No such reservations bar us from naming Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem the biggest fool in Trump’s Cabinet. The climate-denying, puppy-killing former South Dakota governor was widely ridiculed last month when she was unable, at a Senate hearing, to define habeas corpus. But the woman they call ICE Barbie had already secured the title in March by posing in front of Venezuelan deportees caged at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center wearing a $50,000 Rolex Cosmograph Daytona.
Maybe there’s an innocent explanation, though I can’t fathom what it would be; Noem’s attorney’s statement that she “fully disclosed all of her income on public documents that are readily available” is what the late Ben Bradlee termed a “non-denial denial.” Even if Noem is wrongly accused, a politician who just appears to convert $80,000 in political contributions to personal use should have better sense than to wear a $50,000 watch to a photo op.
Not every Rolex-wearing politician is a crook, of course. But it’s never wasted effort to inquire how they came by it. Joe Biden wore a Rolex worth more than $7,000 to his inauguration. That’s much cheaper than Noem’s Rolex, but how did he pay for it? Here’s how: After a long career in the Senate and the Obama administration, he reaped millions in speaking fees. Noem and her husband are much less wealthy than Biden was; their net worth is about $5 million, so a $50,000 watch would represent 1 percent of their total wealth.
Even at this late date, it’s unusual for a politician to convert any portion of political contributions raised to personal use. “If donors to these nonprofits are not just holding the keys to an elected official’s political future but also literally providing them with their income, that’s new and disturbing,” Daniel Weiner, a former Federal Election Commission attorney now at the nonprofit Brennan Center, told ProPublica.
Of course, thanks to Donald Trump this sort of thing is getting less unusual by the hour. During the 2024 campaign, Trump used political contributions to pay his legal fees, and the president’s political suitors routinely fill his pockets by buying meme coins or Truth Social stock or booking stays at Trump resorts. Noem was operating at a much more modest scale, but as the saying goes: The fish rots from the head—picking up the odd Rolex, it would seem, along the way.
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