Sara Dorn

Forbes Staff

Sara Dorn is a Forbes news reporter who covers politics.Follow

https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2024/04/26/trump-vp-prospect-kristi-noem-shot-and-killed-her-family-dog-and-goat-she-reportedly-writes-in-new-book/?sh=62e1d3bf2ffa

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Apr 26, 2024,11:07am EDT

TOPLINE

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, floated as a top pick for a potential Trump running mate, wrote in graphic detail about the day she shot and killed her family’s “untrainable” dog and an errant goat in her new book—acknowledging the political imprudence of the bizarre admission, according to The Guardian, which obtained an advance copy of the book.

KEY FACTS

Noem decided to put down the dog, a 14-month-old wirehair pointer named Cricket, after determining it was “untrainable . . . dangerous” and “aggressive,” she reportedly wrote in “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” set to be published in the U.S. next week.

Noem “realized [she] had to put [Cricket] down” after it misbehaved on a pheasant hunt, then attacked and killed a family friend’s chicken on the way home before attempting to bite Noem when she intervened.

Noem then took Cricket to a gravel pit and shot her, she reportedly wrote.

Cricket was “the picture of pure joy,” but “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with . . . untrainable” and “less than worthless . . . as a hunting dog,” Noem wrote, adding that she “hated that dog.”

After killing Cricket, Noem “realized another unpleasant job needed to be done” and she turned her gun on one of the family’s goats, who she said was “nasty and mean,” smelled “disgusting, musky, rancid” and “loved to chase” her children.

Noem reportedly wrote that she included the graphic story in her book as an example of the “difficult, messy and ugly” jobs she’s willing to do—but acknowledges “I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn’t tell the story here.”

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KEY BACKGROUND

Noem was raised in northeastern South Dakota, where she worked on her parents’ farm and cattle ranch prior to her entrance into politics. In her second term as governor, Noem served in the South Dakota state legislature before she was elected to Congress in 2010. Noem has been floated by pundits and media as a potential pick for Trump’s running mate, and he acknowledged to Fox News in February she was one of at least half a dozen contenders on his short list. The two appeared alongside each other at the Ohio rally in March for GOP Senate nominee Bernie Moreno, where Trump told the crowd Noem is “doing an incredible job in South Dakota.”

TANGENT

In another questionable move, Noem shot a testimonial for a Texas cosmetic dental clinic, Smile Texas, that recently gave her veneers. “They wanted to make sure that I was happy with my smile. Not only that the the bite was correct and that I liked the shape, the color, but that it was going to work for me for the rest of my life, and that it was something I could be proud of,” Noem explained in the five-minute video posted last month to her account on X, formerly known as Twitter. Noem has refused to say whether she paid for the dental work. The makeover has raised questions that she’s prepping for prime-time and changing her look in accordance with Trump’s preference for hires that look like they come from what he calls “central casting.” “The whole teeth thing almost looks like it was done for Trump to see. She is showing him she works well in front of the camera, that she has that star power he wants onstage with him, while fitting into the mode of women in the Trump universe,” Republican strategist Ron Bonjean told the New York Times. Trump himself has made allusions to Noem’s appearance, calling her “hot as a politician” during a rally in Ohio last month and telling the crowd “you know you’re not allowed to say she’s beautiful, so I’m not going to say that.”