CNN
—
For South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, much of the 2024 campaign has become a case study in what not to do to emerge as a potential vice presidential candidate.
The list includes recent issues, with the two-term South Dakota governor once considered a top vice presidential candidate and then replaced by Donald Trump, according to Republicans familiar with the list. He was reportedly removed from former President Trump’s short list of candidates. It’s about her actions, which she describes in her upcoming book, “No Going Back: The Truss on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward.”
Noem’s crisis has not affected her status on President Trump’s running mate list, although sources say she had been dropped from the list long before then. – But for skeptics in Mr. Trump’s orbit, it confirmed that she should not be considered, and never will be. soon.
Noem’s book release has been problematic for her for a variety of reasons. First, there was Noem’s explanation of her decision to kill her 14-month-old wire-haired pointer named Cricket, who showed no signs of being an ideal hunting dog. In excerpts first reported by the Guardian, the governor wrote that the dog was “untrainable.” She also mentions shooting goats in her book.
Noem claimed that these anecdotes were meant to show how capable she was of taking on some of life’s more gruesome tasks if needed.
But the Cricket episode in particular meant Noem had to publicly defend her decision to get rid of her dog. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has created the Congressional Dog Lovers Caucus in a not-so-subtle pursuit of South Dakota’s governor.
Some Republicans came to her defense, like South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson, who acknowledged that “life is a little different in rural America.”
But South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds struck a different tone Tuesday, saying, “I don’t see how that would help.”
Noem repeatedly defended her actions this week. Appearing on Fox News on Wednesday, Noem said the dog was a “very aggressive dog” that “slaughtered” her local family’s chickens and attacked her, leading to the dog being killed in a gravel pit. He explained that he had decided to shoot and kill him. She insisted this was a responsible decision to protect her children and those around her business.
“Dogs that have these kinds of problems, dogs that have been trained for months and still kill people just for fun, are extremely dangerous and responsible owners will do what they have to do and do what is allowed by law. ,” Noem said.
Many have wondered why she voluntarily featured this story in her book, but Noem said this shows how she is not running away from the truth. .
“The point of this story is that most politicians will run away from the truth,” Noem said. “They are afraid to make difficult decisions and will hide them. I won’t do either of those things.”
Trump himself has privately criticized Nohm over the matter, a person with direct knowledge of the comments told CNN. But they said the former president seemed more disappointed by her choice to publish her anecdote and her lackluster efforts to do damage control than by the story itself.
Stephen Colbert slams Kristi Noem for killing her dog
On Thursday, when the independent newspaper Dakota Scout reported that Noem had hinted in her book that she had met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as a member of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, Noem said: The situation got even worse for him. Noem also said she was scheduled to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron as governor before canceling, according to the excerpt. In both cases, records show Noem did not meet with Kim and no talks were scheduled with Macron, Scout reported.
In another excerpt obtained by Politico, Noem describes a 2021 phone call she had with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, saying that Haley was trying to blackmail her from national attention. I explained that I had received it. Excerpts were first reported by Politico on Friday. However, Haley’s spokesperson said that Haley called Noem in 2020, not 2021.
In response, Noem’s spokesperson Ian Fury issued a statement saying these were minor errors and that they would be changed.
“Two minor errors have been discovered in the upcoming book No Going Back. This has been communicated to the ghostwriter and editor. Kim Jong Un is included in the list of world leaders. , should not have been included,” Fury said in a statement to CNN on Friday. “The Governor spoke with Nikki Haley in 2020 and met with her in 2021. This book has not yet been released and all future editions will be revised.”
Republicans are baffled as to how a book containing these errors could be published.
“You would want this kind of anecdote to be scrutinized before the book’s release, which is usually what happens at high-profile book releases, but clearly there’s some organized event going on here. She has multiple interviews set up,” said Jesse Hunt, a Republican strategist and former communications director for the Republican Governors Association. “Clearly this was well thought out. The advisors she engaged with did not think there was a problematic story here.”
Noem is standing
Once considered a front-runner for vice president, even before Noem revealed that he had shot his dog or posted a bizarre infomercial for a Texas dental clinic, he was a Trump adviser. have said for weeks that Noem is no longer in that position. But she is on the shortlist the campaign has put together for scrutiny, and her advisers say no one should be completely excluded given Trump’s often spontaneous decision-making. It pointed out. Despite this warning, at least two advisers said she is not currently running.
For Noem, the increased attention for her book is the latest bump in an ongoing effort to raise her profile on the national stage.
On paper, Noem had all the makings of a strong candidate to be President Trump’s running mate. For operatives who insist on simple criteria when choosing a running mate, the argument behind Noem is that she is an anti-abortion Republican who rose from humble beginnings to the governor’s mansion. is. Noem also showed comfort in front of large crowds and cameras.
As governor of South Dakota at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she resisted lockdowns. When she spoke at a National Rifle Association event, she said her 2-year-old grandson owns multiple guns.
Noem has also admired Trump and the Trump movement even before she was elected to the current position in 2018. She was one of the earliest governors to support the former president in the 2024 cycle.
However, her tenure as governor was eventful. She has faced national criticism for opposing coronavirus lockdown measures, but not from her hardcore Trump supporters. Her office has undergone significant personnel changes, with veteran operatives leaving and Noem bringing in more controversial operatives, including former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Noem is facing ethics charges in South Dakota for allegedly improperly using her office to help her daughter obtain her real estate appraiser license. And recently, she called out some of the tribes in her home state because of the governor’s comments that her tribe’s leaders were more focused on profiting from drug cartels than on their children. Access to the land was prohibited.
Through it all, Noem has worked to increase her national profile. At the beginning of the 2024 cycle, she created a federal political action committee. This is an honorable move for future candidates for high office. Noem has even aired ads for her own political campaign on national television to highlight her state’s economy. In March, Noem chose to appear on a nearly five-minute informational show for a Texas-based dental clinic.
At one point, some of these moves seemed to be working. But that was long before the public knew about crickets or nameless goats.
“He’s been unhappy with her for a long time now,” a source close to Trump who has spoken to the former president about running mate told CNN.
“He’s questioning some of her choices. But while they may have had doubts about whether she could return to the list, this story erased that. Completely disqualified,” she added, referring to how she killed her 14-month-old dog.
President Trump has frequently referred to Noem as a loyal supporter, both publicly and privately. The former president was particularly pleased to appear on television in August 2023 and announce his decision not to run for president in 2024.
Noem is scheduled to attend a major fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago this weekend, along with President Trump’s potential running mate. She will also headline a fundraiser in Jefferson County, Colorado, on Saturday, according to the Denver Post. This is the timeline that top Republicans had in mind for a strong contender to be President Trump’s running mate. But in recent weeks and months, Republicans have expressed deep doubts about Noem’s viability.
“It takes skill to defend Mr. Trump and his campaign, but she has a hard time defending herself in her book,” said Matt Gorman, a veteran Republican strategist.
Still, Gorman emphasized the importance of Nomu attending Mar-a-Lago’s spring retreat.
“I think it’s important to stop because one of the important things to remember is that if you don’t like the current headline, you create a new one. So I went to Mar-a-Lago and… If I were giving advice to her team, it would be very noticeable: The worst thing you can do is hide and be overtaken by the headlines. thinking about.”