Can animal lovers agree — no matter what our politics — that Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota has taken herself out of the running as Donald Trump’s running mate after bragging that she shot and killed her puppy?
I posed that question to my sister-in-law, an animal rescue volunteer who is also a Trump voter. Politically, we agree on nothing. On the awfulness of Noem’s revelation, we did find some common ground. “That’s disqualifying,” she declared. Yet she went on to say, “I could not imagine Donald Trump picking someone like that. I honestly feel he cares about America and he cares about people.” To repeat, politically, we agree on nothing.
In her soon-to-be released book, “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” Noem described taking her 14-month-old German wirehaired pointer, Cricket, on an outing with older dogs in hopes of teaching the bird-hunting ropes to her overly playful pup. But Cricket merrily chased pheasants, attacked some chickens, and supposedly made a move to bite Noem. So she took the dog to a gravel pit and killed it. She also wrote that she shot and killed a goat because it was mean, smelled bad, and chased her children.
Noem said she wrote about it to show she can make tough decisions. It has also been suggested that she deliberately included those anecdotes to get a bad story out on her own terms. If so, it looks shaky as a media strategy. As public relations executive George Regan — an animal lover who has voted and worked for Democrats and Republicans — put it, “I’ve represented a lot of people who made some really bad mistakes. I’ve never heard anything so severe as shooting your own 14-month-old puppy. That shows no heart.”
Michael Goldman, a political consultant who works with only Democrats and still keeps on his fireplace mantle the footprints of his twin daughters’ long-deceased cockapoo, Humphrey, agrees with Regan. “Sixty years after I saw them both die on screen, I still sob when Old Yeller gets put down because of rabies, and Bambi’s mother dies from a hunter’s bullet. I think it’s safe to assume Americans of all stripes have those reactions in common,” Goldman told me.
Noem has been trolled by Democrats and lampooned by Stephen Colbert.
PETA has, of course, weighed in, putting out a statement that said, “Most Americans love their dogs and we suspect that they’ll consider Gov. Noem a psychotic loony for letting this rambunctious puppy loose on chickens and then punishing her by deciding to personally blow her brains out rather than attempting to train her or find a more responsible guardian who could provide her with a proper home.”
There are also hints of bipartisan agreement that the revelation has turned Noem from a top vice presidential prospect into one that is hard to resist describing as dead as her dog. “This story is not landing. It is not a facet of rural life or ranching to shoot dogs,” conservative commentator Tomi Lahren posted online. “She’s DOA,” an anonymous Trump ally told The Hill.
If the story backfires on Noem, that, too, will provide an interesting perspective on American values. On one hand, it’s gratifying in this world of endless division to find something that connects us. And yet — does it take a total eclipse of the sun or a tragic dog story to make that happen? As an animal lover, and owner of a senior dog who is getting treatments to keep her legs from collapsing out from under her, I share the pain of animal lovers everywhere concerning Noem’s heartlessness. Still, it’s worth noting that when it comes to situations involving humans, such as migrants, it’s partisan gridlock in America. Yet, a puppy-killing story tugs at heartstrings — although not all heartstrings. Noem still has some defenders, most notably those who support her antiabortion stance and say the outrage over the dog killing story is misplaced.
Cricket’s story also resurrected a bevy of other political dog stories, including those of Major and Commander, two German shepherds belonging to President Biden who were removed from the White House after biting staffers and Secret Service officers. Despite that history, the Biden campaign team posted photos on X of Biden with Commander at the White House and of Vice President Kamala Harris holding a puppy.
Which raises another issue. How much does a vice presidential candidate’s popularity matter? Harris, for example, has struggled in polls, with a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll finding that 52 percent of registered voters disapprove of her job performance as vice president. In that poll, 92 percent of Republicans said she is unqualified to be president.
In the end, people vote for the name at the top of the ticket. But in a close election, could animal-loving swing voters in battleground states make Noem a dog of a choice as a running mate?
That’s a serious bone for Trump to chew on.
Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at joan.vennochi@globe.com. Follow her @joan_vennochi.