‘I hated that dog’: Trump VP contender boasts about killing puppy

New York: She’s been touted for months as one of the contenders to be Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate.

But the political ascension of South Dakota’s first female governor, Kristi Noem, is now under scrutiny after she outed herself as something unconscionable to many voters: a puppy killer.

Donald Trump and Kristi Noem in 2018.Credit: AP

Known for her love of guns and hunting, the popular Republican used her forthcoming memoir to boast about killing her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, claiming it had an “aggressive personality” and wasn’t particularly good at chasing down pheasants.

“I hated that dog,” the governor wrote.

According to the story, outlined in an excerpt obtained by The Guardian, Noem had taken the female wirehaired pointer out for a hunt with older dogs in the hope of teaching it how to behave.

Unfortunately, little Cricket “went out of her mind with excitement, chasing all those birds and having the time of her life”.

Worse still, Noem wrote, on the way home, she behaved like “a trained assassin” and attacked chickens belonging to a local family.

Noem says that when she tried to grab the puppy, Cricket “whipped around to bite”. The 52-year-old mother of three later shot Cricket in a gravel pit.

“It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done,” she is quoted as saying, pointing to the experience as a measure of her ability to do “difficult, messy and ugly things”.

Noem has long been rumoured to be on Trump’s list of potential running-mate candidates for the November election.

Then-president Donald Trump stands at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, near Keystone, South Dakota in 2020.Credit: AP

The pair first met when, according to Noem, Trump relayed his dream of having his face carved into Mount Rushmore, the famous memorial in South Dakota featuring George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

“He said, ‘Kristi, come on over here. Shake my hand’,” Noem recalled in an interview in 2018.

“I shook his hand, and I said, ‘Mr President, you should come to South Dakota sometime. We have Mount Rushmore’. And he goes, ‘Do you know it’s my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?’”

But while Noem is seen as someone who could have broad appeal – telegenic, rugged, politically astute – the story of Cricket’s brutal demise may have been a bridge too far for many, even for those who support a Republican whose social media accounts are peppered with photos of herself posing in hunting gear next to giant dead elks and bears.

As news of the memoir broke on Saturday (AEST), dismayed social media users started posting pics of their own fur babies “to clear the palate after learning Kristi Noem kills dogs”.

Trump’s niece, Mary, who has made no secret of her disdain for her uncle and much of her family, wrote: “This is who they are.”

And former White House aide turned CNN commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin pointed out that it’s often not the dog that is the problem, but rather the substandard training by the owner.

Tulsi Gabbard (in white) and Democratic candidates assembled for a presidential primary debate in 2019.Credit: AP

“I’m a dog lover and I am honestly horrified by the Kristi Noem excerpt,” she said. “I wish I hadn’t even read it. A 14-month-old dog is still a puppy and can be trained.”

Trump has spent the past few weeks on trial in Manhattan charged with falsifying business records to cover up an affair with a porn star, but is said to be vetting a wide array of VP contenders. Aides have suggested he announce one soon to help spruik his message while he is stuck in court defending his numerous criminal cases.

Others on his shortlist include South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, author-turned-politician JD Vance, House Republican Conference chair Elise Stefanik, and even former Democratic congresswoman for Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard, who competed for the presidential nomination against Joe Biden in 2019.

Despite the pushback, Noem doubled down on Saturday.

“We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm,” she said on X, before giving a plug to her upcoming book.

“If you want more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping, preorder ‘No Going Back’.”

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