Kristi Noem buys herself two Gulfstream jets using $172 million in taxpayer money

The U.S. government is shut down, but Kristi Noem is on a taxpayer-funded shopping spree. The former South Dakota governor, who impressed Trump with her stupefying cruelty by killing a puppy because she hated it, just spent $172 million on two private jets for herself.

The DHS Secretary — currently squatting rent-free in the Coast Guard Commandant’s waterfront digs because of “safety concerns” — decided the agency’s aging Gulfstream V wasn’t sufficiently spacious for her needs. So she bought two G700s, which Gulfstream describes as having “the most spacious cabin in the industry.” As reported in The New York Times, the Coast Guard initially requested one $50 million replacement jet. Noem heard “one” and decided to double down, literally.

Here’s where it gets delicious: the Coast Guard justified this purchase by explaining their current jet has “obsolete avionics” and “unreliable communications.” You know what else has reliability issues? A department head who burns through taxpayer money faster than she goes through puppies.

In a letter reviewed by The New York Times, Representatives Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, and Lauren Underwood of Illinois, the top Democrat overseeing its homeland security panel, asked Ms. Noem to “clarify the funding source.”

“In addition to raising serious questions about your ability to effectively lead an agency whose procurement strategies appear to vary on a whim, the procurement of new luxury jets for your use suggests that the U.S.C.G. has been directed to prioritize your own comfort above the U.S.C.G.’s operational needs, even during a government shutdown,” the lawmakers wrote. “We are deeply concerned about your judgment, leadership priorities, and responsibility as a steward of taxpayer dollars.”

But sure, tell the Coast Guard to make do with thoughts and prayers while Secretary Noem test-drives her matching luxury jets. Nothing says “homeland security” like flying in style while the people actually doing the securing can’t make payroll.

Previously:
• Airports across the US are refusing to play Kristi Noem’s propaganda video
• The hilarious but sad life of Kristi Noem (video)
• Kristi Noem finds free waterfront housing by pulling rank on Coast Guard
• Former official: Noem ‘likely to become the warden of the police state’