#kristi-noem — Trump Fail

Five Weeks Before the Midterms, a Migrant Caravan Appeared Right on Schedule — and Trump's DHS and White House Sounded "Ominous Warnings" About the Few Hundred People Walking Through Mexico, Even as the Administration Simultaneously Boasts That the Border Is "the Most Secure in History" With "16 Months of Zero Releases"; the Contradiction Was Called Out Not Only by the Left but by Former Trump Loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene: "The GOP Needs to Scare You Into Voting Because Nothing Else Is Working"

In late September 2026, roughly five weeks before the midterm elections, a migrant caravan — the "Faith and Hope" group of a few hundred people, mostly Hondurans and other Central Americans — set out from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and began the long walk north through Mexico. The Trump administration responded as if an invasion were imminent: the Department of Homeland Security issued "ominous warnings," and the White House declared, "The message to the caravan is you will not be allowed into our country." Here is the contradiction that gives the game away. The same administration insists, constantly, that Trump has delivered "the most secure border in history" — 16 straight months of "zero releases," border crossings 94% below the Biden-era average, the lowest apprehensions on record. If all of that is true, a caravan of a few hundred exhausted people on foot, a thousand miles away, is not a threat; it is a non-event that the administration's own airtight border would stop cold. Sounding alarms about it anyway, precisely as ballots are about to be cast, is not border security. It is the oldest trick in the Republican midterm playbook — and this time it was named, bluntly, by one of the movement's own: former Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene, who wrote, "We have not seen a caravan headed to the U.S. southern border in several years, why now? Oh yeah, there is an election coming and the GOP needs to scare you into voting because nothing else is working."

The Administration Spent Hundreds of Thousands of Taxpayer Dollars on Cable Ads Glorifying Trump — Labeled "Paid for by the U.S. Government," Set to a Chorus Chanting "Love Me" Over Clips of Him Vowing to "Defeat Communism" — on Top of a $200 Million DHS Ad Campaign He Personally Directed and Asked Secretary Noem to Thank Him In; Even a Republican Senator Said It "Feels Like Viktor Orbán," and Appropriators Call It Illegal Propaganda

In late September 2026, the Trump administration was caught running pro-Trump television ads paid for with public money and labeled, on screen, "Paid for by the U.S. Government." The 30-second spot ran on Fox News, Newsmax, and network channels in markets including Los Angeles and Chicago, featuring Trump vowing that "America will never be a communist country," touting the "largest tax cuts in history" and "reigniting American manufacturing" — all over a soundtrack of a chorus singing "love me," repeatedly. The cost climbed from about $14,000 to more than $440,000. It is part of something larger: House oversight leaders say the Department of Homeland Security has a $200 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign, ordered by Trump, promoting his immigration agenda, and Secretary Kristi Noem has said the president directed her to tape the ads and to thank him in them. Federal law — the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 — bars taxpayer funds from being spent on "publicity or propaganda," and Democratic appropriators called the ad "the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea," demanding it be pulled as an illegal misuse of public money. The criticism was not only partisan: Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called the spending "inappropriate" and said it "feels like Viktor Orbán." The White House defended the ads as "unapologetically American." What they actually are is a personality cult, billed to the public it flatters.

Trump Used America's 250th Birthday to Campaign for His Face on Mount Rushmore — He Posted a Gold Video of Himself Carved into the Monument, the White House Said He'd Be "No Better Addition," He Distributed Cookies on Air Force One Depicting Himself as the Fifth President on the Mountain, and He Flew the Qatari Jet Over the Sacred Lakota Site While Hailstorms Battered the Crowd Below

On the eve of the 250th anniversary of American independence, Trump flew to Mount Rushmore on the Qatari-gifted Air Force One, buzzed the monument twice for the cameras, delivered a 28-minute speech warning of a "communist menace," and distributed cookies aboard the jet depicting his face carved into Mount Rushmore as the fifth president. Conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted photos of the cookies — which showed five presidential faces instead of four — calling them "the cookies Trump gave out last night on Air Force One." Earlier that day, Trump had posted a video on Truth Social showing a gold-plated 3D rendering of Mount Rushmore with his face mounted next to Lincoln's, with a voiceover: "I will be the greatest president for many, many years to come." White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said publicly: "There would be no better addition to the iconic Mount Rushmore than the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump." Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) introduced H.R. 792 in January 2025 directing the Interior Secretary to carve Trump's likeness into the monument. Roger Stone pushed a "One More for Rushmore" petition. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said there is "certainly" room. None of this is possible: the National Park Service says Mount Rushmore is a completed work of art with no viable locations for additional carvings. The original sculptor wrote in 1936 that adding a fifth head was impossible due to stone limitations. An engineer who oversaw rock monitoring at the site: "It comes down to the geology, the engineering. It just can't be done." The mountain is sacred to the Lakota Sioux — known to them as the Six Grandfathers — on land the Supreme Court ruled in 1980 was illegally seized. The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council passed a resolution opposing the event. The 4,800 lottery-selected attendees endured two hailstorms and shelter-in-place alerts before Trump spoke. The fireworks — first at the site in six years, revived by Trump over environmental concerns about drought, wildfires, and endangered bat species — cost $700,000. In 2020, then-Governor Kristi Noem gifted Trump a four-foot replica of Mount Rushmore with his face. He was "totally serious" when he told her it was his dream to be up there.