Media

Megyn Kelly Slams ICE Barbie’s ‘Ridiculous’ Photo Ops

SHOWDOWN

The jabs come less than two weeks after Kelly called Kristi Noem an “embarrassment.”

Megyn Kelly, one of MAGA’s most loyal journalists, slammed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Wednesday for being an embarrassment to the Republican Party and showcasing her “vanity” in her bizarre photoshoots with border patrol agents.

Kristi Noem
Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images

“Stop trying to glamorize the mission and put yourself in the middle of it as you cosplay an ICE agent, which you’re not,” said Kelly on her daily podcast. “She’s out in the field, with her gun, being like ‘we’re going to go kick some a**. No one wants you there!”

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (R), participates in a firefighting drill with a training helicopter during a tour of US Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, March 17, 2025, in Kodiak, Alaska.
Noem participates in a firefighting drill with a training helicopter during a tour of US Coast Guard Air Station on March 17. Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Kelly blasted Noem’s “ridiculous” acts, adding “there are lives on the line.”

She also roasted the DHS secretary for not being completely briefed on the individual the team was deporting, calling it a “dumb” mistake.

NEW YORK CITY - JANUARY 28: In this handout photo provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the New York City Fugitive Operations Team, joined by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, conducted targeted enforcement operations resulting in the arrest of an illegal Dominican national on January 28, 2025 in New York City.
Kristi Noem wears a vest that says "POLICE" and "ICE" on Jan. 28 in New York City. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via Getty Images

“‘I thinnnnk he did human trafficking?‘” Kelly mimicked in a girlie girl accent. “And the next think you know that guy’s in El Salvador, in prison.”

Kelly, who is a vocal Trump supporter, said that Noem undermines the administration’s mission. “It is not a job in which she should showcase her vanity,” she said. “It’s a job in which she should just keep us safe.”

Kelly said that she was duped by Noem parading as a “family woman” before she learned about her shooting her puppy and her alleged affair with Corey Lewandowski.

Kelly also reposted a message Wednesday that told Noem to either drop the act or resign.

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem helps fly an HC-130J during an aerial tour from US Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak on March 17, 2025, in Kodiak Station, Alaska.
Noem helps fly a plane during an aerial tour from US Coast Guard Air Station on March 17. Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Noem got dolled up Tuesday to ride on a SWAT vehicle, donning a signature look that includes fake eyelashes and pearl earrings. Her photos appeared in a New York Post exclusive where she posed behind the wheel of a vehicle that weighs over 17,000 pounds. Kelly denounced the act by reposting a series of anti-Noem X posts to her 3.6 million followers.

“Whatever your politics or views on immigration, I think we can all agree that these photo ops are ridiculous,” read one post, written by John Daniel Davidson, the senior editor of conservative online outlet The Federalist.

A member of the US Coast Guard helps Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem put on equipment aboard the Cutter Elm before participating in an assault boat demonstration, in San Diego, California, on March 16, 2025.
A member of the US Coast Guard helps Noem put on equipment on March 16. Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Kelly also reposted remarks from journalist Jonathan T. Gilliam, who was a public servant for over two decades as a Navy SEAL, Federal Air Marshal, FBI Special Agent, and police officer.

“These social media posts devalue everything you are doing right. @Sec_Noem, are you the Secretary of Homeland Security or are you a social media influencer?" the post read.

Gilliam added: “Unless you are issued that weapon, you shouldn’t be holding it for posts and pics. Screwing around with guns for social media would get anyone that works under you fired.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (R) participates in a ship assault demonstration on board the US Coast Guard Cutter Elm with the Maritime Security Response Team on March 16, 2025, in San Diego, California.
Noem participates in a ship assault demonstration on board the US Coast Guard boat on March 16. Pool/AFP via Getty Images

He said that Noem and others in the administration “parade” themselves in an “unprofessional, juvenile, self serving way.”

“You aren’t running for office, you’re running a federal agency,” he said. “Do that or resign.”

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem rides a four-wheeler during a tour along the Nogales border wall at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona, March 15, 2025.
Noem rides a four-wheeler during a tour along the Nogales border wall in Arizona mid-March. Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Kelly also shared some harsh words from Republican radio host Erick Erickson.

“I’m old school, but I don’t think our Cabinet Secretaries should cosplay as armed agents,” he wrote. “You’re a politician, not one of our heroes.”

Kelly’s anti-Noem reposts came a little over a week after she roasted the Homeland Security Security on her podcast for her “f***** up” photo shoot at an El Salvadoran prison, where deported individuals stood shirtless behind bars.

Noem faced backlash after filming a video at an El Salvadoran prison.
Noem faced backlash after filming a video at an El Salvadoran prison. Alex Brandon/Alex Brandon/REUTERS

Kelly looked visibly angry during the March 28 episode when she said, “They’re being used as props for her photo op in a skintight shirt, with her hair perfectly curled and coiffed, and again the makeup, as she tries to sound tough with these prisoners behind her as her background, as truly her human props,” she said. “I’m telling you guys, it’s f***ed up.”

She called the move “gross,” adding that Noem’s backdrop of “little lab rats” behind prison bars looking “dazed, confused, and shirtless” while she stood there “glammed to the nines” is a “bad f***ing move.”

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (R) pilots a US Coast Guard Response Boat-Small (RBS) with the Maritime Security Response Team in San Diego, California, on March 16, 2025.
Noem rides in a boat with the Maritime Security Response Team mid-March. Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Kelly started the episode slamming Noem as a “controversial pick” who was passed over as vice president due to the “ridiculous memoir she wrote confessing to killing her puppy Cricket, who she shot in the face for no reason, right before she killed their goat.”

The host said that she wanted to root for Noem in the beginning, but that all we’ve “seen so far is a lot of photo ops.” She mocked Noem for “cosplaying” and said she was “embarrassed” for how the DHS Secretary was presenting herself.

Kelly is a public Trump supporter.
Kelly is a public Trump supporter. Shannon Finney/Shannon Finney/Getty Images for Semafor

“This is a deeply insecure person,” Kelly added. “Who are we if we only have honest talk for the left? This is honest from someone who’s a Trump supporter. He needs to reign her in because she’s becoming an embarrassment.”

Kelly said that if she herself ever became DHS Secretary, “I would not be laying on the lipgloss, the lashes, and the blush.”

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