Newsom Hit Kristi Noem with a Jab So Low It Left Her Face on the Floor, and Her Attempt to Strike Back Only Made the Internet Laugh Harder
California Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t just troll Kristi Noem — he turned the whole internet into an audience for one of his sharpest comedic jabs yet. A triggered Department of Homeland Security found itself scrambling after Newsom’s press office unloaded a fake “Dog Obedience School” ad so over the top that even longtime watchers of their back-and-forth had to pause, blink, and laugh. It was a stunt built for pure entertainment, but the reaction from Noem and her boss, Donald Trump, turned it into a political spectacle all its own.
The clash kicked off when Newsom’s press team posted a mock advertisement titled “Kristi Noem’s Dog Obedience School,” a riff on the Trump-aligned secretary’s now-infamous confession that she shot her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, years ago, according to Daily Beast.
The fake poster featured a smiling woman shaking a puppy’s paw while pointing a gun at it, paired with the wildly provocative slogan, “She’ll Treat Them As Good As She Treats Brown People.”
Sign up today! pic.twitter.com/O2cp0JB4xk
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) November 13, 2025
Beneath it, Newsom’s office added a gleeful invitation: “Sign up today!” Within hours, DHS retaliated with its own chaotic graphic of Newsom engulfed in flames and surrounded by MAGA’s favorite California stereotypes — wildfires, high gas prices, and windmills — turning the exchange into a digital boxing match.
But it was the Yahoo! Entertainment reader’s responses that showed just how deeply Newsom’s jab landed.
“Maybe The Donald will use the same Obedience Technique on Noem if she ever dares to defy him!!!!” one person wrote.
Another added, “Just love Newsom! He is so good that he doesn’t just insult, he performs a biting autopsy on this noem rube with the precision of a linguistic surgeon. Makes her look like the kind of person who would get fired from a job guarding a petting zoo because the animals could sense the incompetence oozing from her lacking security knowledge.”
Others encouraged the escalation: “Good for Newsom. Hit ‘em where it hurts. After all, MAGA has no problem doing the same to Democrats. Fight fire with fire.”
Some went straight to renaming Noem: “Cruelle should be her new name,” one user wrote, while another cracked, “Barbie has messed up consistently on multitudes of occasions. Maybe she should have been taken to the gravel pit and Cricket should be running DHS?”
The trolling didn’t happen in a vacuum. Newsom has been building an entire vocabulary of nicknames aimed at Noem, inspired by the Trump tradition of tagging rivals with mocking monikers. His press office previously rolled out “Kosplay Kristi” — a jab at her photo-ready appearances — alongside other versions like “Kowgirl Kristi,” “Kristi the Sailor,” and a series of themed caricatures designed to highlight her aggressive posture toward immigrants and her performative tough-on-crime persona.
The Trump wing hasn’t enjoyed any of it, and the former president himself has been so irritated that he now refers to Newsom as “Newscum,” while Noem keeps trying to frame their exchanges as dangerous instead of comedic.
That effort reached a peak when Newsom dropped a short, razor-sharp message: “Kristi Noem is going to have a bad day today. You’re welcome, America.”
The ten-word clapback ignited conservative outrage, with a federal prosecutor demanding a threat assessment and Noem telling Sean Hannity her family panicked within minutes. The dramatics didn’t sway Newsom, who resurfaced a Trump tweet from 2020 reading, “Going to be a BAD day for Crazy Bernie!” as a reminder of where the tone originated.
Critics quickly pointed out that the administration was reacting to political shade as if it were national security threat, calling it an overreach built to silence criticism rather than address real concerns.
Meanwhile, Newsom kept moving with his legislative rollout, including new limits on masked federal enforcement activity in California — a policy announcement that added context to the “bad day” remark and undercut Noem’s claim that she faced imminent danger.
Her attempt to shift into victim mode drew even more friction online, with many arguing her response was designed to distract from the ongoing conversations about her own controversial track record.
By the time the dust settled, the “Dog Obedience School” ad had already become the headline-maker Newsom seemed to expect. It fired up his supporters, rattled the Trump-Noem camp, and sparked an avalanche of jokes, memes, and commentary that turned the moment into a full cultural event. And just like the title suggests, the internet agreed on one thing: Newsom just epically trolled Noem — and people are still laughing.
