Kristi Noem’s $200 Million Mistake

Last year, a splashy ad campaign featuring Kristi Noem, then head of the Department of Homeland Security, started showing up on TV. Why do I love these wide open spaces? They remind me of why our forefathers came here. Not just Noam sits tall on a horse. She's wearing chaps, a cowboy hat. The granite faces of Mount Rushmore rise behind her. I'm Kristi Noem. From the cowboys who tamed the West The ads were directed at people thinking of illegally immigrating to The US. It was a warning not to come. You cross the border illegally, we'll find you. Break our laws, we'll punish you. Harm America These TV spots were mostly in English, and the campaign was pretty pricey, costing more than $200,000,000. Our colleague Michelle Hackman says this campaign came to define Nome's unconventional tenure at DHS. It's a long glossy ad. It it glorifies America, but it glorifies her too. I It it almost felt like she wasn't just running the show at DHS. She was, like, literally she was, like, starring in the show at DHS. Totally. That's exactly how I describe it. And she spent $200,000,000 on these ads. I mean, that's a huge sum. President Trump fired Noam last week. Her tenure was dogged by controversy. But in the end Of all the things she did, this ad campaign might have been the one that ultimately led to her downfall. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Ryan Knudson. It's Monday, March. Coming up on the show, inside Kristi Noem's rocky tenure at DHS. This episode of the journal is presented by Intuit Enterprise Suite. If your finance team spends more time finding data than using it, if there's one entity here and one here and one here and one here, if scaling your business feels like starting over, you need the Intuit ERP. Intuit enterprise suite, the AI native ERP is here from the makers of QuickBooks. Learn more at intuit.com/erp. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremfya offers self injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremfaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self inject Tremfaya, proper training is required. Tremfya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tremfya today. Call 1805267736 to learn more or visit tremfyaradio.com. When Kristi Noem started running DHS, she took on a huge mandate to execute the president's signature domestic campaign promise. …