Democrats Pounce on Kristi Noem Over Dog Anecdote from New Book

Democrats have pounced on South Dakota Governor Gov. Kristi Noem (R) over a story of her putting down a hunting dog who attacked her neighbor's animals.

Noem has an upcoming book titled, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, in which she is giving Americans a look into her life.

In that book are many stories including one about a 14-month-old wire-haired pointer named “Cricket," Noem says she was forced to put down.

As Noem is a leading candidate to be Donald Trump's running mate, the story was immediately snapped up by Democrats looking to attack a strong ally of the former president and a possibly fearsome opponent in 2024.

Hard decisions

Noem is writing her story to illustrate her ability to get the job done with a midwestern blue-collar mentality.

The governor specifically told the Cricket story, and many others like it in her book, because she wanted to make it clear that she is will to do the “difficult, messy and ugly" things in order to get the job done.

While the Cricket story drew outrage from coastal elites, her explanation gives great insight into a life and decision that many Americans who work with animals have made.

The Guardian, which obtained a copy of Noem's book, noted that Noem took Cricket on a hunting trip in order to try and teach the dog using the older ones.

Noem wrote that Cricket ruined the hunt by "chasing all those birds and having the time of her life," and demonstrating zero worth as a hunting dog. But the story only gets worse from here on out.

The governor continued saying that on the way home, Cricket escaped the truck and attacked a neighbor's chickens and was “grabb[ing] one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite, then dropping it to attack another."

Noem says she was bitten trying to stop Cricket and after the rampage was over helped the family clean up and wrote them a check for the dead livestock. Noem wrote, "I realized I had to put her down," which she did in order to prevent a dangerous animal from doing further damage.

Smear campaign

Any American who has worked with animals knows that it is imperative to put dangerous ones down and that Noem did the right thing even if it was the hard thing.

Nonetheless, this hasn't stopped the media from jumping on this story and creating a false narrative that Noem is a heartless dog killer.

While many political advisors would never endorse a story like this, Noem isn't afraid to tell an authentic story about life to which many Americans can relate. If anything, this authenticity will likely endear Noem to Americans who are tired of phony politicians.