It was almost 10 p.m. when President Donald Trump finally spoke up.
For nearly a week, he hadn’t said a word about his Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem. In Washington, that kind of silence usually implies you’re on your own. It looked like she was being cut loose to handle the impeachment talk and the public anger on her own. But on a quiet evening, the President took to his phone and issued a directive that reframed the entire narrative.
In a fervent post on Truth Social, Donald Trump mounted a sudden, aggressive defense of Kristi Noem, claiming the attacks against her were not about policy, but gender. He argued that “Radical Left Lunatics” and “Agitators” were targeting the 54-year-old secretary specifically “because she is a woman.”
This was not a standard press office statement vetted by layers of communications staff; it was a raw injection of presidential influence into a situation that has been spiraling out of control in the Twin Cities.
The backdrop to this late-night digital intervention is grim. Minneapolis has become ground zero for a fierce debate on federal policing powers following two fatalities in less than a month. On January 7, Renee Good was killed during an encounter involving ICE agents.
Tensions escalated further on January 24 with the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents. The incidents have placed Kristi Noem squarely in the crosshairs of congressional investigators and activists alike.
HE IS GOING TO TRY AND MAKE HER THE SCAPEGOAT
Donald Trump is refusing to back Kristi Noem’s claim that the shooting of Alex Pretti was justified. He has turned on her. Let this be a lesson for Marco, Bondi, JD and the rest. Your day is coming, too.
Your thoughts? pic.twitter.com/HzQBKsud55
— Lovable Liberal and his Old English sheepdog (@DougWahl1) January 26, 2026
Inside the West Wing, the dynamic has been far more complex than the President’s public confidence suggests. Just days prior to the post, Noem was notably bypassed during a critical Cabinet meeting—a move widely interpreted by Beltway insiders as a sign of waning influence.
Furthermore, President Donald Trump had already assigned Tom Homan, his “border czar,” to take operational command in Minneapolis. That decision effectively sidelined Noem from the crisis’s tactical management. Yet, Trump’s 180-word defense signals that while he may be shifting operational control, he is not ready to hand the opposition a political scalp.
Trump utilized the post to pivot from specific allegations of mismanagement to broader claims of success. He linked Noem’s tenure to what he described as historic improvements in safety.
“The Border disaster that I inherited is fixed,” Trump wrote, asserting that the murder rate in the U.S. has reached “the lowest level in history, 125 years!” He specifically cited Washington, D.C., as having become “one of the safest cities in America.”
Wolf Blitzer: When Kristi Noem called this 37 year old mother of three a domestic terrorist, that was outrageous
Trump WH: Not outrageous. She used her car as a deadly weapon
WB: She was dropping off her 6 year old boy at school
WH: I have the factspic.twitter.com/W94IUx1hMN
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) January 17, 2026
While the White House maintains these statistics are a “direct result” of the President’s policies, crime experts point out that violence was already dropping nationwide well before Trump moved back into the Oval Office. But the specific timeline of the data seems to matter less to the President than its utility; right now, those numbers are a convenient shield for a Secretary under fire.
Donald Trump didn’t just defend Noem; he went on the attack against Minnesota’s Democratic leaders. He named names—Governor Tim Walz, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and Mayor Jacob Frey—and accused them of running a “scam” to cover up their own mess.
“Republicans, don’t let these Crooked Democrats, who are stealing Billions of Dollars from Minnesota and other Cities and States from all over the Country, push you around,” Trump urged his followers. He told his base that the protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement aren’t civil unrest; they are a trick to hide “theft and insurrection.”
By claiming the heat on Noem is about her gender and dismissing the protests as criminal distractions, Donald Trump has drawn a line in the sand. For now, Kristi Noem remains the face of the department because the President says she is, even if the streets of Minneapolis remain on edge.
