Definitely both. Killing both animals in the way she did is the psychopathic part, and bragging about it the idiotic one.
Speculation is that – provided the incident occurred on New York’s Fifth Avenue – zero adverse effect on Trump’s popularity.
The buried lede here is that all the VP contenders have, as a prerequisite of being considered by Trump, gone on record to say unlike Pence, if they were VP they would betray their oath of allegiance and make Trump dictator.
If this was any other story I’d be pissed that this puppy thing is a bigger deal than that. But seriously she shot a puppy, there is no way that is not the headline no matter what other awful things she did
You have to be pretty god-damned stupid and/or cruel to use a shotgun to euthanize an animal to start with. Given how much of a gun fetish these people have I am amazed the this wasn’t a bigger deal in the right wing commentary on this. I grew up in farming communities and it was a given than it was cruel to use a shotgun on anything bigger than a rabbit.
I can see this incident going over well with all of those suburban housewives that the R’s need so badly. (/s).
On the other hand, this would be the greatest gift anyone could give to the Democratic party if Trump picked her for the VP spot.
One of the nice things about a shotgun is its versatility. If you want to hunt smaller animals you can load it with birdshot and if you want to go after something bigger you can use buckshot. The fact that Noem used a shotgun doesn’t really bother me. It’s why she used it and the way she went about it. Especially with that poor goat. When I go hunting, I carry three cartridges for the expressed purpose of putting a deer down quickly if the first shot leaves it dying a slow, agonizing death. Noem’s reckless behavior just made that poor goat suffer needlessly.
You know, the mystery isn’t so much that she wanted it in the book as it is that a ghost writer and an editor and god knows who else (political consultant? Family?) couldn’t talk her out of it. Its not like she was the only person who read this before it went to press.
Libs hate guns, libs love animals. She is trolling. This is a combo that’s meant to pwn the libs.
If anyone told her “this is disgusting! You sure you want to sure that?” She would undoubtedly had responded “I know! The libs are gonna get so owned!”.
I haven’t yet seen the conservative backlash to this story. If they witnessed the event, if they knew all the details of the story, the might find it repellent. This is true.
But from what we know of conservative media consumption habits, that’s unlikely to happen. All they’ll hear is that Kristi Noem needed to use her gun to put down animals that had attacked children and lifestock. They’ll hear that liberals are losing their mind over it.
This flatters their beliefs about them being so special that “the elites” can’t possibly understand them. That’s all conservatives really want to hear, and if their media reality confirms that, then there’s 0% chance of them looking below the surface for what really happened. Conservatives are tougher than libs, end of story.
Maybe her anti-drug slogan actually was literal?
No way she’s Trump’s VP pick now. She’s demonstrated what she does with things that are smelly and ill-tempered. Trump’s going to want her as far away from him as possible.
Or it could be more like: “Did this hurt? Too bad. You gotta be HARD, like me.” It’s that kind of values.
Followed by strapping his horse to the roof of his jet for the trip to the European Olympics (if you can believe the cartoons of the time).
Yeah, I think this story might have been a positive for her if she’d chosen any animal BUT a dog. Shoot a lame horse – that’s a real rural conservative having to make a tough decision you city slickers wouldn’t understand. Shoot a coyote? You city folk just don’t know how those varmints prey on our livelihood. Shoot a cat? I’d still condemn it, but also kind of understand a bit on the inside. 
But shooting a dog – just because it didn’t perform the way you wanted it to – is so deranged to even Trump voters (the majority of whom are urban and suburban) they are likely to be turned off.
This is 100% confirmed by what I see from my MAGA friends and family so far. It’s made her stock go up, not down.
I swear it’s getting to the point where I suspect if someone branded their kid’s forehead with an “L” for being too woke, they’d get props from the MAGATs.
There is probably just enough common sense left in the upper echelons of the Trump campaign not to choose a self confessed puppy murderer as VP, which probably tells you all you need to know about he GOP in 2024.
If they do though I really hope the Democrats (or some obviously completely unaffiliated super-PAC) run “Rapist-Puppy Murderer 2024” ads non stop in the swing states.
Noem had to go back for more shells for a shotgun to finish the job? She is perhaps a sadist as well.
The problem is that people turn into this. And not just that, they think it’s just fine. She’s a psychopath.
Has any journalist managed to interview the now presumably adult who, as a child, asked, “Where’s Cricket?” I’m wondering what and how Noem answered that query.
MAGA luminaries including Laura Loomer and Catturd have gone after Noem for the dog thing. But then my MAGA mother came out in support of Noem killing her dog on account of us city people not understanding that you have to put down animals at time.
Yup.
Who on earth lets an untrained young dog loose near chickens? – well, plenty of city people would; but that’s ignorance. Leash the dog if you don’t know how it behaves around chickens! (And if you think you don’t need to leash it because it’s shut in a truck, make sure that it actually is shut in a truck. And not dying of heatstroke in there, while we’re at it.)
And don’t leave a billy goat loose around young children; or around anyone else not prepared to deal with a billy goat. Or a mother goat, for that matter – she may smell better, but you still don’t want to scare her kids. I’ve known one to go through a second-story glassed barn window to face down a husky who was threatening her kids. (Nobody was seriously damaged. A couple of people learned better than to take kids outside to play with them while leaving their mother in the barn.)
Agreeing. Farmers do under some circumstances have to kill livestock. This was not one of those circumstances.
But she may not be able to tell the difference.
Yeah, that’s what I suspect. ‘Big tough farmers have to be able to kill livestock! I’ll prove I am one by telling about how I’d rather shoot my dog than train her, or give her to somebody who will train her!’
The dog in that photo has a very worried look.
She may well have known something was wrong in her relationship with her human, but couldn’t figure out what.
(Admittedly, it might just be that particular picture.)
Yeah. I am sorry for her kid.
Yeah, people routinely hunt deer with shotguns. Including people to whom it’s really important to kill the deer fast.
I have seen a goat killed with a gun, though I no longer remember what kind of gun. (The goat was to be butchered for meat.) They put a handful of feed down on the ground for the goat. The goat put its head down to eat, and got a mouthful or so before the human put a gun to the exact right spot on the back of its head and fired. The goat went down instantly, dead so fast that I doubt it knew what happened.
If you’re going to have to shoot an animal, damn it, learn how! Or get someone who knows how to do it.