4 Of Kristi Noem's Most Embarrassing Moments Sucking Up To Donald Trump

Kristi Noem is as ardent a Trump supporter as they come. In fact, the former Homeland Security secretary isn't below humiliating herself to elevate him. Unfortunately for Noem, every single one of her embarrassing public suck-ups have been immortalized on the internet. Given her willingness to humiliate herself for Donald Trump's sake, in full view of the public, one balks at the thought of the lengths she might have gone to in order to please the president in private. The list of Noem's most embarrassing scandals during her brief tenure as the secretary of Homeland Security is stunning, to say the least, including an incredibly awkward moment during a January 2026 Cabinet meeting, when Trump pretended the staffer didn't exist. 

It occurred after ICE agents shot and killed two American citizens while Noem was overseeing things. The government employee, who likely knew the snub would make headlines, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to do some major sucking up. She commended Trump for signing the Laken Riley Act, and lavished praise on the president for keeping the border secure and protecting Americans. Noem also included a long thread of photographs of immigrants who had been arrested. The thing is, Trump signed said act a year prior, so it appeared she was simply rehashing it in an attempt to thank him for something so she could get back in his good graces. Awkward.

In March 2026, Noem found herself ousted and appointed to a newly created role as the special envoy for the Shield of the Americas. Trump was apparently looking to stash his former DHS secretary somewhere out of sight. And yet, she still took to X to express her immense gratitude for it in another brown-nosing moment, but hardly her most embarrassing to date.

In a December 2025 Cabinet meeting, Kristi Noem stroked President Donald Trump's ego with her most outlandish sucking up display yet — she joked that he "kept the hurricanes away," (via People). The meeting was filled with praise for the divisive politician from all present, but even the worship from Trump's many underlings wasn't exciting enough to keep him from seemingly dozing off on more than one occasion. "Sir, you made it through hurricane season without a hurricane," Noem gushed (via X), adding, "You even kept the hurricanes away." It was exaggerated praise disguised as a joke, but several outlets ran with headlines that insinuated the DHS secretary was serious, which didn't exactly bolster her image. ABC10 News even addressed it in its coverage, clarifying that Noem had only been joking and didn't actually think Trump had power over the weather.

Noem: You made it through the hurricane season without a hurricane—you kept the hurricanes away. We appreciate that. pic.twitter.com/Lh2nLj2eBc

— Acyn (@Acyn) December 2, 2025

The barrage of praise didn't end there, however. She also enthused, "It's been an honor to work for you [Trump]. You are a great American. The fights you pick are the right fights. Thank you for letting us get up every day and have a purpose." Other Cabinet members quickly tried to upstage Noem's praise. Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin added that Trump is a true savior, "willing to take a bullet for all of you tuning in at home." Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick jumped in next, seemingly trying to upstage both the DHS secretary and Zeldin by sharing, "The greatest Cabinet ever for the greatest president ever. I can't be more proud of how you did it, sir. You created the greatest Cabinet. It is a joy to be at this table."

One of Donald Trump's top five most awkward dancing moments was actually shared with Kristi Noem. In what should be considered an ultimate sign of her undying loyalty to the president, the DHS secretary tried to dance with Trump at an October 2025 Pennsylvania town hall. It was absolutely mortifying. The event happened to occur on a very hot day, and some attendees even required medical attention as a result. This caused Trump to pause it for 30 minutes at one point, during which he played music and danced to some of his favorite songs. Noem, unfortunately, found herself joining in. In fact, the proud loyalist tried to get Trump to do the signature dance to the Village People's gay anthem "YMCA." While she awkwardly attempted it, the president notably didn't.

Things did, believe it or not, get even more uncomfortable as the controversial leader moved on to slower songs. Noem was forced to sway her way through Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and did the strangest rendition of jazz hands alongside Trump to Sinéad O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U." The president has previously admitted that his wife, Melania Trump, isn't a fan of his dancing. "My wife hates when I do this," he confessed during a January 2026 speech, per Reuters. "She's a very classy person, right? She said, 'It's so unpresidential.' I said, 'But I did become president." It's safe to say that Noem will, in the future, ensure she's nowhere near Trump when the music starts.

Given Kristi Noem's clear willingness to look utterly ridiculous so long as her actions elevate President Donald Trump, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that she's willing to outright lie about her boss. In February 2026, as tensions between ICE and civilians increased, Noem announced on X that all agents in Minneapolis would be provided with body cameras. In the post, she made sure to praise Trump personally too, writing, "The most transparent administration in American history — thank you @POTUS Trump. Make America Safe Again." The Trump administration has obviously not been the most transparent in history, rendering her post pretty laughable. 

Likewise, as subsequent reporting by Mother Jones pointed out, actually obtaining the body cam footage in the case of an inquiry has proven near impossible. Then there are all the other instances in which the administration didn't live up to its own transparency claims. The Department of Justice's hesitancy to release the entirety of the Epstein files is one such example, not to mention the president's many attempts to keep it all under wraps and dubbing it a "hoax," per PBS News, as pressure to make the files public increased. But if there's one thing Noem has made abundantly clear, it's that she will say and do anything, no matter how embarrassing, to remain in Trump's good graces.

When President Donald Trump initially fired Kristi Noem, in March 2026, he notably did so moments before she was set to deliver a speech at a conference in Nashville. According to reports, the DHS secretary received a phone call, directly from her boss, to let Noem know the jig was up. Trump then proceeded to make her axing public on Truth Social while she was in the middle of her speech, while also announcing her replacement at the same time (ouch). But Noem soldiered on, and she thanked him in a subsequent X post for the new opportunity to be the special envoy of the Shield of the Americas, which seemed like a very obvious consolation prize. The sucking up did not stop there either. 

Despite the fact that the president had utterly humiliated her, Noem eagerly came back for more when she attended the Shield of the Americas Summit in March 2026, where Trump heaped praise on Defense War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Noem reportedly looked visibly uncomfortable during the event, and things got even worse when Trump barely offered a mention of the Shield of the Americas' new special envoy. Hegseth and Rubio each got to deliver a speech too. Noem, meanwhile, was resigned to the crowd with Trump mentioning her in passing, offering no compliments or congratulations on her new role while Hegseth and Rubio basked in all the attention. 

Needless to say, there is seemingly no humiliation too big for Noem when it comes to President Trump. Her attendance at the summit proved as much.