At least half a dozen Republican VP hopefuls are vying for Donald Trump’s attention

Donald Trump is still keeping everyone guessing as to his who will be his vice-presidential running mate, but Kristi Noem is looking unlikely after admitting she killed a dog.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has admitted to killing her ‘assassin’ dog. Picture: AFP

In his first campaign for president Donald Trump famously said he could shoot someone on New York’s Fifth Ave and not lose votes. Whether he could have shot man’s best friend, however, is another question.

The former president returned to his Florida home of Mar-a-Lago at the weekend after sitting through another week of his hush money criminal trial in Manhattan to host a Republican fundraiser teeming with GOP heavies, which doubled as an episode of The Apprentice for vice-presidential hopefuls.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee assembled a half-dozen or so frontrunners, including senators Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, and JD Vance, congresswoman Elise Stefanik, and North Dakota Governor and fellow billionaire Doug Burgum, to face off over hors d’oeuvres amid the glare of bigwig GOP donors.

Trump, who remains slightly ahead of President Joe Biden in most national polls with six months to go until polling day, isn’t likely to reveal his pick until closer to the Republican convention in July, but the pool of ­options has shrunk.

Glamorous South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, 52, once among the favourites, reportedly left the event early after she wasn’t called upon by Trump during the proceedings.

The farmer and former beauty queen appears to have dashed her hopes after writing in her memoir, to be released this week, that she shot a family puppy, Cricket, years ago after a pheasant hunting trip went wrong.

Cricket was dangerous, “a trained assassin [with] an aggressive personality”, Noem concluded, after the 14-month-old dog mauled neighbours’ chickens. “I hated that dog … I realised I had to put her down,” she said, describing the execution, in a gravel pit, in some detail.

The book, No Going Back, was meant to burnish her no-­nonsense MAGA credentials, but instead triggered a media furore.

A bipartisan group of House of Representatives members has launched a “Dog Lovers Caucus”. Noem doubled down on Sunday (Monday AEST), arguing that Biden should have shot his own dog Commander. “Joe Biden’s dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people. So how many people is enough people to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog and what to do with it?” she told CBS on Sunday.

Noem had already raised eyebrows a few weeks earlier after she posted a video extolling the virtues of Smile Texas, her favourite cosmetic dentist in the Lone Star State, for which she was sued by a consumer advocacy group for deceptive advertising.

I love my new family at Smile Texas! The video says it all, and I am so grateful for their help fixing my smile for me. 😊🙌🏼😊 pic.twitter.com/z2kTmiY8td

— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) March 12, 2024

 While Noem’s chances of ­becoming Trump’s running mate have collapsed, from about 20 per cent a fortnight ago to 3 per cent according to popular political betting market PredictIt, Tim Scott’s have soared.

The South Carolina senator, who dropped out of the race against Trump for the GOP nomination relatively early, is now the punters’ favourite. A black senator and consummate fundraiser could be a good match for a cash-poor campaign that’s eyeing a big lift in support among black voters.

But Trump is keeping everyone guessing over a choice that matters more than usual, given he would be barred from seeking a third term.

“We had no conversations about the VP pick, to be honest with you, to be clear, but we had a lot of conversations about the failures of Joe Biden and the success of Donald Trump,” Scott said after the Mar-a-lago event.

Trump raved about Elise Stefanik’s “an amazing talent” on the night, according to CNN. He will attend a one-on-one fundraiser on May 15 with ambitious Ohio senator JD Vance, who recently signalled he was made of tougher stuff than Trump’s previous choice.

“I’m extremely sceptical that Mike Pence’s life was ever in danger,” Vance told CNN earlier this week, referring to reports some January 6 Capitol rioters sought to hang the former vice-president.

Florida senator Marco Rubio, suave, intelligent, with a national profile after three terms in the Senate, remains another option, but Trump would need to switch his tax residence back to New York, which seems unlikely given recent events. The constitution in effect bars presidents and vice-presidents’ hailing from the same state.