Kristi Noem's Bronze Statue Unveiling Sparks Wave of Online Mockery
Key Takeaways
- •The bronze statue of Kristi Noem was commissioned to commemorate her tenure as governor of South Dakota, following a longstanding tradition of honoring former state executives.
- •Noem was removed from her position as Trump's Homeland Security Secretary earlier this year amid controversy over aggressive federal immigration enforcement and a scandal involving her husband Bryon Noem.
- •The statue features Noem wearing a cowboy hat alongside a horse, imagery that social media users leveraged to revisit controversies such as her killing of her dog Cricket, which she disclosed in her 2024 memoir.
- •Commentators including journalists, historians, and political influencers posted mocking reactions on X, with some sharing AI-generated images that parodied the monument and referenced rumors connecting Noem to Corey Lewandowski.
- •Bryon Noem was notably absent from the unveiling ceremony amid ongoing public scrutiny surrounding reported personal controversies.
The unveiling of a bronze statue honoring former Trump Cabinet secretary Kristi Noem has become the subject of widespread online ridicule.
Noem, who served as Trump's Department of Homeland Security Secretary, received the statue in recognition of her tenure as governor of South Dakota, as documented in a post on X by CSPAN. The placement of commemorative statues honoring former governors is a longstanding tradition in U.S. state politics, typically intended to recognize executive service at the state level. Noem was dismissed from the Trump administration earlier this year amid fallout from violent federal immigration enforcement operations and a separate scandal involving her husband, Bryon Noem, who was absent from the unveiling ceremony.
The statue portrays Noem wearing a cowboy hat alongside a horse. Social media users quickly seized on the imagery to revisit some of the most controversial episodes surrounding Noem, including her admission that she shot and killed her dog, Cricket—a disclosure she first made in her 2024 memoir No Going Back—and her rumored relationship with DHS advisor Corey Lewandowski, a longtime Republican political operative who previously served as Donald Trump's 2016 campaign manager.
Journalist and political commentator William Coffin quipped on X, "Bryon's statue unveiling was less well attended," and shared an AI-generated image mocking Bryon's reported cross-dressing.
The X account Prison Mitch posted an AI-generated image of a statue showing Noem aiming a firearm at a dog, writing, "Now Cricket gets to watch Kristi Noem do it all over for eternity."
"Cricket would like a word," wrote progressive advocate and attorney Jordan Rhone on X.
David Freedlander, a political columnist and features writer for New York Magazine, joked about the sequential unveiling of the statue's components: "Think everyone watching this held their breath for a sec when second figure was being unveiled," referring to the horse.
Historian Brooks D. Simpson reacted on X: "They forgot the dead dog at her feet."
"After they showed Noem first, I was expecting to see her husband with his freak fetish or Corey Lewandowski next to her as a part of the statue," right-wing influencer Ian Miles Cheong posted.
Political commentator Andrew Donaldson joked, "Nice of them to include Corey in the statue like that," in an apparent reference to the horse.
Filmmaker Cam Miller offered a more succinct reaction: "But...why?"
