Republican high plains grifter Gov. Kristi Noem’s campaign autobiography and X (Twitter) accounts recently described her animal husbandry practices.
Noem herself posted a screengrab of a Guardian newspaper report describing her killing of a pet dog and a pet goat – and an admission that she recently “put down three horses.”
“We love animals,” she said, “but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to put down three horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.”
Prominent Republican Mitt Romney established his pet care bona fides, or lack thereof, in a 2012 incident concerning Irish setter Seamus. The Romney family dog rode in a pet carrier atop their Chevy Caprice station wagon as he and his family zoomed at a respectable 55 m.p.h. towards Lake Huron.
Noem’s prospects for earning presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump’s nod as his vice presidential choice figure in the runup to 2024’s general election.
Voters traditionally view candidates’ pets as indicators of their character qualifications.
Criminal defendant Trump’s aversion to dogs has shaped his campaign speech vocabulary, which includes “like a dog” as a term of abuse.
Noem’s relations with the animal kingdom, by contrast, feature deeds, not words.