I may hate her more than anyone else in the administration. Pure lying hateful sociopath, & through DHS contracts to her husband, taking in millions of our tax dollars.
— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) February 17, 2026 at 11:08 AM
Are the rats beginning to flee the S.S. Trumptanic? There’s been no big ceremonial announcement from the Orange Outrage, so it’s not that she’s being sacrificed to distract the media wolves… Per Politico, “DHS spokesperson to leave Trump administration amid agency turmoil”:
One of the Trump administration’s most vocal defenders of its aggressive immigration crackdown is leaving as public opinion sours against the hardline approach…
… [T]he news led House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to say, “Another MAGA extremist forced out of DHS. Noem next.”
McLaughlin publicly supported the Trump administration’s controversial tactics at some of the most tense moments amid its immigration enforcement operations in Chicago and Minneapolis, frequently sparring with social media detractors…
A former top communications aide to Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential campaign and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, McLaughlin started planning to leave in December but delayed her departure amid the aftermath of the Renee Good and Alex Pretti shootings, according to the people briefed on her exit. (They were granted anonymity to speak about internal personnel matters.) In the instance of Good, McLaughlin was quick to characterize her actions as an example of “domestic terrorism.”
Some in the Trump administration have privately criticized Noem’s leadership of the department, which has drawn repeated bad headlines in part due to the department jumping to conclusions in the instances of the two fatal shootings. Trump put border czar Tom Homan in charge in Minneapolis in what some in the White House saw as a rebuttal to Noem’s more aggressive approach…
After Noem, McLaughlin was the biggest booster of the approach. At the peak of her tenure, McLaughlin, a former ABC News contributor, logged as many as five media appearances a day. Throughout her time in her job, she frequently did interviews on Fox News, as well as CNN, CBS News, NPR and Newsmax. She also appeared on many podcasts including those hosted by the late Charlie Kirk, Chris Cuomo and Howard Kurtz.
“Media is so much of the battle, so to speak, on the immigration issue,” the native Ohioan told her hometown paper the Cincinnati Enquirer last month. “So much of the debate is a [public relations] debate. It’s a PR war.”…
It’s unclear what she will do next but asked by the paper if she would ever run for office if she returned to Cincinnati, McLaughlin, who’s married to GOP consultant Ben Yoho, said she “wouldn’t rule anything out.”
While immigration was a major focus for McLaughlin, given the sprawling DHS remit, she also worked on issues including how TSA was affected by the government shutdown last year, the Coast Guard’s role in the Caribbean drug boat strikes and FEMA’s response to major storms…
McLaughlin became an avatar of the Trump administration’s communications campaign defending its immigration enforcement effort. In doing so, she assumed a level of prominence — and withering criticism — garnered not even by some Trump Cabinet officials.
Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called her a “pathological liar.” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) accused her of “gaslighting the American people.”
But McLaughlin publicly maintained the backing of the only person who mattered through the end of her time atop all of DHS’ public affairs.
President Donald Trump praised the “wonderful TRICIA MCLAUGHLIN” after a December appearance on Fox. He added, “Tricia really knows her ‘STUFF!’”…
For today's ispost that is going to certainly get me yelled at because it isn't properly oughtposting:
These jobs are incredibly high stress, long hours, and kind of thankless. You take them to position yourself to take something nicer- like a lobbying gig. I'm surprised we've seen so few exits.— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) February 17, 2026 at 11:21 AM
The lack of turnover in the Trump admin in even these highly messy visible mouthpiece roles really implies to me that the people in the admin don't actually think they have a place to land after the admin.
— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) February 17, 2026 at 11:22 AM
War for Ukraine Day 1,454: Zelenskyy Finally Calls Out Trump
Baud
Hell is hiring.
SiubhanDuinne
That photo of McLaughlin just screams for a big fat snarky caption.
JoyceH
I do think that some administration officials, true believers but with a nodding acquaintance with reality, understand that something has gone wrong and the plan isn’t working. They’re doing all the stuff they always wanted to do and turns out the public hates it. When this administration comes to an end, everyone involved in it are going to be radioactive. Yeah, there’s Wingnut Welfare, but there’s limited seating on that gravy train and all the seats are reserved for Trump’s personal buddies. So they need to accumulate a nest egg while they still have a job. And it’s not as if grifting is discouraged in that mob.
rikyrah
Follow the money
From sweet, no-bid contracts at DHS…
To what ultimately is a company headed up by HER HUSBAND.
ProPublica has the story😒😒
p.a.
Seems Americans like their racism dogwhistle style. The tRumpist bullhorn is just so gauche. Thanks to the true believers produced by the reich wing info bubble and the McConnell-Leo SCOTUS, the dog’s caught the car. Ronnie Rayguns’ puppet masters are rolling in their graves: even tax cuts are in danger!
Shalimar
@rikyrah: propublica.org/article/kristi-noem-dhs-ad-campaign-strategy-group
I do not see how she was “forced out”. Looks like she and her husband took the money and ran.
something fabulous
so i’m here to be looks-ist: I don’t think i
‘weever seen her til now. why does she look literally not metaphorically… dirty? weird.
Shalimar
@SiubhanDuinne: The photographer told her to look human and she was “what? how?”
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
I’m printing and framing that one.
something fabulous
well that’s what i get to be looks-ist i suppose! missed the editing window! <I’ve ever seen…>! carry on.
anyway, all these young and corrupt and frankly evil people. ugh.
Ramalama
@Baud: or making a podcast
Shalimar
@Ramalama: Making a podcast and being spokesperson for Hell are the same thing.
prostratedragon
Marisa Kabas:
prostratedragon
Tale of a young pilgrim’s progress (🧵):
Moreover,
Keep at those Epstein files.
Glory b
Looking back at Jesse Jackson’s life:
Without fanfare, he spent nights with people dying of AIDS at hospice facilities.
His presidential campaign and activities after are, in large measure, responsible for larger scale black voters registrations in the south and encouraging voting in every election.
I believe he is responsible for the power black voters, especially those in the south, have in Democratic politics (sorry social media DSA types!).
I recall the folks on MSNBC making their number crunchers recheck their work on the Georgia “Black Belt” vote for Biden. In some districts the black voters turnout for Biden was 100%.
And Trump is still butt hurt about it, leading to the seizure oof 2020 ballots in Fulton County.
Baud
@Glory b:
Yeah, his positive influence had been understated. The type of thing that happens all too often.
Baud
The whole story is kind of interesting.
Quaker in a Basement
Goodbye, crazy angry lady.
mappy!
Take the money, fail upward. A recurring signature of the Epstein Class.
prostratedragon
@Glory b: His voter registration work starting in the 1990s imo is what will be seen as his greatest achievement some day. I might add, that seemed to be when the gossip mongers really went after him.
Baud
Good
Baud
Baud
Another tourist.
Betty Cracker
Yes! The sociopathic puppy and goat murderer has to go. Did y’all see the NBC News story that further elaborated on the WSJ reporting about Lewandowski firing the Coast Guard pilot for not moving Noem’s blankie when they changed planes?
The confrontation happened during the flight. Lewandowski was berating the crew and insisting that they turn the plane around to retrieve the blanket. When the pilot refused, Lewandowski “fired” him, but the pilot said if he was fired, he’d have to land the plane immediately and then Lewandowski and Noem would have to wait for a replacement pilot to arrive. So Lewandowski relented.
Too bad the pilot and crew didn’t have the option of exiting the plane with parachutes, leaving Lewandowski and Noem to figure out how to land it themselves.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Good on that pilot. These people are spoiled like children.
I like the way you think.
prostratedragon
Couch change, or what you will:
MagdaInBlack
@prostratedragon: Money laundering, kickbacks, and as an added bonus, Russian oligarchs own our concentration camps.
(eta and totally unrelated: out here in the wilds of the chi NW suburbs, an owl is hooting.)
Betty Cracker
@prostratedragon: Saw an article here about how DHS awarded $55B in no-bid contracts to build concentration camps under a repurposed Navy logistics program called WEXMAC TITUS. Unwinding the grift and investigating the corrupt officials and recipients will be a herculean task.
piratedan
why do most of the men and women from the Trump Administration look like cast members of Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS?
Baud
@piratedan:
That’s just a function of how your brain perceives them because it knows they’re Nazis.
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
Unwinding the grift will be easy, because they are so obvious about it.
Prosecuting will be tougher
prostratedragon
@MagdaInBlack: Yeah, owls never have to do with anything.
mappy!
@piratedan: They’re typecast.
mappy!
@rikyrah: Ship ’em to the Hague… without their blankets.
prostratedragon
@Betty Cracker: Thanks, I’s seen references to it, but this looks like the best actual explanation.
Projects like unwinding this will be help me understand where holy orders come from.
different-church-lady
When your only tool is being a PR flack, every problem looks like a PR war.
Baud
WSJ
Betty Cracker
The Trump-Streisand effect, per Politico:
That’s like TWICE as many viewers as Colbert’s broadcast typically gets.
That ain’t gonna hurt either. Big whoopsie from the Trump-aligned oligarchs at CBS.
prostratedragon
@Betty Cracker:
So, “TITUS: Territorial Integrity of the United States.”
Per the substack, No matter how conditionally legit this is in terms of the mechanisn for drawing on the special authority — these steps can be taken in response an “international natural disaster” — how is TITUS a legitimate precondition for a nation that is essentially at civil peace? How can “national security” be construed as equivalent out of someone’s ass, apparently?
Betty Cracker
@prostratedragon: That’s a great question, and it should be explored by the House Committee on Homeland Security. I assume that won’t happen until Dems are in charge.
schrodingers_cat
@Glory b: That is quite a legacy. Thanks for sharing.
Baud
schrodingers_cat
The oligarchy didn’t vote itself to power, just saying. Each and every voter who voted R is responsible for the current state of affairs. I find particularly egregious the folks who convinced others not to vote.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
The oligarchy convinces a lot of people that they are among the elite, and under a shared threat from Dems.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Yep and so many people are eager to believe them because Ds are a party where “those” people have power.
This includes people who like to regurgitate warmed over Marxist claptrap.
BellyCat
Or maybe 11 dimensional chess to demonstrate GOP fealty while knowing damn well this would produce contrary results?
Naaaaahhhh…. That would require understanding their audience.
Baud
Interesting
Princess
@Betty Cracker: I watched it because someone on here mentioned it was banned. I’d never have come across it in the normal way. He did well. He’s a good candidate for Texas I think (so is Crockett with a somewhat different constituency).
prostratedragon
Saw this in brief yesterday. More details:
Gin & Tonic
Even the liberals at The Economist:
But I don’t actually find it “baffling.”
Betty Cracker
@Gin & Tonic: In other non-baffling news, Pam Bondi was AG of FL from 2011 to 2019 and did fuck-all.
Chief Oshkosh
@SiubhanDuinne: Will this suffice: “Blond, blue-eyed Nazi retires after bosses propose cutting back on wanton violence against people who are not blond, blue-eyed Nazis”?
cmorenc
@rikyrah: …and if prosecutions of corrupt Admin officials start, wait for it…the corrupt SCOTUS 6 will invent an “official acts on behalf of official acts at the direction of an official act of POTUS doctrine. Presidential immunity will morph into an N-multilayer cake that only ceases to extend the immunity / impunity shield to very low-level flunkies.
Miss Bianca
@prostratedragon: Da fuq?
Searcher
Why would you need lobbyists when you can just phone up the politicians directly with your bribe?
TONYG
@Baud: Tricia will probably be reading a teleprompter on Fox News within a month or so. She’s a blonde haired sociopath, so she’ll be perfect.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
Too bad the pilot and crew didn’t have the option of exiting the plane with parachutes, leaving Lewandowski and Noem to figure out how to land it themselves.
That would have gone well. NOT. These people have hate and not much else. They hate that they aren’t the top of the pile (and yes that’s not the pile we are all thinking it is, because they are the top of that pile…,)
It seems to me that the group in charge of our country for the moment are all the wrong people to be in charge of ANYTHING. They are not trying to run a country, they are trying to destroy the one we have, in search of one that only allows people like them to exist. One major problem with that concept is that to be that, they have to be selfish little children, no matter their actual age. That and that they have to destroy most of what we all have to achieve their desires. I’d bet they have zero concept that doing this destroys everything else, while every moment of their concept destroys everything. IOW history repeats itself. Over and over and over, maybe not exactly the same way, but the end result is always the same. A blank/blank disaster. As it has been for at least hundreds of years. Selfish people that want everything NEVER works out well – or even close. History repeats itself – over and over and over and……..