Kristi Noem fondly recalls the day she killed her dog

[Libertas Vel Mors]

Honestly I think this is one of those things where well-off Democrats and rural Republicans are on completely different pages and neither really grasps how hard the other side disagrees.

"well-off Democrats" and "rural Republicans" is not a binary lol

And no, I don't think the majority of rural Republicans think shooting your dog because you had no idea how to train it is okay

He wasn’t saying it was. He was merely contrasting two different groups that seem to be represented here and to have strongly contrasting views.

I suspect that most Republican voters living in a rural area (below some threshold of density) think it is okay to put down a dog that bites you and attacks your neighbors chickens.

[Arizona Iced Tea]

This was the dog, it wasn't even one of those pitbull mutations. And it was a puppy too which didn't deserve to die for misbheaving. The reason Noem killed it was because it embarrased her in front of other people, plain and simple. It had nothing to do with "danger", but more so she got humiliated because instead of training it she was doing ads for dental surgery in Texas.

[7,052,770]

Honestly I think this is one of those things where well-off Democrats and rural Republicans are on completely different pages and neither really grasps how hard the other side disagrees.

"well-off Democrats" and "rural Republicans" is not a binary lol

And no, I don't think the majority of rural Republicans think shooting your dog because you had no idea how to train it is okay

He wasn’t saying it was. He was merely contrasting two different groups that seem to be represented here and to have strongly contrasting views.

I suspect that most Republican voters living in a rural area (below some threshold of density) think it is okay to put down a dog that bites you and attacks your neighbors chickens.

Exactly. I don't personally condone Noem's actions, but this idea that white hipster New Yorkers (and lots of other people, to be sure) have that dogs are part of the family like just as much as people is not as common of an attitude in the red states. I don't think that most people who are voting for Trump are going to see her as a "murderer" or find this disqualifying to her political career.

The fact that she did it herself is a little jarring. There's a plethora of vets and animal shelters that will put down a pet humanely for any reason (or maybe there's not in the blue states, I don't know, but there definitely are in the red states), much less one that is biting and present a hint of danger to humans - in fact, a vet or shelter would probably urge the owner to euthanize in that case. Also it's a bit jarring how flippant she is about it, rather than sad and disappointed. But neither of those jarring things is going to matter to most people who would like the idea of her being Trump's VP. (And let's get real, the rest will fall in line anyway the day Trump picked her.)

Edit to say that I just don't see this as a huge, shocking, career-affecting story that a lot of people online seem to think it is (and I don't mean Twitter bots, but legitimate journalists and TalkElections posters I respect). I don't know if it's a red state/blue state thing or something else entirely, but this just seems like something that happens to families from time to time, a pet turning out to be dangerous and having to be euthanized for everyone's safety. Noem is awfully cavalier about it, and who knows if the dog was truly as dangerous as she says, but this story just isn't packing that "OMG can you believe this shocking, out-of-the-ordinary scandal!" punch to me.

[ingemann]

This was the dog, it wasn't even one of those pitbull mutations. And it was a puppy too which didn't deserve to die for misbheaving. The reason Noem killed it was because it embarrased her in front of other people, plain and simple. It had nothing to do with "danger", but more so she got humiliated because instead of training it she was doing ads for dental surgery in Texas.

It look like a German Wirehaired Pointer, it’s good hunter of small game, but also a good companion and guard dog, it should be easily trainable, but if untrained it can be hostile toward strangers and it will go after small animals.

[ingemann]

Honestly I think this is one of those things where well-off Democrats and rural Republicans are on completely different pages and neither really grasps how hard the other side disagrees.

"well-off Democrats" and "rural Republicans" is not a binary lol

And no, I don't think the majority of rural Republicans think shooting your dog because you had no idea how to train it is okay

He wasn’t saying it was. He was merely contrasting two different groups that seem to be represented here and to have strongly contrasting views.

I suspect that most Republican voters living in a rural area (below some threshold of density) think it is okay to put down a dog that bites you and attacks your neighbors chickens.

Exactly. I don't personally condone Noem's actions, but this idea that white hipster New Yorkers (and lots of other people, to be sure) have that dogs are part of the family like just as much as people is not as common of an attitude in the red states. I don't think that most people who are voting for Trump are going to see her as a "murderer" or find this disqualifying to her political career.

The fact that she did it herself is a little jarring. There's a plethora of vets and animal shelters that will put down a pet humanely for any reason (or maybe there's not in the blue states, I don't know, but there definitely in the red states), much less one that is biting and present a hint of danger to humans - in fact, a vet or shelter would probably urge the owner to euthanize in that case. Also it's a bit jarring how flippant she is about it, rather than sad and disappointed. But neither of those jarring things is going to matter to most people who would like the idea of her being Trump's VP. (And let's get real, the rest will fall in line anyway the day Trump picked her.)

Edit to say that I just don't see this as a huge, shocking, career-affecting story that a lot of people online seem to think it is (and I don't mean Twitter bots, but legitimate journalists and TalkElections posters I respect). I don't know if it's a red state/blue state thing or something else entirely, but this just seems like something that happens to families from time to time, a pet turning out to be dangerous and having to be euthanized for everyone's safety. Noem is awfully cavalier about it, and who knows if the dog was truly as dangerous as she says, but this story just isn't packing that "OMG can you believe this shocking, out-of-the-ordinary scandal!" punch to me.

I think the cavalier attitude is the major problem, most dog owners even owners of working dogs, love their dogs and the whole bragging about she shoot her dog will likely hit wrong even on a lot of people who would do the same.

[Kabam]

It's just so bewildering that she brings this up herself and kind of boasts with it.
In my opinion, this shows that she is a psychopath that should be nowhere near elected office.

She will never admit it, but she probably enjoyed killing the dog.
Who else would have decided, after killing their dog this way, to directly kill the goat the same way?

[Arizona Iced Tea]

The biggest issue is that she didn't kill the dog. That alone makes her a horrible person, but my anger goes further than that.

Unlike most scandals, this wasn't even uncovered. She actively chose to talk about this which means she struggles to understand that this type of behavior is not okay or tolerable. Massive red flag, but furthermore the way she fondly talks about it in a positive manner tells me she has zero empathy when it comes to animals which is even a larger red flag. It comes across as if she actively enjoyed doing this which is f**** up.

The only thing I am glad about Noem is that everything she has done in the last few months has made it nearly certain this weird woman will not be Trump's VP.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

This was the dog, it wasn't even one of those pitbull mutations. And it was a puppy too which didn't deserve to die for misbheaving. The reason Noem killed it was because it embarrased her in front of other people, plain and simple. It had nothing to do with "danger", but more so she got humiliated because instead of training it she was doing ads for dental surgery in Texas.

It look like a German Wirehaired Pointer, it’s good hunter of small game, but also a good companion and guard dog, it should be easily trainable, but if untrained it can be hostile toward strangers and it will go after small animals.

It seemed pretty obvious even from Noem's version of the story that she took a young, poorly-trained or under-trained dog hunting, and then killed it when it performed poorly. Even if putting it down was justified after its behavior, the dog's behavior is still entirely Noem's responsibility. She killed the dog, not just by pulling the trigger, but by her own bad decisions - which she then paints this is a triumph of hard judgement rather than an ugly and revealing personal failure. That she obviously doesn't get what was wrong with her actions is the most ugly, depressing, and predictably Republican part of this story. Zero self-awareness, zero-shame, zero-empathy  - I am so damned sick of Republicans who turn their backs on everything that makes them human. 

[Landslide Lyndon]

Why wouldn’t you just give it away?

Because then she couldn't use this story as an example of how willing she is to make "tough choices" that other politicians don't.

[TechbroMBA]

God I hate having to deal with these awful hillbillies. Hopefully this makes her sufficiently radioactive to preclude national politics and this cretin can just go away.

[quesaisje]

This is a sadomasochistic exercise in political branding gone awry, not a fixture of "rural life."

Noem comes across like a pampered, wanton woman throwing away an unwanted toy.

[ingemann]

This is a sadomasochistic exercise in political branding gone awry, not a fixture of "rural life."

Noem comes across like a pampered, wanton woman throwing away an unwanted toy.

Yes, if it’s the dog breed I think it is, it’s not a cheap dog. It does come across as someone who have bought a working dog for the lifestyle, but have been unwilling to put the time and effort into train it for it. Honestly if I was her opponent I would look into the price of the specific dog and attack her based on that, because if you shoot it yourself, it’s usually to save money and that doesn’t fit well with a expensive breed,

[Inmate Trump]

Republicans fantasize about killing animals and killing democracy.

[Crumpets]

When you've lost Catturd...

https://twitter.com/catturd2/status/1784023603069047102

And because it's relevant to the conversation above:

https://twitter.com/catturd2/status/1784007783693557947

[MasterJedi]

Honestly I think this is one of those things where well-off Democrats and rural Republicans are on completely different pages and neither really grasps how hard the other side disagrees.

Even most rural Republicans would probably balk at killing an untrained young dog. Letting it die outside chained up they’d be fine with, but most people wouldn’t do that in this situation.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

He's back!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Anyway, if it's a working dog and it becomes dangerous then, well, yes, you shoot the thing without question or sentiment. But that is clearly not what happened in this case, and bragging about it is weird.

[Ferguson97]

At that point, Noem writes, she realised a construction crew had watched her kill both animals. The startled workers swiftly got back to work, she writes, only for a school bus to arrive and drop off Noem's children.

"Kennedy looked around confused," Noem writes of her daughter, who asked: "Hey, where's Cricket?”

She willingly told people this information!

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/benjysarlin/status/1783850598267298196

https://twitter.com/juliealdermanb/status/1783855608778637356

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/benjysarlin/status/1783850598267298196

https://twitter.com/juliealdermanb/status/1783855608778637356

Yes, but would he really want a VP who shows no compunction about killing things that she finds inconvenient?

[Coldstream]

Elise Stefanik is completely self serving and would likely poison Trump around Day 10 in office, yet still somehow his best option for VP.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

https://twitter.com/juliealdermanb/status/1783855608778637356

Trump does like to talk about people dying "like a dog". So yeah, this might help Kristi Garden Noem.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

Okay I’m throwing my two cents in cause the “you have to make tough decisions on a farm” is a bs defense.


My dad is a farmer and all my life dogs have showed up to our farm. We’ve never had to kill a dog cause it was too hard to train. We take care of them. We have had dogs that were probably abused and we were able to train them and care for them while they were with us. We’ve had every kind of mix and they all end up happy and loving if you put that into them.

Some are more stubborn than others, but there is no reason on earth to shoot a 14 month puppy unless you’re lazy and cruel. Dogs don’t naturally attack people unless you trained them that people are a threat.

[RI]

There is nothing wrong with euthanizing a dog, especially one which has been violent with people. The fact that people care about this as much as they do shows how incredibly backward society's priorities are.

[Joe Republic]

Compassion for animals, or lack thereof - especially animals who actually enjoy being around us - is a highly reliable indicator of whether someone is generally a sociopath.

It's actually pretty refreshing to see so many conservatives come out against this sicko!