Kristi Noem's skewering on 'South Park' forces Trump to plan $50M in damage control
President Donald Trump is planning to spend tens of millions of dollars on a public relations offensive in support of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, following her roasting on the adult animated comedy "South Park," The Daily Beast reported Friday.
According to the report, a planning forecast record dropped by the Department for Homeland Security this week "pledges $20 million to $50 million as an 'International Campaign Follow-on' to the 'Stronger Border, Stronger America' ads that have starred Noem."
This would solidify Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, as the public face of the administration's far-right immigration policy, which so far has triggered a wave of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and mass deportations, often with little to no due process.
Noem's public image has been reeling in recent weeks as her tendency to dress in tactical uniform for photo-ops has become an extensive subject of mockery.
The South Park episode went all out, depicting Noem conducting ICE raids in heaven, arresting the educational children's TV character Dora the Explorer, and constantly fretting over her physical appearance, all while featuring a running gag of her killing dogs — a reference to her proud boast in her memoir about shooting a puppy she considered untrainable for hunting work.
Last week, Noem complained about her depiction in the episode, telling right-wing talk radio host Glenn Beck, "It's so lazy to just constantly make fun of women for how they look. It’s only the liberals and the extremists who do that."