It’s no secret that New York Magazine is no fan of the Trump administration, but a recent cover article is taking on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her leadership of the department. The cover story, with the charming title “Top Goon,” is a hit piece of the highest order.
New York Magazine’s Ben Terris insists that Noem is the face of DHS, while Corey Lewandowski is the “muscle.” Together, Terris claims, they are responsible for Donald Trump’s nefarious “police state.”
The editors try to prop Terris up with the usual array of turncoats and faux conservatives who are ready to throw the Trump administration under the bus at every turn. “In reporting the piece, Terris spoke with more than a dozen current and former DHS staffers as well as Trump-administration officials, lobbyists, consultants, immigration experts, and former colleagues of Noem in South Dakota,” they write.
Terris claims that Noem is merely play-acting at her job:
Noem, 53, is the public face of the department, bringing reality-star energy to an office that was created in the aftermath of 9/11 to coordinate America’s preparedness for a terrorist attack. She has hopped across the country in various uniforms — as a Border Patrol agent, in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement flak jacket, as a Coast Guard firefighter — mean-mugging her way onto television screens and decorating the halls of DHS buildings with action shots of her in the field.
At the same time, Terris claims, Lewandowski runs around intimidating employees and strong-arming them into doing what he wants. Then, Terris gets tabloid-sleazy, describing a romantic relationship that both Noem and Lewandowski deny.
In reply to the story, Lewandowski emailed the editors: “Instead of reviewing the newest wine bar in Chelsea, the New York Magazine has degraded itself.” A DHS spokesperson was more blunt: “This NYMag hit piece reads like a preteen rage-scrolling, then prompting ChatGPT for a screed on misogyny — complete with zero substance and maximum bulls**t.”
Related: Noem Slams Nashville Mayor for Undermining Immigration Enforcement
The rest of the article reads like an apocalyptic ZOMG! THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HATES ALL IMMIGRANTS! Terris highlights the “macabre nicknames” of the illegal immigrant detention centers cropping up, like Alligator Alcatraz, the Cornhusker Clink, and the Speedway Slammer — he seems unaware of the humor in the nicknames. He brings up the Kilmar Abrego Garcia and Mahmoud Khalil stories, alarmingly unaware of the dangers that men like these pose to our nation.
It's all breathless and lefty-urgent, but the stats prove Terris wrong. Bear with me: numbers make my eyes glaze over, but these numbers will show you that Noem’s DHS is working.
Since Trump came back to the Oval Office, the foreign-born population in the U.S. has dropped by 2.2 million. That number dovetails with the over 2 million illegals that DHS has helped usher out of the country.
DHS has arrested over 422,000 illegals since January, and nearly three-fourths of them have criminal charges or convictions. That includes almost a thousand known terrorists.
The Trump administration’s DHS has ensured that 2.5 million Americans have gone back to work, taking jobs that once went to illegals. All in all, DHS has saved the nation over $13.2 billion.
New York Magazine can breathlessly cry about a “police state” all it wants, but the numbers tell the whole story: DHS is delivering under Noem. I voted for this, and I’m sure you did, too.
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