I also thought about this. In the UK there is nothing like that, but there are strict laws against causing unnecessary suffering. And what she describes would 100% definitely be that. I guess the US (particularly the rural states that are dominated by the farming lobby) don’t have any such laws? Also it’s 10+ years ago (2012 IIRC) so statute of limitations may have passed?
The showrunner wants us to talk about this person this week so here we Are talking about a dog and not the Supreme Court or the election fraud coverup.
A new trend on Twitter.
That rocks.
No doubt.
We’ve already seen that Trump appreciated the “they need killing” version of political discourse back on January 6, 2021.
American republican political career sati?
“The cruelty is the point.” That is their party’s true motto.
Or she’s jonesing on the re-telling.
Yep. This I know and is my point.
Hopefully, this will take her out of contention for the VP slot.
This ought to sear into everyone’s understanding that conservatives are mostly suburbanites LARPing as rural people. Take your used-car business profits, buy yourself a truck, gun and ranch, imitate what your neighbors are doing (who are probably also pretenders).
Conservatives LOVE killing animals, it gives them a non-homicidal way to feel like they actually need guns.
I think it’s fair to say that a soft city-boy like Trump will not understand Noem’s right-wing signaling about “Farm Life Reality”. But I doubt it will register with him in any meaningful sense. The truly reptilian part of Trump’s brain is a stimulus-response engine that runs entirely on punishment avoidance and positive attention (with the former often overpowering the latter).
If the Republican base loves this stunt (which seems likely) and rewards Noem with attention, Trump will be on that like a moth to a flame.
I think your analysis is more spot on than mine.
On the bright side, I can think of almost no one currently in the running for Trump’s VP role who would appall a majority of citizens more. The dog story alone is enough to turn normal people’s stomachs. So we’d have that.
Not convinced by this. I think this is over the line even for the MAGAts, though I could be wrong.
Though a main motivating factor for Trump in a VP is to find someone who is completely charisma free and not viewed as a potential replacement or successor, or overshadow Trump in any way. So if I’m wrong and it does whip up his base that could count against her.
Maybe. Mitt Romney did get roasted for confining his dog in a luggage carrier in a long-haul road trip IIRC. OTOH that was a different time, politically. And a popular trope among Republicans has been “we tried a nice moderate like Mitt Romney, and you didn’t reward us with votes, so the kid gloves are off now.”
I also think folks really don’t understand conservatives relationship with animals, how they are often just props for a certain rugged lifestyle image. They like to flaunt an image that they have the guts and weaponry to kill an animal when required. A requirement of this performance is that it horrifies outsiders, because it reinforces the idea that outsiders can’t possibly understand the gritty realities of their world. I’m thinking of certain family members I know, where they’ll make a big show of loving animals and knowing all about them, and also love being the one who can kill the animal when it’s necessary. We could call it “Old Yeller” syndrome. Their relationship with animals is truly fucked up. I’ve experienced some trauma around that, on both sides of the gun, which I don’t really care to get into.
I’d expect most Republicans will not interrogate the necessity of these animal killings in the slightest. They’ll revel in the horrified reactions of suburbanites, and enjoy the way it flatters their belief that effete city-folk just don’t understand how real life works.
After all this time I still think some of y’all still don’t understand that conservatives are really just shitty people who enjoy being shitty. They recognize one another and understand how to vice-signal among themselves. I think it’s quite premature to declare this a misstep on Noem’s part; at worst it will be seen as a weird tryhard gesture.
I did a quick lurk on a right wing message board (basically the anti-dope) to see how they are reacting to this.
Some people are saying she should have given it away rather than killing it, or at the very least admitting that she killed her political career by writing about it, but the majority thought that she was justified with many others saying that they or their relatives also killed a “dangerous” animal. There are also the obligatory “Well Obama ate dogs!” sprinkled in every few posts. and one fine upstanding citizen who wished we could shoot dysfunctional people the way Kristy shot the dysfunctional dog.
What board Is that?
Conservatives, especially of the MAGA variety, are profoundly fucked up. Most of them are pet owners, and most pet owners own dogs. Pets. Not working dogs.
Something like 60% of American households have a pet. Greater than 90% of those pet owners consider their pets part of the family. People love their pets. People love dogs.
Certainly there are those who wouldn’t blink an eye killing an animal they think “needs killing.” Some of it is sociopathic performance art. But I think some of you are seriously overestimating the appeal of this psycho behavior even to MAGA types.
Shooting a puppy in the face with a shotgun is not a winning strategy for getting elected. There, I’ve taken this controversial stand. Maybe to some nuts on the margins, but not overall, including conservatives. I’m surprised this needs to be pointed out.
Kristi Noem to David Pecker: THAT’S how you do a catch-and-kill, David!
Yeah this. Though I should repeat Noem and the other VP picks are not trying to get elected. They are not trying to be popular with either the electorate as a whole or the MAGA base, they are trying to get picked by Trump. And actually being wildly popular in the MAGA base would actually be a disadvantage there, as Trump has no interest in picking a potential rival or replacement.
I’d just like to remind everyone that the sort of people on a board like that are the one who are going to vote Republican no matter what. They’re certainly a minority of the population as a whole, and they’re probably even a minority of Republicans.
There are an awful lot of “swing voters” who would be absolutely disgusted with this, and probably even a fair number of folks who weren’t swing voters before this.
Currently trending on X/Twitter: #KristiNoemIsAMonster
I went to look at that. Someone posted those who think shes horrible have no problem with killing babies.
If Trump endorses Noem, the MAGAts will be blasting puppies out of the air with shotguns like they were skeet.