By any normal political standards, the reaction that Kristi Noem, the MAGA-friendly governor of South Dakota, got to her recent revelation that she'd once shot a pet dog named Cricket was bad. It wasn't just liberals who were horrified, either, but pretty much the entire political press and most Republicans. Even some of the nastiest trolls of the MAGA-sphere could not countenance her story, and at least one fundraiser meant to feature Noem was canceled. Any political expert would have advised Noem to take one of those long vacations that Fox News hosts indulge in whenever the on-air racism becomes too blatant. Instead, Noem just keeps on digging herself deeper.
On the Sunday talk show "Face the Nation," Noem was asked about another passage in her portentously titled book "No Going Back," in which she "jokingly" threatens Joe Biden's dog, Commander, writing, "Commander, say hello to Cricket for me." Among many other things, this supposedly humorous remark undercuts Noem's post-publication claims that she killed Cricket reluctantly, suggesting that she thought the whole thing was a big laugh. When pressed about this during the Sunday interview, Noem refused to walk it back, arguing that Biden's dog has bitten people and the only way to hold the president "accountable" is to insist that he kill the dog. After this latest debacle, Noem played the victim on Twitter, complaining that the host had "interrupted" her and it was all some kind of liberal plot.
