A different rooster would crow to Kristi Noem, raised on a ranch in the American Midwest, if she had known the Spanish proverb. “For a dog I killed, they called me a dogkiller.”
You have to qualify. She, the Republican governor of South Dakota and one of Donald Trump's favorite palm trees, is now being called a "dog killer," including by those who saw her as a rising star of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement and possible election as vice president in the conservative candidacy next November.
That adjective, seen as a descent into hell, is one of the worst that can be given to an American politician. Although they disagree on practically everything, if something unites Republicans and Democrats, it is canine love. Don't even touch the dogs, since they are the true kings of mambo in the United States.
Noem shot Cricket, a 14-month-old female German Wirehaired Pointer with unbearable behavior, according to her owner's version, and, in turn, shot herself in the foot.
Any aspiration to replace Kamala Harris faded, the strategists agree, because of the confession in her memoirs Not Going Back, where she acknowledges that she killed the dog in cold blood. This passage, reported by The Guardian, has caused a huge stir even though the book has not yet gone on sale.
He lost his ambition. He wanted to distance himself from the list of candidates that Trump has in his casting and the shot backfired. She must have thought that emphasizing that she is a tough woman from a rural state would convince an urbane New Yorker like Donald Trump that she was the perfect foil for the ticket among non-big-city conservatives.
But his revelation and crudeness seem too much even for someone who doesn't exactly show as much love for pets as the former president. If he is avid about something, it is detecting a bad electoral poster for his voters.
Noem, 52, remembers that a couple of decades ago she ended the life of the family dog that resided on the family farm in South Dakota. And he justifies it by his “aggressive personality” and lack of hunting skills. He writes that on one occasion he escaped from his pickup truck and attacked a group of chickens. “He grabbed one of her and crushed her to death in one bite, leaving her and attacking another,” he says. It was the last straw for her, although he had bitten her too.
“I hated that bitch,” he remarks. He adds that Cricket was simply untrainable and dangerous to anyone who came into contact with the animal. “I understood that I had to put an end to it,” he says. Another might have sought the help of a veterinarian or a friend and not gotten his hands dirty. But no, Noem decided to do it herself. He took her to a cliff and shot her. “It was unpleasant, but she had to do it,” she adds.
“If I were a better politician, I wouldn't tell this story here,” he maintains. As soon as this chapter emerged, which he justifies as a demonstration of strength, a perfect storm occurred. In the Trumpist world there was perplexity and the certainty that any dream as vice president vanished with that unrequired confession.
Re-elected governor in 2022, who has been a battering ram in the main conservative causes – she sent the national guard to the border with Mexico due to “the invasion of immigrants” and approved very restrictive laws on abortion or transgender rights – she has not stopped the outburst at all. from his colleagues and the ridicule of his opponents.
Faced with the devastating reactions, Noem redoubled her flight forward with her posts on social networks. “What I learned from my years of public service, especially in South Dakota with the management of covid, is that people look for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past and who do not shy away from difficulties,” he clarified.
He also shared photos of his pets, which only increased the ridicule: Where is Cricket?
