Is America Ready for the Reality World of Kristi Noem?

Perhaps Noem’s shock therapy description of life on the farm for average Joe and Mary was a bit rich, but life on the farm is tough. 4H kids that I knew raised their animals to win ribbons. Of course they became attached to them but everyone knew their ultimate destiny.

Rural life is rugged. At night, the baying of dogs running deer is one of the worst sounds one can hear. No need to describe what happens when the deer runs out of energy. Once you see it you don’t forget it. What to do with the dog?

So to some extent I can understand where Kristi is coming from. There are reports that the story of the dispensing of the dog was going to come out anyway, so the better to get ahead of it.

One thing for sure. She has had her “Michael Dukakis moment.” When the former Presidential candidate was seen riding around in a tank.  Her time in the spotlight is no doubt about over.

Of course we have Biden’s lovely pet dogs that bite. One that bit 25 people. They get to go to a farm to “live happily ever after.” Sure they did.

But not to let a story go to waste, I picked up this Vanity Fair piece. No puff piece for sure. Even better of course, it lays it on Trump. But let’s not waste time, here goes:

Days after it was revealed that her new book includes a graphic account of her killing a pet dog (and goat), South Dakota governor Kristi Noem has doubled down on having committed pooch-icide, claiming the story is evidence that she’s an “authentic” leader.

Taking to X following deafening backlash—she was dubbed “evil,” “trash,” and “Jeffrey Dahmer with veneers,” among other things—Noem wrote Sunday that she “can understand why some people are upset about a 20 year old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch.” She included the bizarre anecdote, though, because she believes “people are looking for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from tough challenges,” i.e., shooting their own dog. She added, for those wondering if criminal charges might be possible, that “South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down.”

Noem’s weekend comments followed earlier remarks addressing the dog-killing story. On Friday, she said on social media: “We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.” That’s right, she added to her publicly known body count!

As we wrote last week, “while the tales of dog- and goat-killing probably won’t play well with many Americans, as most famously love dogs and regard them as family members, they might actually win her points with the ex-president, who famously hates man’s best friend.” On Monday, Semafor reported that “the median reaction when…checked around Trumpworld was ‘WTF,’ although some noted her chances [of becoming Trump’s running mate] were considered slim already—her take on abortion is to his right, and she filmed an odd infomercial for a Texas dental clinic last month, among other issues.”

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Inside Edition takes a crack at the story.

Of course farmers always take troublesome destructive animals for a trip to the Vet to be euthanized. Especially in South Dakota where probably it was a worth a half a day ride back and forth.

Did she handle this half way right? Nope. What say you?