'Where is Cricket?': Trump's top VP contender Kristi Noem defends ...
In her biography, Noem described the killing of her dog on their farm and the distress her daughter faced read more
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Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and North Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. Source: AFP
South Dakota governor and top Republican vice presidential contender gave a stern response to a news report about a section of her forthcoming book where she describes killing her 14-month-old dog.
In her biography, Noem described the killing of her dog on their farm and the distress her daughter faced. The jarring anecdote attracted major criticism from a number of political opponents. Noem came to the mainstream political arena after her name started to float as one of the contenders to be former US President Donald Trump’s running mate.
In the book, Noem narrated details about shooting her 14-month-old dog, a female wirehaired pointer named Cricket, and an unnamed goat. The excerpt from the book was first reported by The Guardian. Claiming to be an “avid hunter” Noem said that she wanted her dog named “Cricket” to hunt pheasant.
However, she called the dog “untrainable,” “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless” as a hunting dog. “I hated that dog,” she wrote as per the excerpt obtained by The Guardian.
She wrote that she shot the dog in a gavel pit. Not only this, she shot a male goat the same day and described it as “nasty and mean”. Describing her “valorous actions” she mentioned that she shot the male goad twice.
She also recalled the time when her daughter asked “Hey, where’s Cricket?” and insisted that her child named Kennedy “looked around confused”.
“I guess if I were a better politician, I wouldn’t tell the story here,” Noem wrote in the book which is set to be published by Center Street on May 7.
What did Noem say in her defence?
The former South Dakota Governor took to X, formally known as Twitter to defend her actions. “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,” she wrote on X, formally known as Twitter.
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.
If you want more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping,… pic.twitter.com/bKhpUkchHV
“If you want more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping, preorder ‘No Going Back’,” she added.
The backlash
The story drew severe criticism from several anti-Trump Republicans and a number of Democrats. US President Joe Biden’s election campaign also took to Twitter to hurl jabs at the far-right conservative politician.
Trump VP contender Kristi Noem brags about shooting her 14-month-old puppy to death: “I hated that dog... It had to be done” pic.twitter.com/tdQyZhCSfm
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) April 26, 2024The campaign not only shared the excerpt from the article but also shared photographs of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris with their dogs.
Ready for the weekend ???? ???? pic.twitter.com/DlD0rf4UOf
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) April 26, 2024Post a picture with your dog that doesn’t involve shooting them and throwing them in a gravel pit. I’ll start. https://t.co/VA3O0lcHtJ pic.twitter.com/gICODi9YD5
— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) April 26, 2024Democrat’s Governor of Minnesota went on to start an initiative urging netizens to share photographs of their fur babies. “Post a picture with your dog that doesn’t involve shooting them and throwing them in a gravel pit. I’ll start,” he wrote on X.
