Kristi Noem confronts grim truth that everyone is expendable in Trump world

Many will regard the ex-secretary of homeland security, Trump's first fired cabinet member, as the worst yet seen

Kristi Noem once led a dog to a gravel pit and ended its life with the cold precision of a mafia hit. On Thursday, the homeland security secretary confronted the grim truth that she, too, was expendable.

Noem became the first cabinet member fired in Donald Trump's second term, a striking contrast to the revolving-door chaos of his first. Like other members of Team Trump, she had assumed that ostentatious displays of fealty to the president would insulate her.