Commentary: From late-night TV to viral memes, Kristi Noem was the gag that kept on giving. What now?

A infinitesimal of soundlessness for each the comedians, late-night-show writers, governmental satirists, memers, animators and random influencers who conscionable mislaid a wealthiness of inspiration.

Kristi Noem, Homeland Security secretary, was fired Thursday by President Trump, ending the 13-month tenure of a governmental fig whose bravado, cruelty, incompetence and commando cosplay inspired much wickedly comic worldly than Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin and Sean Spicer combined.

Social media’s alleged ICE Barbie, the archetypal Cabinet caput to permission the Trump medication during the president’s 2nd term, was a font of worldly for “South Park,” “SNL,” precocious nighttime and thousands much sketch artists, impersonators, musicians and mundane trash posters. She ne'er disappointed, unless you were looking to her for feasible, humane migration argumentation enforcement.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)

Drama and spectacle marked her little career, from posing successful beforehand of a packed holding compartment astatine El Salvador’s maximum information situation CECOT, wherever the DHS had shipped and detained deportees, to casting herself arsenic an cause of enactment successful aggregate ICE raid videos. Donning a large weapon and long, flowing locks of hair, she insinuated herself into operations, vamping for the camera successful a bulletproof vest portion masked agents rounded up chap humans similar cattle.

Grim, to beryllium sure, but astatine slightest she contributed a shred of comic alleviation (unintended, of course) to our new, bittersweet world of national agents invading American cities and abducting radical disconnected the streets, retired of their cars and from their homes.

“South Park” skewered Noem successful unprintable ways. “SNL” brought backmost Tina Fey to play Noem. Dressed successful a lavender pantsuit, excessively overmuch constitution and brandishing a monolithic firearm, she introduced herself arsenic “the rarest benignant of idiosyncratic successful Washington, D.C.: a brunette that Donald Trump listens to.”

The endless watercourse of memes crossed societal media day backmost to 2024, erstwhile successful her memoir Noem recalled shooting and sidesplitting her 14‑month‑old dog, a wirehaired pointer named Cricket, aft deciding the canine was “untrainable.” Gov. Gavin Newsom aboriginal trolled the DHS and Noem with a meme captioned “Kristi Noem’s Dog Obedience School: She’ll Treat Them As Good As She Treats Brown People.” The mock advertisement featured a smiling pistillate holding a weapon and kneeling beside a dog.

If it seems cruel, see that the DHS posted holiday-themed deportation memes astir Christmas, proclaiming that national agents were stepping up removals “for the holidays,” with a “holiday deal” offering a escaped formation and $1,000 to those who self-deport. One X station featured an AI-generated representation of national agents successful Santa hats with the caption, “YOU’RE GOING HO HO HOME.”

Noem’s dismissal comes connected the heels of 2 legislature hearings this week wherever she was questioned astir her effect to the ICE killings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti successful Minneapolis (she incorrectly called Good a home violent and claimed Pretti was progressive successful an enactment of home terrorism). She was grilled astir the section spending $172 cardinal for the acquisition of 2 jets, the quality of her narration with apical DHS advisor Corey Lewandowski, and her $220-million DHS advertisement run starring nary different than Kristi Noem. She testified successful the hearings that Trump approved the ads. He said helium knew thing astir them.

Her firing triggered an contiguous unreserved of snarky contented crossed societal media, and a crisp a remark oregon 2 from salient politicians. “Shouldn’t fto the doorway deed her connected the mode out,” said Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.

But each is not mislaid for those needing a laughter astatine Noem’s expense, oregon astatine the disbursal of the DHS, for that matter. The president said Thursday that Noem would instrumentality connected a new, freshly invented role: Envoy for The Shield of the Americas. He described the presumption arsenic 1 that volition pb “our caller Security Initiative successful the Western Hemisphere.” The occupation rubric and statement already dependable similar the ground for a villainous governmental satire, without adjacent trying.

And for the caller feline taking the post? He’s Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a erstwhile MMA fighter. Let the memes statesman …