Tomi Lahren, a FOX host who once interned for Kristi Noem, went on national television Saturday and called her former boss's firing "a fantastic decision." Then she twisted the knife: "Justice for Cricket."
The comments came on FOX's "The Big Weekend Show," two days after Noem was removed as Department of Homeland Security Secretary, making her the first member of President Donald Trump's second-term cabinet to lose their post.
Noem was demoted to special envoy for the recently created Shield of the Americas initiative, as reported by the Daily Mail. Republican Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin has been slated as her replacement, pending Senate confirmation.
At the center of the fallout: a $220 million national advertisement campaign featuring Noem riding a horse in front of Mount Rushmore. The campaign is now being probed for corruption by federal authorities.
During a congressional hearing on Wednesday, the day before her firing, Republican Louisiana Senator John Kennedy pressed Noem on the ad spend. His question was direct:
"How do you square that concern for waste, which I share, with the fact that you have spent $220 million running television advertisements that feature you prominently?"
Noem replied that the president was aware of the cost, signed off on the ad campaign, and called it "effective." Kennedy wasn't buying it. He said the campaign was "effective" at increasing Noem's name recognition, but expressed open doubt that Trump had approved the price tag:
"It's just hard for me to believe, knowing the president as I do."
For context, the article notes that $220 million exceeds the production budget of the 2012 Marvel film "The Avengers," a two-hour and 23-minute blockbuster. Noem's ad ran 60 seconds. That comparison doesn't need commentary.
Lahren didn't pull punches on Saturday. She drew a line between the scrutiny conservatives have rightly aimed at fraud in places like Minneapolis, where independent conservative journalist Nick Shirley published a high-profile YouTube video alleging widespread fraud at Somali-run daycares, and the spending questions surrounding Noem's DHS operation.
"We have to be very, very fair here. If we're calling out in Minnesota for their fraud and their 'learing' centers, then you gotta call it out on your own side as well."
She followed with what amounted to a populist gut check:
"I don't know how you spend $220 million riding a horse by Mount Rushmore. I'm from Rapid City, South Dakota. Mount Rushmore is the backdrop of where I grew up. I don't know how you spend that much to do that."
That's the kind of plain-spoken math that resonates with the base, and it should. Conservatives don't get to torch the left for wasteful government spending and then shrug when the receipts land on their own doorstep. Lahren's point was simple: the math doesn't add up, and pretending otherwise would be intellectually dishonest.
The ad spend isn't the only problem. Production of the campaign allegedly involved no-bid contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, funneled to newly created companies with ties to Noem and her senior adviser, Cory Lewandowski. Lewandowski, for his part, has also been publicly linked to allegations of an affair with Noem, who has been married to her husband, Bryon, since 1992. They have three children together.
None of this helps the conservative movement. When your DHS secretary becomes the story instead of the mission, the mission suffers.
Lahren was careful to acknowledge the broader success at the border before delivering her verdict on Noem specifically:
"Yes, the border is sealed, thank goodness. Tom Holman has done a fantastic job."
She even offered Noem partial credit for contributing to that effort. But then came the turn:
"We can give Kristi her flowers for what she did to add to that effort, but when you become the story, and your antics off the job become the story, then you lose the plot."
That's the core of the conservative case for Noem's removal. It isn't personal. It's operational. A cabinet secretary who generates more headlines about her own conduct than the agency's mission is a liability. Two American citizens were shot dead on the streets of Minneapolis by ICE agents under her watch. That alone demanded a leader whose full attention was on the department, not on damage control over ad budgets and personal scandals.
And then there was the parting shot. Lahren closed her segment with a reference that every conservative who followed Noem's 2024 autobiography, "No Going Back," understood immediately. In the book, Noem described shooting her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, because she deemed the animal "untrainable."
The anecdote became a cultural flashpoint, the kind of story that makes voters recoil not because of policy but because of judgment. It followed Noem into her cabinet tenure like a shadow she couldn't outrun.
Lahren said what a lot of people were thinking: "And also I would say, justice for Cricket."
It landed because it was earned. Not as cruelty, but as a capstone on a tenure defined by self-inflicted wounds. Noem had the title, the platform, and the mandate. She squandered all three.
Senator Mullin now steps into one of the most consequential roles in the federal government. The border may be sealed, but DHS encompasses far more than immigration enforcement. It demands someone who can run a massive bureaucracy without becoming a distraction.
Lahren summed it up plainly: "We'll see how Senator Mullin does in this role, but Kristi had to go."
Conservatives should take no pleasure in policing their own ranks, but they should take pride in the willingness to do it. The left protects its failures. The right replaces them.