Is it the harsh fate of a farm or a cruel judgment? South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a potential 2024 running mate for President Donald Trump, shocked Americans by revealing that she once shot her dog. In a country that values its pets, this is a dangerous confession.
In his forthcoming memoir, obtained by the Guardian, the conservative republican describes how he shot and killed his 14-month-old “untrainable” dog Cricket after a hunting trip gone awry. ing.
“I hated that dog,” Noem, 52, wrote in No Going Back, according to excerpts published by the Guardian.
She described how the crickets ruined a pheasant hunt and killed several of a local family's chickens in their “excitement.” According to Noem, her only solution was to sit her out.
“It wasn't a fun job,” she wrote, “but it had to be done. And after it was done, I realized I had to do another unpleasant job. “Ta,” she wrote, means “goat.”
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The revelation rocked this year's election season and sparked a massive reaction among political pundits on social media and talk shows.
Dogs have a special place in American life, and public figures are often exposed when they mistreat them – as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said in 2012 while his family was on a road trip. in which he told how he had tied his dog, Seamus, to the roof.
Now, Noem is similarly in the doghouse, but her name regularly comes up in discussions about who Republican presidential nominee Trump would choose as his running mate, making her a potential stumbling block. It has become.
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Trump himself faced dog drama in 2017, when the real estate mogul's critics raised eyebrows over the fact that he became the first White House resident in more than 100 years without a dog. .
Democratic President Joe Biden's team jumped at the opportunity, posting on Friday's X: “Trump Vice Presidential Candidate Kristi Noem boasts about shooting and killing a 14-month-old puppy.”
As the story snowballed, Minnesota's Democratic Governor Tim Walz and Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer told ” he urged.
On the talk show “The View,” the presenters had a field day.
“Cruella de Vil is the only woman I know who shot a dog,” one person quipped, referring to the villain from Disney's classic “101 Dalmatians.''
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Another condemned Noem's actions as “despicable.” “Dogs are like your children sometimes,” she said.
In her book, Noem says she's prepared to do what's necessary, whether in politics or ranch life, by killing crickets, even if it's “difficult, messy, and ugly.” He wrote that it showed that.
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“People want leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and not afraid to take on difficult challenges,” she tweeted on Sunday.
Noem added, “As I explain in the book, it wasn't easy. But the easy way is often not the right way.”
Few seem to be convinced.
On Monday, Democrat Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, reposted her 2021 message: “Don't vote for someone you can't trust a dog with.”
“It still is,” she added.
