We originally planned to wait a week before featuring Kristi Noem, but the timeline has shifted. In DC, the “unlikely” becomes reality overnight, and current rumblings suggest she may be discarded by the administration sooner than anyone expected.
Why lead with Noem? Because our first substantive post, The Ministry of Truth, naturally leads us to one of the most prolific sources of “alternative facts” in the current cabinet. As the head of DHS, Noem’s rhetoric isn’t just a campaign trail quirk - it’s now federal policy.
Kristi Noem: Five Key Inaccuracies
1. The DHS “Violent Crime” Claim (Jan 2025)
Noem claimed 70% of DHS detainees were violent criminals. However, internal agency data and independent audits show that only about 47% had any criminal conviction at all, with only a small fraction (roughly 5%) involving violent offenses. The majority were held for administrative immigration violations.
2. The Minneapolis “Murder Wave” (Jan 2025)
Noem asserted Minneapolis was in the midst of a “record murder wave.” City crime statistics show that while there was a slight uptick in 2024, homicides remained significantly lower than the 2020–2021 peak and actually fell by over 20% in the first half of 2025.
3. Citizen Detention Denials (Feb 2025)
Noem claimed ICE has “never” detained a U.S. citizen. GAO and ACLU investigations have documented hundreds of Americans being wrongfully detained due to database errors. More recent reports from late 2025 suggest these numbers have increased during recent “collateral arrest” operations.
4. The Kim Jong Un Meeting (April 2024)
In her memoir No Going Back, Noem claimed she met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. After experts and former staffers pointed out she was never in the country at the same time as the dictator, her office admitted the anecdote was a “small error” and removed it from future editions.
5. The Good and Pretti Investigations (Jan 2026)
Noem recently labeled the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti as acts of “domestic terrorism” before any investigation was complete. Preliminary forensic reports and bystander videos have since contradicted her claims, showing that Pretti had been disarmed and was pinned to the ground before being shot.
These instances point to a consistent pattern of “policy by anecdote” over “policy by evidence.” Whether it is a fabricated meeting with a dictator or a premature characterization of a fatal police encounter, the common thread is a willingness to bypass verified data in favor of a more politically convenient narrative. For a public official overseeing national security, the gap between these definitive claims and the documented reality raises a fundamental question: at what point does “messaging” simply become misinformation?
PS, the photo at the top is of Kristi at last year’s Superbowl – not manipulated; it’s an official DHS photo.