Her job was to come in, make a bunch of unpopular changes and then move on, leaving the existing management who wanted those changes free of any associated blam

Her job was to come in, make a bunch of unpopular changes and then move on, leaving the existing management who wanted those changes free of any associated blame. Quite literally her job was to be a scape-goat, it's quite a common strategy for companies who want to do unpopular restructuring or other large changes, and I'm pretty sure one she was well-compensated for. Which is not to say that the amount of hatred and bile she received wasn't - unsurprisingly - wildly excessive and disgustingly misogynistic.