Conservative pundits blasted South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for admitting that she shot dead her family's "worthless" puppy and one of their "disgusting" goats in her new book — but the Republican Party is using the memoir to fundraise, according to reports.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, who was the communicatons director in the Trump White House, said she was "horrified" by Noem's account.
"I'm a dog lover and I am honestly horrified by the Kristi Noem excerpt. I wish I hadn't even read it. A 14-month-old dog is still a puppy and can be trained. A large part of bad behavior in dogs is not having proper training from humans," Griffin said, according to the Guardian, which printed the first excerpts of Noem's upcoming book.
"Dogs are a gift from God. They're a reflection of his unconditional love. Anyone who would needlessly hurt an animal because they are inconvenient needs help," she continued.
Sarah Matthews, who also served in the Trump administration, said: "When I saw tweets about Kristi Noem murdering her puppy, I thought to myself, 'Damn, one of the other VP contenders' teams found some oppo [opposition information],' until I realized SHE wrote about it in HER book."
"I'm not sure why anyone would brag about this unless they're sick and twisted," said Matthews, who testified before the House committee investigating former President Donald Trump's role in Capitol riot Jan. 6, 2021.
In "No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move Forward," Noem writes that she was frustrated with the family's 14-month-old wirehair pointer named Cricket.
"I hated that dog," Noem writes.
She says Cricket was "untrainable" and "less than worthless ... as a hunting dog."
The Republican governor, a contender to be Trump's running mate, worte that she finally decided to kill the dog after he attacked a neighbor's chickens.
"At that moment, I realised I had to put her down," she noted in the book. She got her gun, led Cricket to a gravel pit and dispatched her, Noem recounted.
"It was not a pleasant job," she writes. "But it had to be done." She points out in the book that it proves she's capable of carrying out "difficult, ugly and messy" jobs that need to be done.
Noem also confessed to killing the family's uncastrated goat, which she described as "nasty and mean," and "disgusting, musky, rancid."
Meanwhile, the National Republican Congressional Committee began sending out email alerts touting signed copies of Noem's book.
"I've reached out a few times offering you a signed copy of my new memoir No Going Back, and now there's fewer than 73 signed copies left!" the email says, Raw Story reported.
"And with such low stock remaining, I can only keep your signed copy on hold for the next 60 minutes before I must offer it to someone else," the email says, noting the memoir is "flying off the shelves."
The GOP offered free copies of the book to those donating $35 or more. The email called the book "Team Trump Approved."
Noem defended the killings.
"We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years," she wrote on the social media platform X.
She admitted in the book, however: "I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn't tell the story here."
