Kristi Noem, one of the names most often mentioned as a possible future running mate of Donald Trump, is under heavy fire after she confessed in an upcoming book to having killed an “untrainable” dog and a goat.
52-year-old Kristi Noem is the governor of South Dakota and has a reputation as a contrarian and highly motivated conservative. In recent months, she has been mentioned several times as Donald Trump’s potential future running mate for the upcoming presidential elections.
Noem is beyond reproach whatsoever. She refused to wear a face mask in the middle of a pandemic, supported anti-abortion legislation that only allows this if the mother would otherwise not survive and is a gun fanatic. For example, she proudly told the National Rifle Association that her granddaughter, just 2 years old, has a shotgun. She also has nothing good to say about the LGBTQ+ community.
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Shot dead
The British newspaper The guardian has now brought the politician into bad standing. In a book to be released next month (No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward) she writes that she was very frustrated by the behavior of her dog Cricket, who according to her had a “very aggressive character”. According to her, that German pointing dog had ruined a pheasant hunt and killed a neighboring family of chickens. “I hated that dog,” she writes. “He was untrainable and dangerous. Worthless too, like a hunting dog.” The animal allegedly tried to bite her several times.
A little later, the politician describes how she shot the dog in cold blood on her farm. “That task was not pleasant, but it was really necessary. It had to be done,” she wrote. And that’s not all. A little later she also describes how she killed an unruly uncastrated goat. At first it didn’t work, she writes, but eventually it worked with the third bullet from her shotgun. “That goat was nasty and mean and really smelly. He was constantly following my children and pushing them over.”
Criticism
Noem is now receiving criticism from several quarters. “I don’t understand why anyone would want to brag about something like that. You have to be sick and crazy for that,” says Sarah Matthews, a former Trump employee who is now very critical of him, in The guardian. There are plenty of similar reactions. The spokesperson for the Democratic party in the US also made himself heard. “If you don’t want elected officials bragging about brutally killing pets, vote for Democrats.”
Noem himself writes on X that he does not understand why there is a fuss about killing the animals. “We love animals, but you have to make difficult decisions like these all the time on a farm.”
© REUTERS
