As part of Donald Trump’s reign over the U.S. continues, multiple high-ranking women in his cabinet have been fired. Both Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, have lost their positions. According to The Guardian, “Bondi and Noem are the only two cabinet members to lose their jobs so far in Trump’s second term despite male officials such as the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and health secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr., stumbling from controversy to controversy.”
To be fully transparent, I didn’t care much for either of these women or their roles in the U.S. government. The story of how Noem murdered her pet dog was more than enough to tarnish her image in my eyes. Her support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and lack of sympathy for the people they killed didn’t help either.
However, I can’t help but feel that their firings are a result of Trump’s very blatant and open misogyny, even towards people in his administration. Additionally, going forward, Pam Bondi’s position will be going to Todd Blanche, a man, although only as an interim.
While I have my gripes with Bondi, it’s worth noting that part of Trump’s anger at her was initiated by her release of some of the Epstein files, which Trump is implicated in multiple times. Furthermore, Noem, in all her “I love ICE” glory, was largely doing what the president wished: Excusing the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
According to The New York Times, “In recent weeks, Mr. Trump sent mixed signals. He praised her loyalty in public and he has spoken with her several times a week, sometimes to seek advice or test ideas, a person close to Ms. Bondi said.” One point of contention was her refusal to provide sympathy for victims of Epstein at a Capitol Hill hearing in February, which Trump worried could cast a bad image for himself and the administration.
A day before her firing was made public, Trump referred to Noem as a “wonderful person” and said that she was “doing a good job.”
In a way, the firing of these two women shows that kissing Trump’s boots will only get someone so far. It also displays Trump’s manipulation tactics, especially towards the female members of his administration.
In another article by The Guardian, it described how “[Pete] Hegseth has persisted in framing the war in Iran, which reached a temporary ceasefire on Tuesday after six weeks of fighting, as divinely sanctioned, repeatedly invoking ‘God’s almighty providence’ and expressing certainty that God is on the side of the US military.”
That’s not even mentioning RFK Jr. and his continued stance against vaccines despite managing health and human services.
I question why two women who were openly praising Trump and doing what he asked of them were fired, while two men who are equally controversial and have said equally stupid things have managed to maintain their unearned positions.
Trump being a misogynist isn’t much of a surprise—it’s actually been a well-known fact among anyone with working brain cells for at least the last decade. Surely the man known for multiple accusations of sexual assault and whose wife died before testifying against him couldn’t possibly be misogynistic.
It’s unheard of, truly.
Honestly, the double standard under the Trump administration is simply ridiculous. Men can get away with wrongfully claiming that vaccines cause autism, be best friends with a sex trafficker and rapist and promote ideas that go right alongside ‘manifest destiny’, but if a woman does her job the way the president expected her to, she can be fired for making a statement or two he doesn’t like.
Surely, it’s a coincidence they’ve both been replaced by men.
Chloe Erno can be contacted at
