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Kristi Noem's Dog Killing Fiasco Keeps Getting Worse

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  May 09, 2024 7:00 AM

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has descended into the seventh circle of public relations hell. It’s entirely her doing. The woman who some had tapped to be on the shortlist for Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate wrote in her memoir, No Going Back, that she shot and killed her dog Cricket after his allegedly vicious demeanor left her with no choice. The dog was trash at pheasant hunting and then went on a rampage, killing chickens belonging to Noem’s neighbor. 

Noem is adamant that Cricket wasn’t a puppy, as initially reported, and she chose her family's safety above all else. It’s an unforced error—did she really need to share this story? People love dogs and hate dog killers. It’s not that hard. Based on what’s been reported on how Cricket was dealt with, I think of the scene in The Walking Dead, except it’s Noem telling Cricket to “look at the flowers.”

The story led to a wave of disastrous media coverage. Besides the dog shooting incident, Noem falsely claimed she met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But there’s that saying that going to war with the media is a costly affair, where victory is seldom secured. Noem is no exception. She got testy with Fox Business’ Stuart Varney and then flat-out canceled on Greg Gutfeld, citing the weather.

Dana Perino ‘stood in’ for Noem, and they obliterated her: 

The book tour itself has been cut short due to the weather. Oh, and I forgot to mention that when Noem killed Cricket, she also wasted a goat (via RCP): 

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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has cut short a disastrous book tour after receiving withering criticism for her story of shooting an ill-behaved puppy and unverified claims of meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un, RealClearPolitics is first to report. The book, released Tuesday, is titled “No Going Back.” 

Noem sat for a series of in-person interviews in New York and was scheduled to travel later in the week to Washington, D.C., before canceling the tour, citing inclement weather. 

“Gov. Noem has sold a lot of books on this tour and is back in South Dakota to be prepared for some potential emerging bad weather systems,” spokesman Ian Fury told RCP. Tornadoes touched down in the state Monday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Noem sat for interviews Monday and Tuesday in New York before returning home. 

Noem was slated to sit down with RealClearPolitics on Thursday before her team canceled the interview and declined to make her available over the phone. 

[…] 

Noem had billed her book as “a how-to guide” for political activism, pegging its publication to the ongoing veepstakes to join former President Trump on the GOP ticket. Calamity followed when an excerpt leaked to The Guardian, and what was planned as a national audition was overshadowed by the gristly stories the governor told about herself. 

Noem writes of dragging a 14-month-old dog into a gravel pit on her property after the poorly trained animal spoiled a pheasant hunt and attacked a neighbor's chickens. She killed the puppy named “Cricket” with a shotgun. After dispatching the dog, she turned her attention to an unruly goat. Noem took a shot, but the billy jumped. She writes in her memoir that she left the goat tethered, retrieved more ammunition, then “hurried back to the gravel pit and put him down.” 

Again, I’m not that big of an animal person, but I get the reaction now. Obama still ate a dog, which I think is worse, but this isn’t much better. I stand corrected on that one. The book went from No Going Back to In Cold Blood quickly from these excerpts.

Noem is heading for the bunker. The veepstakes are dead. All because she included a story that many reportedly told her not to include.