Governor of South Dakota. Kristi Noem faced swift backlash after she revealed in a new book that she killed her 14-month-old dog Cricket. And not just from her Democratic critics.
Two prominent figures in former President Donald Trump’s orbit — Steve Bannon and Donald Trump Jr. — questioned Noem’s judgment Monday on Donald Trump Jr.’s “Triggered.”
Bannon called Noem “a little too grounded,” using popular right-wing slang to describe someone who, among other qualities, speaks and acts without fear of being politically correct, and Trump Jr.”
Trump Jr. brought up the vice presidential selection process at the end of his show. Noem has long been considered a potential Donald Trump running mate. The former president’s son said he wants to speed up the deadline for selecting someone so that person can defend Trump in the media while he is in court on charges stemming from hush money payments.
Bannon chimed in, saying there are plenty of good vice presidential candidates for Trump to choose from, before adding that he would like to see a female running mate.
“Although Kristi Noem, I think, is maybe a little too based,” Bannon added. “Shooting the puppy in the gravel.”
“That wasn’t ideal,” Trump Jr. responded, as both men laughed. “It’s not ideal. I read this and thought, ‘who put this in the book?’ I thought ‘Your ghostwriter must really not like you if he’s going to include this.’
Noem writes in her book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” that she killed Cricket after a pheasant hunt, according to the Guardianwho obtained an advance copy.
Cricket stopped the hunt as he “went crazy with excitement, chasing all those birds and having fun,” Noem wrote. Then, on the way home, the dog killed a local family’s chickens and tried to bite Noem when she intervened.
“I hated that dog,” Noem wrote.
She took Cricket to a gravel pit and killed the dog. That same day, Noem also killed a goat that was “nasty and bad.”
The story of Cricket’s death generated considerable backlash against Noem, including among conservatives and within the MAGA universe.
“Wow. There’s no going back. This is so cruel.” far-right activist Laura Loomer wrote in X.
Noem defended her actions, writing in X last week that “We love animals, but difficult decisions like this happen all the time on a farm.”
Bannon and Trump Jr. are particularly influential in Trump’s MAGA movement. His concerns about Noem killing Cricket could be a bad sign for his vice presidential prospects.
Trump Jr. told the New York Post he is pushing his father to choose a running mate like U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy or media personality Tucker Carlson, saying he wants someone who is a “fighter.”
This article originally appeared in USA TODAY: Steve Bannon and Donald Trump Jr. criticize Kristi Noem for killing dog
