Trump is evidently very pleased with acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf. Wolf's neighbors? Not so much.

(Image credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

published 4 August 2020

Chad Wolf, a former travel industry lobbyist and protégé of former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, was not President Trump's first or even second choice to take over as acting secretary after he first ousted Nielsen, then her acting replacement, Kevin McAleenan, quit, "frustrated at the increasing politicization of the DHS," The Washington Post reports. But neither of Trump's favorites at the Homeland Security Department, Ken Cuccinelli and Mark Morgan, were eligible for the acting secretary position.

After Wolf's appointment as acting DHS chief last year, his staff made him a Trump-lauding Instagram page in April to raise his stature, but it wasn't until the deployment of militarized federal agents to Portland, Oregon, in early July that Wolf "eclipsed" both Cuccinelli and Morgan "to win the president's favor," the Post reports. Current and former DHS officials, including the department's first two Republican secretaries, worry that federal overreach in Portland has caused "long-term reputational damage" at the department, set up to protect the U.S. against foreign terrorism after the 9/11 attacks.

But "after 3 1/2 years, the president finally is happy with a DHS chief," the Post reports, citing White House aides. "And while Wolf's predecessors sometimes pushed back at Trump's attempts to break rules and bend norms to fit his desired policies, Trump now has a DHS chief giving him the answers he wants."

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The fealty and increasing strident tone that has endeared Wolf to Trump and his immigration czar, Stephen Miller, has also drawn strident criticism. "The use of the DHS as an instrument of the president's agenda — first at the Mexican border and now in U.S. cities — has alarmed many who have come to see the department as the enforcement arm of Trump's 'Make America Great Again' plans, and Wolf as his enabler," the Post reports. "When protesters picketed Wolf's Alexandria, Virginia, home last month, his neighbors served them snacks." Read more about Wolf's ascent at The Washington Post.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.