The story has since grown, with audio recordings surfacing in which Bryon allegedly tells a sex worker she is “so much better” than his wife.
For a politician who championed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation throughout her tenure as South Dakota’s governor, the confluence of scandals is, at minimum, a striking fall from the national stage she once commanded.