Politicians and dog experts are criticizing South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem after she wrote in a new book about killing a rambunctious puppy. The story — and the vilification she received on social media — has some wondering whether she’s still a viable potential running mate for presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Experts who work with hunting dogs like Noem’s said she should have trained — not killed — the pup, or found other options if the dog was out of control.
Noem has tried to reframe the story from two decades ago as an example of her willingness to make tough decisions. She wrote on social media that the 14-month-old wirehaired pointer named Cricket had shown aggressive behavior by biting.
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“As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy,” she said on X. “But often the easy way isn’t the right way.”
Still, Democrats and even some conservatives have been critical.
“This story is not landing. It is not a facet of rural life or ranching to shoot dogs,” conservative commentator Tomi Lahrenco posted online.
Several posters described Noem as Cruella de Vil, the villain from the Disney classic “101 Dalmatians.” A meme features a series of dogs offering looks of horror.
“I’m not sure which thing she did was stupider: The fact that she murdered the dog, or the fact that she was stupid enough to publish it in a book,” said Joan Payton, of the German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America. The club itself described the breed as “high-energy,” and said Noem was too impatient and her use of a shock collar for training was botched.
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But South Dakota Democratic Senate Minority Leader Reynold Nesiba considered the disclosure more calculated than stupid. He said the story has circulated for years among lawmakers that Noem killed a dog in a “fit of anger” and that there were witnesses. He speculated that it was coming out now because Noem is being vetted as a candidate for vice president.
“She knew that this was a political vulnerability, and she needed to put it out there, before it came up in some other venue,” he said. “Why else would she write about it?”
In her soon-to-be-released book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” of which The Guardian obtained a pre-release copy, Noem writes that she took Cricket on a bird hunting trip with older dogs in hopes of calming down the wild puppy. Instead, Cricket chased the pheasants, attacked a family’s chickens during a stop on the way home and then “whipped around to bite me,” she wrote.
Noem’s spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press about whether the dog actually bit her or just tried to do so, or whether Noem had to seek medical treatment. The book’s publisher declined to provide AP an advance copy of the book.
Afterward, Noem wrote, she led Cricket to a gravel pit and killed her. She said she also shot a goat that the family owned, saying it was mean and liked to chase her kids.
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The response to the story was swift: “Post a picture with your dog that doesn’t involve shooting them and throwing them in a gravel pit. I’ll start,” Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz posted on X. The post included a photo of him feeding ice cream off a spoon to his Labrador mix named Scout.
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign added a photo of the president strolling on the White House lawn with one of his three German Shepherds. Two of Biden’s dogs, Major and Commander, were removed following aggressive behavior, including toward White House and Secret Service personnel. The oldest, Champ, died.
Democrat Hillary Clinton reposted a 2021 comment in which she warned, “Don’t vote for anyone you wouldn’t trust with your dog.” She added Monday, “Still true.”
Conservative political commentator Michael Knowles said on his titular podcast that while Noem could have handled the situation differently, “there is nothing wrong with a human being humanely killing an animal.” He later added: “Fifty years ago, this political story would not have made anyone in most of America bat an eyelash. And the fact that it does today tells you something, not about the changing morality of putting down a farm animal, but about the changing politics of America.”
He later said that the story is “extremely stupid and insignificant” because Noem doesn’t have a chance of being selected as Trump’s running mate.
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Payton, who is a delegate to the American Kennel Club and lives in Bakersfield, California, said the situation was a mess from beginning to end.
“That was a puppy that had no experience, obviously no training,” she said. “If you know a minuscule amount about a bird dog, you don’t take a 14 month old out with trained adult dogs and expect them to perform. That’s not how it works.”
The club itself said puppies learn best by hunting one-to-one with their owners, not with other dogs.
When problems arose she should have called the breeder, Payton said, or contacted rescue organizations that find new homes for the breed.
Among those groups is the National German Wirehaired Pointer Rescue, which called on Noem in a Facebook post to take accountability for her “horrific decision” and to educate the public that there are more humane solutions.
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“Sporting breeds are bred with bird/hunting instincts but it takes training and effort to have a working field dog,” the group’s Board of Directors wrote in the post.
Payton described Cricket as nothing more than “a baby,” saying the breed isn’t physically mature until it is 2 years old and not fully trained it’s 3- to 5-years old.
“This was a person that I had thought was a pretty good lady up until now,” she said. “She was somebody that I would have voted for. But I think she may have shot herself in the foot.”
NEW YORK — New York state prosecutors rested their case against Donald Trump Monday after four days of testimony from their key witness, Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen, who says the former president was well aware of a hush money cover-up. The defense paints Cohen as a liar.
The Manhattan criminal trial, the first ever for a former president, now in its sixth week, was poised to reach closing arguments as early as Tuesday. But New York Justice Juan Merchan indicated Monday that proceedings would stretch beyond Memorial Day.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a lengthy, and at times slow and disjointed cross- examination Monday, continued wringing Cohen for proof that would convince jurors the former fixer cannot be trusted.
GOP politicians rush to Manhattan to line up behind Trump as hush money trial continues
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Cohen’s earlier testimony that Trump reimbursed him for paying a porn star to stay quiet before the 2016 presidential election is at the crux of the prosecution’s case.
Trump is charged with falsifying 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries as routine legal expenses rather than reimbursement of the hush money, amounting to 34 felony counts.
Trump denies any wrongdoing and maintains he never had a sexual relationship with adult film actress and director Stormy Daniels. She testified otherwise in excruciating and awkward detail in early May.
Monday’s proceedings were beset with objections and technology issues, and wrapped with tense testimony from the defense’s second witness, Robert Costello, Cohen’s legal counsel, who promised backdoor communication to Trump after Cohen was under the FBI’s thumb in 2018.
The day ended with a long shot, but expected, request from the defense to throw the case out. Merchan dismissed the court, saying he’d issue his ruling Tuesday. The defense is likely to rest its case then as well.
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Closing arguments are expected after the holiday.
On a ‘journey’
Blanche began the day grilling Cohen on his previous business dealings, income and the money he’s made since breaking ties with the former president.
Cohen testified that he’s made millions of dollars on his books “Disloyal” and “Revenge,” and his podcast “Mea Culpa,” all of which sharply criticize the man from whom he used to seek praise, as he testified days earlier.
Prompted by Blanche, Cohen confirmed he’s mulling over a third book, has a television show in the works titled “The Fixer” and is considering a run for Congress because he has “the best name recognition” out there.
Star witness in Trump trial tells of plot to conceal porn star hush money payments
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When Blanche suggested Cohen’s name recognition hinges on Trump, Cohen disagreed.
“I wouldn’t characterize it that way. My name recognition is because of the journey I’ve been on,” Cohen said.
“Well the journey you’ve been on … has included daily attacks on Trump,” Blanche responded.
Through the course of Blanche’s questioning, Cohen again acknowledged his previous crimes and also fessed up to stealing $30,000 from the Trump Organization when Trump lagged on paying a tech company to rig a CNBC poll of famous businessmen.
Minutes later, Blanche asked, “Do you have a financial interest in this case?”
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“Yes, sir,” Cohen responded.
When Blanche pressed about whether a guilty verdict is Cohen’s preferred outcome, Cohen responded, “The answer is no. It’s better if he’s not (guilty) for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future.”
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger conducted her redirect at a tidy and speedy clip, leading Cohen through each of Blanche’s doubting lines of questioning to reaffirm for the jury Cohen’s testimony that Trump’s hand was behind the hush money reimbursements.
“They’ve asked you a lot of questions about how you’ve made money and (your) podcast… Putting aside financial matters, how has telling the truth affected your life?” Hoffinger asked.
“My entire life has been turned upside down as a direct result,” Cohen responded.
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Before the prosecution rested its case, the defense lobbed a lengthy objection to a still frame of a C-SPAN video depicting Trump with his bodyguard Keith Schiller just before 8 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016. The parties eventually agreed to admit it.
Evidence that Trump and Schiller were together that night looms large for Cohen’s claim that he spoke to both of them on the phone about paying off Daniels.
Trump’s support inside the courtroom
A steady flow of high-profile Republican supporters has shown up for the GOP’s presumed 2024 presidential nominee.
Monday’s supporters included Trump ally and attorney Alan Dershowitz; legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who himself is indicted in Arizona for trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election results; and Chuck Zito, an actor and one of the founders of New York City’s Hells Angels chapter in the 1980s.
Porn star Stormy Daniels in NYC hush money trial alleges sexual encounter with Trump
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Several Republican lawmakers, including vice presidential hopefuls, have flocked to Manhattan for the trial.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and former GOP primary hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy attended May 13. Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also made appearances last week, alongside Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird.
House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered remarks outside the courthouse May 14, slamming the “sham trial” and accusing New York prosecutors of only wanting to keep the former president off the campaign trail.
The Louisiana Republican cast Trump as a victim of a “travesty of justice.”
Nearly a dozen far-right Republican House members showed up Thursday, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Accompanying Gaetz were other right-wing House Freedom Caucus members: fellow Floridian Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Mike Waltz; Eli Crane and Andy Biggs of Arizona; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Diana Harshbarger and Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Mike Cloud of Texas; and caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia.
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Speaking on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Gaetz described the charges as the “Mr. Potatohead doll of crimes,” accusing the prosecution of combining things “that did not belong together.”
Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills of Florida attended earlier in the week.
Minnesota native Ahmitara Alwal won her first beauty pageant at just four years of age, but it’s the one she participated in most recently that will leave a lasting memory.
Alwal, a 2017 Worthington High School graduate, was crowned Miss South Dakota USA 2024 on May 12 in Watertown, South Dakota.
“It was something I had hoped for but I didn’t think it would happen that night,” Alwal said. “They got to the first runner-up and still hadn’t called my name and I thought, ‘Okay, this is new.’ It was amazing to be standing there and was a powerful moment for us all.”
Since she now lives in South Dakota, Alwal applied this year to represent the state. Upon approval, she got right to work honing her best skills, like public speaking, that make her feel confident. She’s also been mentally and physically training herself to compete, finding things that work for her to put her best foot forward, like eating healthy.
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The Miss South Dakota pageant lasted for a total of two days and needless to say, was a whirlwind for Alwal. She will now advance on to the Miss USA national pageant and represent South Dakota this August in that competition.
“My next steps are to continue to do interviews, be out in the community and make appearances. This really helps me to understand the needs (of the local community),” said Alwal.
She took time to address the stigma around beauty pageants, saying the women who participate are some of the most genuine and compassionate people known to man.
“I think some people just see the beauty of these girls and forget about the character of them,” said Alwal. “But these women will support you endlessly.”
Alwal encourages anyone in the Worthington area or beyond to enter into pageants if interested.
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Applications are currently open and in 2023, the Miss USA pageant changed its eligibility rules to include women who are or have been married, are pregnant, or have children. There is also no age restriction to compete.
“I was once a shy girl who didn’t say much, so I hope young girls see themselves in me and know any obstacle can be overcome,” Alwal said. “If you work hard for yourself, you’ll find something beautiful.”
Hope Moural is the community editor for the Globe as of May 2024. A born and raised Nebraskan, Hope has a dual bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Communications from Concordia University, Nebraska, and has previously worked as a general assignment reporter.