Trump using women as 'scapegoats' for his presidency's biggest failures

Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem speaks about the Federal Emergency Management Agency next to President Donald Trump, in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, D.C., June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

President Donald Trump has made major shake-ups in his Cabinet this month, with some high-profile firings, but according to a new analysis from The Bulwark, these moves boil down to making women "scapegoats" for his administration's big failures.

In early March, Trump marked the first major firing of his second term in the White House, removing Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary, reportedly after she told Congress that he had approved a controversial and expensive ad campaign. This week, he followed that by removing Pam Bondi as attorney general, with reports suggesting that frustrations over the failed prosecutions of his perceived political enemies were to blame.

Notably, this means that the first major firings of Trump's second term were the most high-profile women in his Cabinet, with some observers calling them the "mean girls" of the administration. This fact was not lost on anti-Trump conservative commentator William Kristol, who wrote in a piece for The Bulwark on Friday that Noem and Bondi were taking the fall for screw-ups that were just as much the fault of various men in Trump's administration, including contentious senior aide Stephen Miller, FBI Director Kash Patel and Todd Blanche, the former deputy attorney general now serving as the acting attorney general.

"A month ago, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was the first cabinet official of Trump’s second term to be removed," Kristol wrote. "She had tried dutifully to implement the mass-deportation agenda under the direction of Trump’s top aide, Stephen Miller. But it was Noem, not Miller, who was dumped when Trump needed a scapegoat for its unpopularity."

He continued: "Not that one should shed tears for Noem. Nor should one cry for Attorney General Pam Bondi. She too was more than willing and eager to do Trump’s bidding. But Trump judged her to have failed to secure adequate revenge against his enemies. He probably also blamed her for the botched coverup of the Epstein files—even though Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel seemed equally involved in that effort. But it was Bondi who was dumped, not Blanche or Patel. In fact, Blanche is now acting attorney general."

Kristol also highlighted recent reports regarding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, alleging that he fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George after he fought back against the secretary's effort to block promotions for two black and two female officers to brigadier general. This, he argued, fit the ongoing pattern of sexism in the Trump administration, calling it "unabashed hostility to women’s equality and freedom."

"In any case, it’s striking that Trumpist authoritarianism has been accompanied by gross sexism and racism and that Trumpist autocracy is attended by unabashed hostility to women’s equality and freedom," Kristol concluded. "It’s a reminder that gender and racial equality are part of human equality, that respecting the dignity of every individual is part of the American creed. And it could lead us to recall, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our rebellion against tyranny, the words of Abigail Adams in a March 1776 letter to her husband: “Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. . . . Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could.”

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