A dead dog just prevetned Kristi Noem from being Trump's VP

[Dan Druff]

South Dakota governor Kristi Noem was a fast rising star in the Republican Party.

Conservative, popular within the party, and pretty (especially for her 52 years), she had a bright future. She has been fairly tight with Trump for years, and many thought she was the likely VP candidate for 2024. Trump would definitely benefit from picking a female VP, as white suburban female voters continue to be one of his electoral weaknesses.

Then came the first strike against Noem. She was apparently having an affair with former Trump strategist Corey Lewandowski.

However, it's 2024, not 1984, so affairs are no longer a dealbreaker in politics. Bill Clinton changed all of that. And while we had our share of good husbands since Clinton, in GW Bush and Barack Obama, we were back to more of the same in Hillary Clinton (basically a sham marriage) and Donald Trump (who cheated on Melania and other wives often). And then there's Biden with his creepy sniffing of women and young girls.

Even Nikki Haley had affairs with multiple men, while her husband was away.

Kristi Noem, however, was seen as a good family woman -- until the stories about Lewandowski came out.

Still, given how people don't care about these affairs much beyond gossip these days, the rumors didn't slow down Noem very much. But what did? A dead dog.

In her new book, Noem oddly confessed to shooting dead her 14-month-old dog because it ate her chickens and tried to bite her when she tried to stop it. This outraged people on social media, especially because Noem portrayed the shooting matter-of-factly as something that was necessary, rather than something which upset her.

She has some defenders, claiming that shooting dogs is common in rural communities when the animal is a problem, and that in the city people just bring the troubled pet to the pound to basically do the same thing. That might be true, but the optics here are terrible.

One off-putting situation or story can make or break you in politics (unless you're Donald Trump), and this might end up defining Noem.

In short, Noem was a moron and hung herself here. It's not like a former close friend or neighbor revealed the dog story. Nobody knew about this, and she published it on her own in her recent book. Everyone loves dogs, and this story resonates with people. It doesn't help that the dog itself is cute and innocent looking, making it hard to picture Noem putting down a vicious animal.

She tried to make a weak defense of this, but it failed:

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/KristiNoem/status/1783849977409671483


Now this meme is going around, which mocks both the dog killing and the Lewandowski affair:



Ouch.

I think she's done. This baggage is the last thing Trump needs, as the presumptive favorite right now.

[Dan Druff]

The big problem for Noem here is that it's not just the libs going after her.

Many conservative influencers were shocked by the dog shooting revelation, especially the cold way in which it was described that she took the animal to the "gravel pit" on her property and shot it dead because it was "less than worthless" and "untrainable".

I just can't see her coming back from this. Fortunately for Trump, this book was published before he selected his VP candidate, so he can just quietly pass her over now.

The book release was intended to portray Noem as a strong country woman with solid values and a give-no-shits attitude, but they underestimated how much people love animals -- especially dogs.

Total fail.

[mickeycrimm]

The first thing you learn in ranching country is don't let your dog run cows if you want it to live. Ranchers shoot dogs that run cows. They shoot them dead with no apologies. Why do they shoot them? Because a running cow doesn't gain weight. That's it. That's all.

They will kill your dog just so their cow can gain weight and they don't give a fuck what social media says about it. They don't spend any time trying to explain it to city fucks.

So if Noem's dog was a chicken killer? Shoot it!

There needs to be some hard evidence of an affair or it's just tabloid journalism.

[Dan Druff]

The first thing you learn in ranching country is don't let your dog run cows if you want it to live. Ranchers shoot dogs that run cows. They shoot them dead with no apologies. Why do they shoot them? Because a running cow doesn't gain weight. That's it. That's all.

They will kill your dog just so their cow can gain weight and they don't give a fuck what social media says about it. They don't spend any time trying to explain it to city fucks.

So if Noem's dog was a chicken killer? Shoot it!

There needs to be some hard evidence of an affair or it's just tabloid journalism.

The affair is likely. Not proven 100%, but very close.

Shooting the dog is much less of a big deal than stupidly writing about it in a book when you want to be VP. And if you are going to write about it, you need to frame it like something awful which hurt your heart, not the equivalent of throwing a year-old toaster in the trash because it keeps burning breakfast.

Huge fuckup on her part, and even most conservative influencers are crying foul.

The basic rule of politics when you're sitting in a good spot: Just don't fuck up.

[BCR]

I actually find her banging Lewandowski far more egregious than her killing the dog, and I love dogs. I found her one of the hottest 50 year old women I’ve ever seen, and when that story came out a few years ago, I could never look at her again. Lewandowski is that big of a dork.

[JimmyG_415]

Kill a puppy who is trained to hunt for hunting????
Fuck you, you fucking scumbag.
That isn't the only answer.

The first thing you learn in ranching country is don't let your dog run cows if you want it to live. Ranchers shoot dogs that run cows. They shoot them dead with no apologies. Why do they shoot them? Because a running cow doesn't gain weight. That's it. That's all.

They will kill your dog just so their cow can gain weight and they don't give a fuck what social media says about it. They don't spend any time trying to explain it to city fucks.

So if Noem's dog was a chicken killer? Shoot it!

There needs to be some hard evidence of an affair or it's just tabloid journalism.

[cleatus]

trumps vp will have the surname of trump.

there's 2 shitheads looking to copy Jared's amazing $2 billion deal with the House of Saud.

45 needs complete and absolute loyalty.

[TheXFactor]

It's always the hot-looking women that are bat-shit crazy.

When people are fucking, sometimes they dress the same and make the same facial expressions.

[thiefcatcher]

The first thing you learn in ranching country is don't let your dog run cows if you want it to live. Ranchers shoot dogs that run cows. They shoot them dead with no apologies. Why do they shoot them? Because a running cow doesn't gain weight. That's it. That's all.

They will kill your dog just so their cow can gain weight and they don't give a fuck what social media says about it. They don't spend any time trying to explain it to city fucks.

So if Noem's dog was a chicken killer? Shoot it!

There needs to be some hard evidence of an affair or it's just tabloid journalism.

It was a 14 month old bird dog that killed chickens after she let it escape from her truck at someone's house. It wasn't chasing cows. It was all her fault. Dogs do what dogs do. It's easy to give one away. If it bit at her, she can give it someone who is capable of handling it. I'm sure she knows someone. She was trying to show how tough she was lol.

[Orko]

TLDR Fuck the phony ass Bimbo, she's a splendiud example of the type of person who literally destroyed the country's future.
You can take one look into her eyes and see she's a Christian whacko.
She's as phony as a plastic banana and since she loves Israel so much, you know what don't get me started.
Fuck that bitch, you know she's pig under that make up and photo filters and whatever they use.
Lol what a greasy pig, next...

[Sloppy Joe]

Really amazed it even matters, given what Team Retard Jesus is able to tolerate at the top of the ticket.

He's going to need someone to check a box or distract through some media cycles, someone like Pence won't cut it this time around.

LOL Team Retard

[mickeycrimm]

The first thing you learn in ranching country is don't let your dog run cows if you want it to live. Ranchers shoot dogs that run cows. They shoot them dead with no apologies. Why do they shoot them? Because a running cow doesn't gain weight. That's it. That's all.

They will kill your dog just so their cow can gain weight and they don't give a fuck what social media says about it. They don't spend any time trying to explain it to city fucks.

So if Noem's dog was a chicken killer? Shoot it!

There needs to be some hard evidence of an affair or it's just tabloid journalism.

The affair is likely. Not proven 100%, but very close.

Shooting the dog is much less of a big deal than stupidly writing about it in a book when you want to be VP. And if you are going to write about it, you need to frame it like something awful which hurt your heart, not the equivalent of throwing a year-old toaster in the trash because it keeps burning breakfast.

Huge fuckup on her part, and even most conservative influencers are crying foul.

The basic rule of politics when you're sitting in a good spot: Just don't fuck up.

You know damn well this story was scrutinized by lefty journos everywhere. It would have been in the MSM 24/7/365 if lefty journos found any real evidence. Until real evidence is produced it's just slanderous hit piece.

But she did fuck up with the dog story. City fucks just will never understand a story like that. In the rural south they shoot hunting dogs that won't hunt.

I wasn't supporting her for VP but she's done a great job for South Dakota. Remember, SD didn't lock down when the rest of the country did. Their covid stats are no worse than the states that did lock down.

[mickeycrimm]

Kill a puppy who is trained to hunt for hunting????
Fuck you, you fucking scumbag.
That isn't the only answer.

Ranchers shoot maggots like you too.

In China they eat the fucking dog.

[Sloppy Joe]

Kill a puppy who is trained to hunt for hunting????
Fuck you, you fucking scumbag.
That isn't the only answer.

Ranchers shoot maggots like you too.

In China they eat the fucking dog.

You're lucky much of the country has shifted their views on homosexuality; surely you dodged more than a few close calls rolling fags in the village back when the legs worked.

Two grown men masquerading as 'roommates' still makes one's stomach turn but your comrades brave enough to be out of the closet were well coordinated and make shit change for the better.

[go_buccos]

The affair is likely. Not proven 100%, but very close.

Shooting the dog is much less of a big deal than stupidly writing about it in a book when you want to be VP. And if you are going to write about it, you need to frame it like something awful which hurt your heart, not the equivalent of throwing a year-old toaster in the trash because it keeps burning breakfast.

Huge fuckup on her part, and even most conservative influencers are crying foul.

The basic rule of politics when you're sitting in a good spot: Just don't fuck up.

You know damn well this story was scrutinized by lefty journos everywhere. It would have been in the MSM 24/7/365 if lefty journos found any real evidence. Until real evidence is produced it's just slanderous hit piece.

But she did fuck up with the dog story. City fucks just will never understand a story like that. In the rural south they shoot hunting dogs that won't hunt.

I wasn't supporting her for VP but she's done a great job for South Dakota. Remember, SD didn't lock down when the rest of the country did. Their covid stats are no worse than the states that did lock down.

I live nowhere near SD, but Kristi Noem literally saved my sanity in 2020. I was fortunate enough to be able to head up that way for a bit that fall to escape the absolutely draconian restrictions in my city.

Wyoming was also tolerable as I recall as far as restrictions go. Montana had a lot of restrictions on the books, but it was a lot of "wink, wink" non-enforcement.

Colorado (not surprisingly) was awful.

All that said, this story disappoints me a great deal. As Druff eluded to it's more how it was presented than the fact that it happened or that she wrote about it.

[mickeycrimm]

You know damn well this story was scrutinized by lefty journos everywhere. It would have been in the MSM 24/7/365 if lefty journos found any real evidence. Until real evidence is produced it's just slanderous hit piece.

But she did fuck up with the dog story. City fucks just will never understand a story like that. In the rural south they shoot hunting dogs that won't hunt.

I wasn't supporting her for VP but she's done a great job for South Dakota. Remember, SD didn't lock down when the rest of the country did. Their covid stats are no worse than the states that did lock down.

I live nowhere near SD, but Kristi Noem literally saved my sanity in 2020. I was fortunate enough to be able to head up that way for a bit that fall to escape the absolutely draconian restrictions in my city.

Wyoming was also tolerable as I recall as far as restrictions go. Montana had a lot of restrictions on the books, but it was a lot of "wink, wink" non-enforcement.

Colorado (not surprisingly) was awful.

All that said, this story disappoints me a great deal. As Druff eluded to it's more how it was presented than the fact that it happened or that she wrote about it.

In Montana the shelter in place lasted from March until May, just two months. Social distancing in public and masks lasted a lot longer.

[BCR]

Her continuing to attempt to spin this story is hilarious. She's absolutely done as far as VP.

I finally tracked down the actual excerpt from the book earlier. We will never know, but I feel like it's at least 30% she made the whole story up. The whole, "where's Cricket?" and then 'don't ask' feels contrived.

This chick has been running for office for almost 20 years now in SD where it wouldn't hurt her, yet this hasn't ever come up in a stump speech? It feels like it would have when she first started running for office and someone asked her about tough choices. When someone challenged her? I put my own dog down feels like it would have come up in twenty years if she felt it an important enough story to include in her book.

It very much read like someone was trying to create some of that early Palin buzz. The hot rural tough mom angle and hilariously misfired. Palin was a hit until she opened her mouth. Noem had seemed far more skilled and polished and likely to stay popular with the base until this.

Like I said, we will never know because she can't say she made it up, and her detractors don't want to change the narrative. They'd rather her remain a heartless dog killer bragging about killing her dog and then telling her daughter some stupid quip. They aren't digging into the story. There is just something about the story that feels manufactured. Which would take the already horrible unforced error to off the charts.

Goats also get no love. She shot the goat twice in the face. Just a hilarious story.

[Dan Druff]

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/KristiNoem/status/1784631108207849781

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.

The fact is, 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.

How does she not have a crisis management team working on this?

When everyone is outraged about you shooting a dog for being disobedient, you don't come back with lectures about South Dakota law permitting it.


BCR might have a point that the story is either made up or exaggerated. Ruining your career by voluntarily telling a story about killing a dog is dumb. Ruining your career by MAKING UP a story about killing a dog is amazingly dumb.

I do agree that either way, this was told in order to present a "tough-as-nails rural woman" narrative, and nobody was aware enough to realize you don't talk about killing dogs that way.

[Dan Druff]

She actually had a reasonable shot at being the first female President, and not just by default if she were VP and Trump croaked.

Say this never happens, she's picked as VP, and Trump wins. If Trump's second term goes okay, inflation goes down, and Trump works his foreign policy magic to get a bunch of Ws just like his first term, there's a decent chance a Republican gets elected again, but obviously Trump is termed out.

If he endorses Noem at that point, she's probably the instant favorite for the nomination.

Unbelievable fail on her part. If you're a rising political figure with high aspirations as she has, you get a shitload of loyal people to preview your book from cover to cover, and give their honest takes on any problematic parts. Looks like she didn't do this.

[limitles]

She actually had a reasonable shot at being the first female President, and not just by default if she were VP and Trump croaked.

Say this never happens, she's picked as VP, and Trump wins. If Trump's second term goes okay, inflation goes down, and Trump works his foreign policy magic to get a bunch of Ws just like his first term, there's a decent chance a Republican gets elected again, but obviously Trump is termed out.

If he endorses Noem at that point, she's probably the instant favorite for the nomination.

Unbelievable fail on her part. If you're a rising political figure with high aspirations as she has, you get a shitload of loyal people to preview your book from cover to cover, and give their honest takes on any problematic parts. Looks like she didn't do this.

A reasonable shot? Trump is done. There goes any wild scenario such as yours.

She's completely unaware, likely a sociopath.