Donald Trump appointed two women to high-level positions at the start of his recent term: Kristi Noem as his homeland security secretary and Pam Bondi as the attorney general. In March, Trump fired Noem from her position. 

Markwayne Mullins will fill Noem’s homeland security position on March 31, according to an X post by Trump. He has failed to protect these women from public scrutiny; instead, he chooses to align with public opinion and replace them with more like-minded men. 

Trump is trying to reinforce a nation that domesticates women again. Noem and Bondi are taking the heat for most of the public political attention connected to the Republican Party. This is not a coincidence; Trump appointed women to positions he knew would cause public tension and anger. This frames Noem and Bondi as figureheads of Trump’s bad presidential decisions. 

Bondi and Noem are pawns in Trump’s cabinet to take the majority of the public criticism that highlights how women are not equipped for positions in government. 

Why is Noem being fired for following Trump’s direct orders? She implemented the aggressive, large-scale detention and removal of undocumented immigrants, which was already prefaced in Trump’s Project 2025. There is a noticeable pattern of women taking the fall for Trump’s or other men’s actions.

The Supreme Court case Learning Reasons Inc. v. Trump ruled that Trump’s imposition of international tariffs in 2026 was unconstitutional. Trump has not only committed an illegal act by imposing tariffs without congressional approval, but has also been caught in illegal activities, having direct involvement in the Epstein files. These reasons are sound enough to impeach the president. 

The victims’ names on the files were unjustly released under Trump’s orders to Bondi. Meanwhile, certain offenders have continuously had their names blocked in emails and photo evidence protecting their public image. It is easy to be a man in Trump’s America. 

Releasing the victims’ names puts them at risk of being harmed and prevents them from testifying. Trump is protecting himself and the men involved instead of the victims – American politicians are letting it happen. 

The public has more information about the victims on Epstein’s island than about the actual predators on the list. Ghislaine Maxwell, a British former socialite, is the only person arrested in America for their involvement in the Epstein files. If Trump denies the Epstein files’ validity, why was she arrested? Why is the only person arrested a woman? Maxwell deserves prison, along with those on the list, but she should not be the only person currently behind bars in the U.S. for their involvement with Epstein. 

This is no coincidence. Nothing is anymore; every act Trump implements, every person he replaces has been a strategy to secure himself a third term. Bondi needs to use the power she has now to prosecute Trump instead of defending him and those involved in the files. It took the emails of a dead man for Americans to believe what over a thousand women testified to. 

Since her congressional hearing in February, Bondi has been under justified public scrutiny because she has defended Trump and those involved in the Epstein files. Trump made Bondi the face of defending the Epstein files for a reason. She was used to incite the public’s anger toward her inability to address and handle the Epstein files properly. Politicians are now focusing on Bondi’s reaction at the congressional hearing rather than the files.  

Although Bondi and Noem deserve termination due to their negligence and complicity, more men in federal office, including Trump, should also face the same amount of consequences as these women.

Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a man who has been continuously supported by Trump, was seen partying with the USA Olympic men’s hockey team after they won the gold medal against Canada. Meanwhile, Bondi has been unable to show her face in public since the congressional meeting without direct threats to her livelihood. As of recently, Bondi has had to move into a heavily guarded military base in Washington, D.C., due to an increase in threats over the Epstein files. Both serve the same man, have the same agenda and ideology, one is just a woman. 

Trump has used the public’s perception of them as incapable leaders to make a point: women cannot do a “man’s job.” 

America needs to take action. Bondi and Noem are the first examples of Trump using women during his presidency to maintain an image that women are incapable of having positions of power and they won’t be the last. 

Hannah Cabral can be reached at [email protected].