Shazaam. If there is a meteorlogical event on the east coast today, it is Hurricane Thom Tillis, blasting holes in all of Kristi Noem’s decision making, including going back so far as to when she killed a 14-month old hunting dog, which she deemed “worthless.” Tillis bluntly told Noem that the dog was not worthless per se, but that it was Noem, in fact, who had failed to provide the proper amount of training and nurturing. Tillis completely immolated Noem today. Raw Story:
“Secretary, I read your book last week. And honestly, some of the parts of it impressed me, but some of it distresses me,” Tillis said. “And I’ll give you a good example of one that does: The passage where you talk about killing a dog that was 14 months old. I train dogs, all right? And you are a farmer. You should know better.”
Tillis brought up Noem’s book and the story of the puppy she described killing in it.
“I hated that dog,” Noem wrote in her 2024 book “No Going Back,” adding that the wirehair pointer was “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog”.
But Tillis took serious issue with Noem’s statements.
“You should know that if you’re going out to a hunting lodge and you’re putting pheasants out and you’re putting dogs out — you don’t take a puppy out there,” Tillis said. “A 14-month-old dog is basically a teenager in dog years. You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time and training, and then you had the audacity to go into a book and say it’s a leadership lesson about tough choices.”
He also brought up a goat that Noem killed, drawing a parallel between her decision-making over the animals and her ability to lead federal law enforcement officials.
“At that same lunch hour, you killed a goat, and you killed a goat because you said it was behaving badly,” Tillis said. “You are a farmer. You don’t castrate a goat if they behave badly, you should have probably done that before. But my point is, those are bad decisions made in the heat in the moment, not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis. I expect — we’re an exceptional nation — and one of the reasons we’re exceptional is we expect exceptional leadership and you’ve demonstrated anything but that in the time that I’ve seen you responding to the emergency in North Carolina and across the Southeast and acknowledging when mistakes are made and speaking too soon for the expediate of social media or whatever it is.”
He said that he was expecting answers to the investigation over Operation Charlotte’s Web, adding that he wants to target fewer innocent people and instead focus on those who should be immigration enforcement priorities. He then threatened to stall nominees if Noem doesn’t stop stonewalling him, demanding answers in the next two weeks.
Noem should resign and any normal person probably would after this public roasting. All her dalliances have been exposed, her poor judgement, the love nest on her airplane (at taxpayer expense) all of it. At least things are moving in the right direction towards getting Noem removed. Tillis pulled no punches today.
It’s impressive that a republican is laying into her like this, and about time.
I *heart* Senator Thom Tillis. It’s a pity we’ll be losing him because he has morals and is not afraid of Trump. If we’re fortunate, Dems will flip his seat. Still, he’ll be quite a loss, even if he’s a Republican. I wonder who he’ll support for his seat….
I can’t stand Tillis but on this – he’s right. That a Repug is calling Noem (miss kissy lips) on her killing her dog – finally. He’s right – this is how she’s running her department. People bug ICE – just shoot ’em.
Well, maybe if Tillis had read Noem’s book BEFORE voting to confirm the b/witch to her current position . . . .Of course, there were 7 Democrats who also voted to confirm her so his lone “nay” probably wouldn’t have kept her from the job BUT it might have given those Dems more reason to NOT confirm her. There were 7 Senators who didn’t vote–5 D, 1 R, and 1 Independent–but I don’t know why they didn’t vote. Perhaps they saw their votes didn’t matter or they were absent from the Senate. But, even if Tillis and the 7Ds had voted “nay,” she still had 51 votes to confirm.
Buyer’s remorse is always fun to play with but it doesn’t change anything now. (Just imagine showing all those 2024 Drumpf voters pictures/videos of his actions over the past year before they cast their ballots. Fun to think about but it doesn’t change OUR reality now.)
He eviscerated her and it was a pleasure to watch. trump won’t fire her because it would be an admission of a mistake. I’m betting she’ll be reassigned as “special envoy” to some distant land. Do any candidates pop into mind? (I’d make her Chief Weather Station Officer, Okmok. Corey will have to pack his woolies.)