The short version
- Trump’s vice-presidential candidate, Kristi Noem, is being criticized for shooting and killing the family’s puppy and a farm goat.
- The information comes out in her unpublished biography, “No going back”.
- Expert Hilmar Mjelde believes the case could have consequences for the politician, as Americans are very fond of dogs.
- Mjelde nevertheless emphasizes that it is most important for her target group that Noem “digs Trump”: – She could have bitten the head off a chicken on nationwide TV without it having done anything, he believes.
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“Psychotic lunatic” and “vicious” are among the words that have been used to describe Kristi Noem after it was revealed that she shot and killed the family’s puppy, followed by the farm goat.
Noem has been governor of South Dakota since 2019, and is now fighting to become Trump’s vice president, if he wins the election.
It is in her unpublished biography, “No Going Back”, that Noem retells the story of how she euthanized the family’s 14-month-old hunting dog, Cricket.
It then emerges that one of the family’s farm goats was in charge, because he was both “disgusting”, “naughty” and “smelling”.
– She could have had her head bitten off by a hen
The Guardian has pre-read the book and recounted Noem’s recollections. The “dog murder” has caused strong reactions worldwide.
– Most Americans love their dogs, and we suspect that they will see Governor Noem as a psychotic maniac, writes the animal protection organization PETA in a statement.
And Noem himself comes up with a rather ironic reflection in his biography:
– I guess I wouldn’t share this story here if I were a better politician, she writes.
Professor of political science, Hilmar Mjelde, emphasizes that it will have consequences for the politician.
– This will stick with her. No one loves dogs more than Americans, and Trump does not like people who appear in a bad light in the media, comments Mjelde to VG.
Professor of political science at the University of Western Norway
He highlights how former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was seen as unempathetic after he strapped his dog to the roof of his car during a long drive.
– Animal stories can also give credibility in the countryside. In 2014, Senate candidate Joni Erst boasted that she could castrate pigs. She won the election. But killing a mischievous puppy is something else, says Mjelde.
– Do you think the target group she is addressing will regard her as unempathetic or as powerful in light of the admission?
– The only thing the Trump fans care about is that Noem likes Trump. She could have bitten the head off a chicken on national TV and it wouldn’t have done anything.
– Hated that dog
Mjelde describes Noem as a popular politician among pro-Trump Republicans.
– Kristi Noem is one of many rising stars in the Trump world. She imitates Donald Trump in both policy and style, which makes her an archetypal Republican in 2024, comments the professor and continues:
– She opposed Covid measures, radical race theory and transgender athletes in women’s sports.
She is therefore controversial, but in terms of style, the expert describes Noem as popular – a counterpart to the “urban big city elites”.
It agrees with the reason she gives for including the admission in her book: It was an attempt to illustrate her willingness to make “difficult, dirty and ugly” choices, if necessary.
Noem writes that Cricket was a bird dog to be used for pheasant hunting. But according to the Republican, the puppy must have been “impossible to train”, as well as a “useless” hunting dog.
When the untrained puppy went on a rampage on the chickens of a local family, in the style of a “trained assassin”, Noem felt compelled to euthanize the pet.
– I hated that dog, she admits blithely, but emphasizes that it was not a pleasant experience, but rather something that “had to be done”.
