In an actual sort of politically unifying moment, criticism of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (touted as a possible VP running mate for Trump) has come from all sides after she disclosed in a book that she executed her dog (named “Cricket”) by shooting him in the face. In the book Noem said that she “hated” the dog, that it failed as a hunting dog, and attacked a neighbor’s chicken. So she realized what had to be done and shot it in the face on the way home.
In response to the controversy Noem doubled down stating, “decisions like this happen all the time on a farm,” and promising “more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping” in her book which she urges you preorder.
That last part there really gets to it. Kristi Noem’s dog story was a political calculation. MAGA puts great stock and value in being politically incorrect. What greater way to show how politically incorrect you are than by admitting you shot your dog in the face?
Noem included this story in her book because she believed there was a constituency for it. Noem believed the MAGAs of America would love this story of a rebel against conventional thinking and political correctness. In that calculation it appears that she might be wrong, but that was the calculation she made. She may have miscalculated, but it was a political calculation.
Cricket died just sitting there as his master shot him in the face, still trusting and loving his master through the very end. In that, Cricket may be a metaphor for MAGAs everywhere.
