Politicians and dog experts are criticizing South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem after she wrote in a new book about killing a rambunctious puppy. The story — and the vilification she received on social media — has some wondering whether she’s still a viable potential running mate for presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Experts who work with hunting dogs like Noem’s said she should have trained — not killed — the pup, or found other options if the dog was out of control.
Noem has tried to reframe the story from two decades ago as an example of her willingness to make tough decisions. She wrote on social media that the 14-month-old wirehaired pointer named Cricket had shown aggressive behavior by biting.
“As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy,” she said on X. “But often the easy way isn’t the right way.”
Still, Democrats and even some conservatives have been critical.
These nut jobs are so disconnected from reality, thinking telling people a story about killing your own innocent dog will make you look tough.
That wasn’t exactly why, according to the article. This was, apparently, the shittiest attempt at damage control I’ve ever seen.
But South Dakota Democratic Senate Minority Leader Reynold Nesiba considered the disclosure more calculated than stupid. He said the story has circulated for years among lawmakers that Noem killed a dog in a “fit of anger” and that there were witnesses. He speculated that it was coming out now because Noem is being vetted as a candidate for vice president.
“She knew that this was a political vulnerability, and she needed to put it out there, before it came up in some other venue,” he said. “Why else would she write about it?”
She also writes about shooting a goat the family owned because it was mean to her kids.
She has basically no chance of being Trump’s VP now, but this is the level of quality he’s looking for in a candidate.
Time to bring Sarah Palin out of retirement.
I don’t know if Trump wants her watching Russia from her house while he has secret meetings with Putin.
I prefer an actual quote from Palin to this apocryphal one. When Katie Couric asked her what newspapers she read to keep informed Palin said “All of them”
I mean she kind of said what Tina Fey parodied her saying, which was:
“When you’re talking about what’s going on at the border—the non-existent border,” Palin said, “that reminds me how important it is, that all Alaskans realize it. Now Alaska is strategically located on the globe—as you know—you don’t laugh about the fact that you can see Russia from Alaska, and Canada is right there on our other side.”
You can see one Russian island sometimes from one island in Alaska.
Bush’s VP shot a person in the face. So…
I don’t think you need to be a dog expert. Just have the ability to feel the tiniest amount empathy. This goes way too far for even a lot of Republicans.
What’s worse, is the story itself. She took the dog on a pheasant hunt for the day, cheering it on while it chased the pheasants and went for the kills. On the way home, she stopped at a friend’s house where the dog attacked their chickens. She then led the dog to a gravel pit and shot it in the head.
It thought it was being a good dog, doing exactly what she was training it to do. She addressed her mistake with murder.
Goddamn, every time I get more info on this story it just gets worse. I can’t imagine killing an animal that wasn’t a danger or deserved a merciful death.
Empathy is not a conservative trait.
True, but even plenty of conservatives have enough empathy about their own pets to see this is wrong. And they’ve been saying so.
Yup. Just more and more detail that Republicans have really fucked up morals.
The fact that this immoral dumbass is still trying to defend her complete lack of ability to train or control a dog, and trying to make it as “making hard choices” due to her own utter massive incompetence, is just telling about the mind set of what Republicans look to as moral guidance.
I’d hate to think what would have happened if her children had trouble with potty training.
“Some might think shooting a toddler is cruel, but 3-years-old is way too old to still be in diapers. Hard decisions had to be made, people.”
Oh look! More proof that most politicians are either psychopaths or idiots being controlled by a rich psychopath. Who the fuck would think a story about killing a nippy puppy would appeal to the common people jfc. I’ve owned MANY dogs both growing up and as an adult, if you aren’t ready to train a dog, especially a smart breed, don’t bother getting a dog. Go get a cat or a fish or some shit that can’t bite and kill someone.
The dog thing was horrible, But she also shot and killed a goat because it smelled.
Why did the goat smell?
Because she didn’t get it castrated.
She pretends to be a farmer with stories about killing dogs that can’t hunt and goats that smell weird, But an actual farmer would have had the goat castrated if they weren’t planning on breeding it and they absolutely would have just retrained the dog.Also, she didn’t just kill it. She tortured it. She shot it, and it didn’t die. She then walked over to her truck to get another round, walked back, and shot it again.
Gives me some hope for the world that everyone hates dog killers
Even non-psychopaths who aren’t dog people. When I encounter a dog, any dog, I couldn’t be more uncomfortable. But I don’t find this sort of thing any less shocking than people who have and love dogs.
Conservatives don’t hate dog killers. They love to brag about killing things, including dogs and cats. It’s all just part of being a piece of shit conservative. But, the conservatives can sense that it looks bad to openly brag about killing a puppy. They just haven’t figured out a way to make it look good yet. So they are backing away from her for the moment.
But, mark my words… They will eventually circle back and reframe puppy-killing as “so brave and strong” for doing “what needed to be done”.
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So when politicians support tons of policies that harm, starve, and needlessly incarcerate millions of living American humans, no big deal, but if one fucking dog gets harmed suddenly we give a shit.
Cool. Our empathy for our fellow man definitely isn’t broken at all.
That’s how it is. Like it or not, people care a hell of a lot more when a dog dies in a movie than when a person dies.
Inability to be empathetic and kind to animals is a psychopathic trait. People who don’t want to and wouldn’t hurt humans, wouldn’t hurt animals either. But those who want to hurt humans will usually resort to hurting animals because they can get away with it more easily. (especial treatment for small mammals and pets as they are the emotionally closest to us)
That article definitely reads like written by a republiQan
You know, from afar she kind of looks like that girl from the Vampire Diaries.
She looks like Evil Sarah Chalke, non sequitur aside.
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She wrote about it herself. Even if it never happened, it shows what she thinks ‘tough’ means.
Exactly! Trump-Noem would mean leadership that murders its opponents and anyone who doesn’t fit in with their vision of a nation.
So you’re saying she made up the story and then put it in her own book? For what reason?
