KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on stage before Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Vandalia, Ohio, March 16, 2024.
UNITED STATES – Memories that perhaps she should have kept to herself. In a good position to become Donald Trump’s running mate for the November presidential election and therefore vice-president in the event of the billionaire’s victory, the governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, has undoubtedly been a little less so in recent hours .
The fault lies in an extract from his memoirs revealed by The Guardian this Friday, April 26, where the American politician explains, in great detail, how she killed her dog. Enough to cause an outcry on the other side of the Atlantic, reminding us in passing that mistreatment of animals has never gone well with American politics. It is not Ronald Reagan or Mitt Romney who will say the opposite.
“Impossible to train”
In this book soberly titled No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward (No Turning Back: The Truth About What’s Wrong in Politics and How We Move America Forward in French) which will appear on May 7, the member of the Republican Party dwells on this episode in her life, when she tried to train Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer.
This female “aggressive personality” was intended to be trained for pheasant hunting. But during her training attempts by taking her hunting with older dogs, the dog training session turned into a release for the animal. Cricket has become “crazy with excitement, chasing all the birds and having an unforgettable time”says Kristi Noem in these reported extracts.
Despite her numerous efforts to try to calm the animal, Kristi Noem could only watch as Cricket then ran away to attack a neighbor’s chickens, causing real carnage. It was therefore after reimbursing the owner of the chickens and dodging an attempted bite from his dog that the governor of South Dakota made the decision to get rid of the animal, judged “impossible to train”, ” dangerous ” And “worthless… as a hunting dog.”
A dog, a goat and three horses
Kristi Noem eventually led Cricket into a gravel pit to put the young dog down. “ It wasn’t pleasant work, but it had to be done. And once it was over, I realized I had to do another unpleasant job “, says the 52-year-old Republican leader, before moving on to the story of her goat, just as ” wicked ”, because not neutered.
Because in addition to having an odor judged “ disgusting, musky and rancid » by its owner, the goat had, according to her, the annoying habit of chasing her children. Result ? Kristi Noem led this second animal to the same location. She also says that she missed her shot, allowing the goat to escape for a while before she ended up killing it (under the eyes of workers who quickly returned to their work when they met the politician’s gaze. ).
Behind this anecdote, his objective was therefore to illustrate his great political and personal will, saying he was ready to get his hands dirty if it simply had to be done. But the latter also recognized that a “ best political figure » would never publish such a story.
The governor will have especially provoked disgust among animal lovers, who did not fail to make it known on social networks, comparing her in particular to the American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
But nothing to stop the governor of this state in the north of the United States, since she herself reacted to criticism of her relationship with animals by confiding that she had recently “ slaughtered three horses », present in the family for 25 years. Before adding that she “likes animals ” but that ” Tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm “.
Far from wanting to keep a low profile after this story, the close friend of the 45th President of the United States then promised readers of the extracts revealed by the British newspaper that her book contained others “ more real, honest and politically incorrect “.
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