Kristi Noem
Kristi Noem (Photo: Gage Skidmore, via CC BY-S.A 2.0)

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem spent the weekend digging a deeper hole for herself and blowing up any chance of becoming Donald Trump’s pick for Vice President. 

Last week, the Guardian revealed an excerpt from Noem’s soon-to-be-published memoir. 

In it, she details the way she took a puppy, named Cricket, to a gravel pit and shot it dead in front of a “starled construction crew”. Noem says in the book she “hated” the dog, it could not be trained for hunting and was “aggressive” towards other animals and humans. 

She also reveals she killed a “musky, disgusting, rancid” goat that chased her children. However, the first shot only wounded the animal. She had to go to her truck to reload her gun to finish the job.

When The Guardian story ran, Noem realized some damage limitation was in order. 

“We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm,” Noem said on X. “Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.”

This did little to quell the furor online. Even experienced farmhands said that putting down a horse toward the end of its life is not the same as shooting a puppy.

“Painful decisions”

Yesterday, Noem posted another attempt to defend her actions. 

“I can understand why some people are upset about a 20 year old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch, in my upcoming book — No Going Back. The book is filled with many honest stories of my life, good and bad days, challenges, painful decisions, and lessons learned. 

“What I learned from my years of public service, especially leading South Dakota through COVID, is people are looking for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from tough challenges. My hope is anyone reading this book will have an understanding that I always work to make the best decisions I can for the people in my life.”

She goes on to say she did nothing illegal.

“South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did. 

“Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never passed on my responsibilities to anyone else to handle. Even if it’s hard and painful. I followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor.

“As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy. But often the easy way isn’t the right way.”

Politicians posts photos of their dogs

If Noem thought this would abate the storm of criticism from across the political spectrum, she was sadly mistaken. Her latest tweet has prompted 25k comments. Few were praising her for slaughtering a young dog in cold blood. 

Several Democratic Governors, led by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), posted photos of themselves with their dogs. He invited people to submit photos of pooches that don’t “involve shooting them and throwing them in a gravel pit.” 

Even Republican Kari Lake, a rival for Trump’s Vice President selection, posted a photo of herself with her dog. She didn’t mention Noem but it’s hard to believe the timing was a coincidence. 

Here are some other reactions.

Oh, and amidst all the outcry about the puppy, let’s also not forget…

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