Kristi Noem's Inappropriate Birthday Dinner Outfit Will Always Haunt Her
When it comes to tone deafness, Donald Trump and his cabinet members have set a pretty low bar. We have Trump's out of touch Mar-a-Lago Halloween theme, celebrating excess at a time when food stamps were being cut off. There's press secretary Karoline Leavitt's odd attempt at being an influencer, and now we have Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem celebrating her birthday at a Mexican restaurant in South Dakota and donning a large sombrero as the staff came over to sing her "Happy Birthday" in Spanish. Noem shared the video to her Facebook page, seemingly seeing nothing wrong with the optics, and it's since been picked apart by online critics.
To give some context to people's outrage, Noem's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been focusing on Trump's campaign promise of deporting undocumented immigrants. While doing so, Noem's gotten the nickname ICE Barbie thanks to her glammed up looks for DHS promotional videos. Plus, there are those who believe that ICE has been targeting people of color, regardless of their immigration status, with Latino communities seeing a high number of arrests. And it's also worth noting that the pink sombrero was given to her by the staff while they sang her Happy Birthday, so at least it's not like she brought it in with her.
One person on X highlighted the issue at hand with Noem's birthday at a Mexican restaurant: "It's called being a hypocrite. 'Mexicans are taking our jobs! Let's deport them! I love their food btw I'm gonna celebrate my birthday at a Mexican restaurant!'"
Kristi Noem was taken to task online as was the restaurant
Other people made up scenarios imagining what Kristi Noem did after her birthday party at the Mexican restaurant. One person on X joked, "I heard she had a great time, really enjoyed the food and service, and then had the entire restaurant staff deported after she left."
Along with Noem, the restaurant has also come under fire, with negative reviews showing up on Yelp. Someone on X said: "This is just shows what a total piece of c*** she is mocking the people she has deported. Why did this restaurant allow her in!"
The restaurant manager explained to the Daily Mail that the server didn't recognize Noem, but that they definitely felt the backlash to her visit. "The day that Kristi came in I received a lot of phone calls, especially from Spanish people. There was a lot of hate," he told the Daily Mail. He also said that it was Bryon Noem, Kristi Noem's husband and high school sweetheart, who made the reservation. Was he setting her up for a photo op fail? Maybe they just love the restaurant. Whatever the reason, it's another outfit to add to the list of Noem's confusing costume moments that she won't be able to live down.