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How Trump’s pick to lead Homeland Security could be different from Kristi Noem

Trump’s new leader for DHS, briefly explained.

A major change is underway at the top of the Department of Homeland Security.

In the first Cabinet shakeup of his second term, President Donald Trump has tapped Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R) to take the lead on his “mass deportation” goals. The change comes after Kristi Noem was fired from her position as Homeland Security secretary. Mullin’s confirmation hearing in the Senate will be held next week.

Mullin, a plumber-turned-MMA fighter-turned-firebrand politician, has branded himself as a political outsider in Congress — and MAGA ultra-loyalist. Trump’s new Homeland Security pick comes after Noem’s leadership was increasingly scrutinized in the wake of the killings of US citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal agents.

As DHS has found itself at the center of controversies, funding battles, and public outrage, what will Mullin’s appointment bring to the agency?

“If you look at a lot of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, he doesn’t really go with the most qualified choice at times,” Reese Gorman, political reporter at NOTUS, told Today, Explained. “Trump really tends to pick people who he likes and also just who would give him loyalty. That tends to be one of the main things that Trump looks for when appointing people to the Cabinet.”

Gorman has covered Mullin’s political rise for years. He joined........

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