Kristi Noem's Trump loyalty is rewarded with a top homeland security job

Now Pierre, the capital of SoDak, is about 1,100 miles from the Mexican border and about 589 miles from America's best border crossing – Minnesota's Northwest Angle. But what Noem lacks in qualifications, she more than makes up for by capitulating to Trump's whims without hesitation, without question and without criticism. And Homeland Security will be the agency tasked with the mass deportations that Trump promised during the campaign.

The infuriating idea that randomly wealthy people could move American troops around like pieces on a chess board if they threw enough money at a politician led Congress to ban the use of private funds for intergovernmental guard operations. A law that didn't need to exist before Noem came along.

Her attempt to cover up the fact that she had hired 48 National Guard soldiers for a billionaire's pet project cost South Dakota $42,000 to settle a lawsuit with the watchdog group that filed the complaint. The funds covered legal costs for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington after the South Dakota National Guard blocked its public records request about the stunt. Those records also showed that even after the billionaire's involvement, South Dakota taxpayers had to pay an additional $500,000 for the operation.

For five years, Kristi Noem put the wishes of Donald Trump above the needs of her own state. This is their reward.