But in what can perhaps be called a minor upset, Noem was still in her role by week’s end. Instead, she had been left to twist very publicly in the wind. In a sense, this marks a subtle shift in Trump’s humiliation methods. Rather than firing officials outright—in a quick and relatively straightforward directive, or a tweet—he now seems to prefer sowing public doubt and maximizing attention upon the ultimate decider of someone’s fate: that person, of course, being himself.