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A CNN anchor suggested Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., was trying to win points with former President Trump after she admitted in an upcoming memoir that she put down her 14-month-old dog because she was “untrainable.”
The story made headlines after The Guardian reported on the excerpt from Noem’s upcoming memoir, “No Going Back,” on Friday. A Monday morning CNN panel debated why Noem would willingly share the story, which has horrified people on both sides of the political aisle.
“Is she trying to like — I mean so Donald Trump, you know, famously hates dogs,” “CNN This Morning” anchor Kasie Hunt said. “He will talk, he’ll use the phrase like, so-and-so should be ‘shot like a dog.’”
SOCIAL MEDIA DISTURBED BY GOV. NOEM’S STORY ABOUT SHOOTING HER 14-MONTH-OLD DOG: ‘NOT NORMAL’
2024 presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump said in February that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was on his shortlist for VP. (Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures to the crowd at a campaign rally Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean) )
“Is she trying to appeal directly to him with this aggressive language?” she asked.
Trump’s history of referring to his political opponents as “dogs,” has been noted by media outlets over the years. In 2018, The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker compiled a list of anecdotes to argue that, “In President Trump’s singular lexicon, there is no more vicious put-down than likening an adversary to a dog.”
Trump also told Fox News in February that Noem was one of half a dozen candidates on his shortlist for vice president.
BLUE STATE GOVERNORS SHARE PICS OF THEIR DOGS TO DUNK ON GOV. NOEM’S STORY OF SHOOTING HER OWN DOG
CNN’s Kasie Hunt floats idea that Gov. Noem’s shocking puppy story was written to garner favor from former President Trump. (CNN/Screenshot)
However, Republican strategist Matt Gorman was skeptical about Hunt’s theory, arguing that the book was written months ago and went past multiple editors.
“This isn‘t something that was just off the cuff,” he remarked.
CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams also confessed he found the story “hard to explain,” but wondered if Noem was trying to signal her “toughness” to Trump.
“Again, is it trying to look tough for a former president who values toughness, and she’s a female candidate? Look, I’m just trying here,” he said.
Kate Bedingfield, President Biden’s former White House communications director, argued that regardless of motive, the story had made Noem “radioactive” to people “across the political spectrum.”
“Look, Trump hates dogs, fine, but more than that, Trump also hates losing, right? And so now, she‘s like made herself essentially radioactive by telling this story in this way,” Bedingfield said on CNN.
“This book has got some stories that reflect that of people that the readers will know, but it’ll also give a lot of examples of things and action plans that they can take to really move the needle on resetting our country back on its foundation,” Noem told Fox News Digital about her upcoming book in February. (Kristi Noem, Getty Images)
The Trump campaign fired back at the CNN anchor’s suggestion in comments to Fox News Digital.
“Kasie Hunt is a vile and disgusting human being to even suggest that. It’s just goes to show how Trump Derangement Syndrome can really warp the views of reporters and journalists who no longer have any self-awareness,” Trump Campaign Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
CNN declined to comment on the Trump campaign’s statement.
According to The Guardian’s report, Noem wrote that she took her 14-month-old female dog “Cricket” to a “gravel pit” near her farm and shot it dead because it was “less than worthless” and “untrainable.”
The governor also noted that Cricket attacked on another family’s chickens, killing one.
After the initial story came out, Noem defended the decision to put down the dog, saying in part, “We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm.”
On Sunday, Noem continued respond to critics following negative headlines and social media backlash over the story.
“I can understand why some people are upset about a 20 year old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch, in my upcoming book — No Going Back. The book is filled with many honest stories of my life, good and bad days, challenges, painful decisions, and lessons learned,” the Republican wrote on X.
“The fact is, South Dakota law states that dogs who attack and kill livestock can be put down. Given that Cricket had shown aggressive behavior toward people by biting them, I decided what I did,” she continued.
“No Going Back,” is set to be released on May 7.
Fox News’ Gabriel Hays and Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Kristine Parks is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Read more.
