Meghan McCain Has Made It Crystal Clear How She Feels About Kristi Noem
Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is an undeniably controversial figure — including within her own party. Back when she was a potential contender for vice president even some Donald Trump supporters turned on her due to the infamous story from the former South Dakota governor's book, where she confessed to shooting a puppy. Noem's feuds with other Republican women certainly didn't stop after she joined Trump's cabinet either, with none other than TV personality Megan McCain being a bit of a frequent flyer, so to speak.
The daughter of late GOP Senator and one-time presidential hopeful John McCain isn't afraid to publicly criticize Trump, so it comes as no surprise that she's not a fan of Noem. And McCain has made that distaste abundantly clear on numerous occasions. First and foremost, the former DHS secretary's anecdote about shooting her dog definitely did not slip by McCain, nor did her attempt to justify it as a reality of ranch life sit right with the Arizona native.
"My family has a ranch outside of Sedona — no one has ever shot a dog for any reason. This is not a 'rural/ranch' thing. My Dads dog Burmas ashes are on our family mantle after he died naturally. This story is something out of a horror movie," the outspoken political pundit wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2024. McCain was also happy to add to Noem's list of brutal nicknames after the president fired her in March 2026, dubbing the ousted White House staffer "OnlyFans Grandma" in another X post criticizing the highly controversial, and extremely expensive, ad campaign that apparently cost Noem her job in the first place.
Kristi Noem's firing and alleged affair were both fair game for Meghan McCain
Of course, Meghan McCain's comments about Kristi Noem's removal didn't stop at simply criticizing the ad campaign that prompted President Donald Trump to throw her under the bus in the first place. In fact, the former "View" co-host wants things to go further than a simple firing (or "reassignment," as Trump put it, per CBS 8 San Diego). More specifically, McCain made an X post calling for a full investigation into how exactly Noem spent the project's reported $220 million budget. According to a 2017 report from Variety, the final season of "Game of Thrones" had an estimated budget of $15 million per episode.
In other words, the six episodes that make up the final chapter of the blockbuster fantasy series cost its producers less than half of what the Trump staffer spent on her commercials — something McCain was only too happy to point out in her post. "There should be a federal investigation into how Kristi Noem spent 200 million of our tax payer dollars on her ridiculous DHS promotional videos," she wrote, adding, "What exactly were they spending the gross GDP of a small country on?" In the wake of her DHS ouster, McCain took aim at Noem's alleged affair with her aide, Corey Lewandowski, which had also come under heavy scrutiny during a government hearing.
"Kristi Noem — you brought Corey Lewendowski [sic] with you to Guyana after just being fired from your last job after being asked in front of congress if you're in an unprofessional relationship with him," she pointed out on X. "GIRL WHAT IS YOU DOING?!?" Suffice it to say, McCain has made her position clear.