We were forced to take a last-minute swerve once again for today’s BradCast. Happily, for a change, it was for good cause this time. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]
ICE Barbie, sometimes known as Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, was fired by Donald Trump today. The precise reasons are unknown. There are many potential culprits, from giving a huge, no-bid, $143 million DHS contract to her friends (to create DHS publicity videos starring herself); to her alleged long-term sexual tryst with her top “Special Government Employee”, former Trump Campaign chair and alleged sexual harasser Corey Lewandowski; to her lack of oversight of out-of-control federal agencies such as ICE and CBP; to the Minneapolis murders by federal immigration thugs of Renee Good and Alex Pretti on her watch in January, after which she falsely described the two American citizens as “domestic terrorists” and has refused to apologize ever since.
Of course, pretty much all of those things would seem to win her favor with Trump. So, what exactly happened here? Still unclear. Of course, rather than fire her from the federal government outright, our FIFA Peace Prize winning President just made up a new, ridiculous sounding, pretend position for her to have (and you to pay for), called “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas”.
All of this comes after two days of Noem’s testimony in brutal hearings in both the U.S. House and Senate, including angry questioning even from a few Republicans on the Committees, if you can believe it. We cover all of that, and some of the sharpest Committee exchanges today, along with a preview of what we might expect from Trump’s appointment of Oklahoma‘s yahoo, former MMA fighter Senator Markwayne Mullin to fill the role of DHS chief, heading up the government’s third largest Cabinet department with a budget well in excess of $100 billion. It should all go very well!
With another trenchant reminder of just how horrible Noem’s reign of terror and error has been at DHS, we share a story today from former Republican attorney Keith Barber at Daily Kos. He breaks down a stunning ruling this week from a Trump-appointed federal judge who cites the “abhorrent and illegal practices” — not to mention “laws of human decency [that] condemn such villainy” — of the Trump Regime, in the case of a legal resident who came here from Honduras 15 years ago when he was just 9 years old. He was granted protected status and has been a model resident ever since. We share the harrowing story of his unlawful arrest by ICE, as told by Barber and the judge, and the judge’s blistering ruling [PDF] in Hesler Asaf Garcia Lanza v. Kristi Noem in which the judge highlights the Administration’s “trampling our system of laws…which has safeguarded this nation for close to 250 years.”
THEN… In some of today’s 2026 Midterm Election news that we didn’t sideline for the breaking Noem news, Montana‘s sleazy, two-term, Republican Sen. Steve Daines — at precisely 3 minutes before the legal deadline — filed papers to withdraw from his reelection bid this year. He had only just filed for reelection at the end of February.
Making it all the more sleazy, Montana’s Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme filed his papers to run for the seat just five minutes before Daines filed his own to drop out. Both Daines and Trump almost immediately endorsed Alme thereafter. Go figure.
We discuss what all of that means, and who, other than Alme and the Republican Party, may benefit from Daine’s chicanery on today’s program.
FINALLY… We’re joined by Desi Doyen for our latest Green News Report, as Trump’s expanding War on Iran continues to roil world markets and disrupt global energy supply chains, even as renewable energy may ultimately — and ironically — turn out to be the winner in all of this idiocy…
If the Trump/GOP Iran-Epstein War goes as badly as some are predicting, then Trump is almost certain to use a nuke to prevent (in his sick mind) any impression of him “losing”.
If Iran were to get the upper hand (i.e. dominate with hypersonic missile attacks with US/Israeli defenses compromised, or cause huge US casualties on the ground), I can imagine the Pedo-King nuking Tehran to stay a “winner”.
Is pre-emption possible?
Maybe China and Russia could get out ahead on this issue, and issue threats if America (or Israel, for that matter) ever deploys a nuke against Iran.
Of course then, the Christian Nationalists will see their big chance to trigger WWIII, so they can bring back Jesus and fly into the clouds where a winged Charlie Kirk will be there to greet them.
Oy.
How are we ever going to get out of this?
Interesting … at 3:52 on 3/3/26 on BradBlog I commented “Christie Noem answered “that is under investigation” when asked by Congress if her puppy was a domestic terrorist” …