South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem was one of the top contenders for Trump’s VP pick in this cycle.
At least she was until Noem published a story about killing a puppy in her new book, which has apparently eliminated her from the running.
Talking Points…
- Trump leading VP contenders
- Noem out of the running
- Analysis
Many names have been tossed around, but the “real” list of contenders for Donald Trump’s VP are only about three or four people. If Trump were to pick a woman, which many believed is the direction that he is leaning, the top picks would have to be Governor Kristi Noem and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).
Noem has been campaigning for the job almost since Trump announced that he would run again. She openly stated that she was one of the few favorites that was not in this presidential election out of loyalty to Trump. The former president also has a major soft spot for Stefanik for some reason, even though I don’t really think she brings much to the table in terms of added votes.
The only real choice, at least in my opinion, that makes sense for Trump is Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Scott has been more than loyal to Trump during his career, has campaigned relentlessly for him since leaving the race, and would bring a ton of votes from the minority community with him if he were to be named the VP. If Trump picks anyone else, at least in my eyes, it would be a major mistake.
I don’t think anyone would have been surprised had Trump picked Noem, but reports are now surfacing that after her book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” her chances of being Trump’s VP are done. Noem told the tale of having to put down a puppy, and the entire nation on both sides of the aisle were outraged that she was seemingly bragging about putting down the dog at such a young age.
Noem claimed that her 14-month-old wirehaired pointer dog, Cricket, was “untrainable.” She also claimed that after the dog acted “aggressively,” she had to put it down because it was “useless” as a hunting dog. The account was surreal, as there were clearly plenty of other options than putting the dog down, and at 14 months, it was far too early to tell if the dog was untrainable or not. Trump’s camp was reportedly horrified by the story. Even though Donald Trump is not necessarily a “pet” person, he knows how people in this country feel about animals, so Noem has made herself untouchable with that account. A source inside Trump’s came stated:
“Trump isn’t a dog person necessarily, but I think he understands that you can’t choose a puppy killer as your pick, for blatantly obvious reasons.”
Noem tried to do some damage control this weekend, even though she still doubled down on the need to kill the dog. She posted on X:
“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.
“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.”
I don’t know what Noem was thinking by including this story in her book. Many people in this country value the lives of animals more than they do people, so there is no way this story, which Noem appears to think would make her look tough, was going to go over well with the American people. She could have sheltered the dog, given it away, just about anything other than taking it behind the barn, sticking a gun to its head, and pulling the trigger.
Noem has lost a lot of support over the last year, having gone a bit off the deep end in her efforts to gain favor with Trump. She was far more popular when she was knocking it out of the park as the Governor of South Dakota and a clear favorite to eventually head a GOP presidential ticket. If she had not ruined her profile over the last year, she sure as hell did that with this horrifying story. This “murder” will now follow her for the rest of her career, and she is unlikely to ever see support from any pet lover again.
