South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been traveling the interview circuit ahead of the release of her book, “No Going Back,” which is set to drop on Tuesday. The first excerpts of the book – including Noem’s tale about shooting a dog named Cricket – set off a firestorm of publicity and controversy, and Noem has offered no apologies.
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RELATED: In Upcoming Book, Gov Kristi Noem Describes Shooting Her Own Dog – Will It Damage Her VP Chances?
In these interviews she’s given more detail about what led to her decision to shoot Cricket in the head and dump her body in a gravel pit. Whether one agrees with Noem’s decision or not, the fact that the incident has to be explained is a problem. As RedState’s Andrew Malcolm has observed about politics, “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”
As it turns out, the only thing Noem’s worse at than explaining is deflecting. In a “Face the Nation” interview on Sunday, Noem was confronted about both the puppy story and a factual error in the book, and in trying to deflect gave terrible answers and made a huge gaffe. Then, she cried victim – not a great look for a woman whose book is designed to show how tough she is. Sis, if you can’t handle an interview with Margaret Brennan, you’re not gonna be able to handle Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
Brennan quoted a portion of the book in which Noem reminisced about an alleged meeting with Kim Jong-un, and then asked her whether that meeting happened. Noem wrote:
“I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants. I have been a children’s pastor after all.”
Syd Seiler, a former U.S. intelligence officer who spent decades working on issues between the U.S. and North Korea, told the Associated Press no such meeting occurred:
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“Nothing like this happened,” he said, adding that he was working at the White House and State Department during that time period and was not notified of a congressional meeting with Kim.
Noem did join an international congressional trip, known as a codel, to Japan, South Korea and China in 2014.
Lol. Yikes pic.twitter.com/xLGKzfWbxn
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 5, 2024
Noem told Brennan:
Well, you know, as soon as this was brought to my attention, I certainly made some changes and looked at this – this passage.
And I have met with many, many world leaders. I have traveled around the world. As soon as it was brought to my attention, we went forward and have made some edits. So I’m glad that this book is being released in a couple of days, and that those edits will be in place, and that people will – will have the updated version.
Brennan then attempted to clarify, saying, “So, you did not meet with Kim Jong-un?” Noem replied:
No, I have met with many, many world leaders, many world leaders. I have traveled around the world. I think I have talked extensively in this book about my time serving in Congress, my time as governor, before governor, some of the travels that I have had. I’m not going to talk about my specific meetings with world leaders, I’m just not going to do that. This anecdote shouldn’t have been in the book. And as soon as it was brought to my attention, I made sure that that was adjusted.
I take responsibility for that being in the book. And as soon as it was brought to my attention, I asked for it to be changed. So I’m glad that the release date is in a couple of days. And we’re excited to talk to America about my new book, “No Going Back.”
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There really aren’t any great explanations Noem could give, but trying to weasel out of it by acting like a journalist asking for specifics on meetings she brought up in her book is somehow out of bounds and asking for classified information isn’t the way. Also, why would the anecdote have to be brought to her attention? We all know that she didn’t actually write the book, but she should have at least read the book before signing off on its publication.
Noem did try to pivot the conversation to her experience “work[ing] on ag policy and federal policy for over 30 years,” but Brennan then said, “Right, but you never went to North Korea.” This leads to Noem’s next facepalm moment.
Host: You never went to North Korea.
Noem: Yes, I have. I’ve been there. pic.twitter.com/I7YuJX0hfW
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 5, 2024
Noem replied:
So, I make no specifics in this book. I talk about the fact that – yes, I have. I have been there.
. . .
I went to the DMZ. And there are details – there details in this book that talk about going to the DMZ and specifics that I’m willing to share. There’s some specifics I’m not willing to share with you.
Bless her heart. The Demilitarized Zone is not part of North Korea; it’s a 2.5 mile wide buffer zone between North and South Korea that was established in the Korean Armistice Agreement.
Noem then went back to saying she asked for the anecdote to be removed and added, “because I think it’s appropriate at this point in time.” That’s a puzzling addition.
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So then Brennan got to the Cricket discussion. She relayed a summary of the incident, then asked Noem, “I wonder if you have regrets about sharing this story?”
Noem’s long answer reflected what she’d said in interviews over the past week but also seems overly workshopped/full of PR-speak:
You know, Margaret, this book is filled with vulnerable, painful moments in my life, filled with times where I have made very difficult decisions. The reason that this story is in the book because people need to understand who I am and some of those difficult decisions. This was a dangerous animal that was killing livestock and attacking people. And – and I had little children at the time. Our operation had many kids running around and people and interaction with the public. And I made a difficult choice. I think you’re a mother too. And you have little kiddos. Would you make a choice between your children or a dangerous animal?
And I think I would ask everybody in the country to put themselves in that situation, because that’s what I faced. And I talk about it because what I’m tired of in this country is politicians who pretend to be something that they’re not, that they aren’t willing to have the hard conversations and look at the past and the tough decisions that they’ve made. I’m – what I talk about in the book extensively when people are able to get it on Tuesday is to see the whole story and the truth, not the spin that the media has put on this story. The media has put some or removed – removed most of the facts and – and what – the reason this is in there… is because I want people to know that I don’t ask anybody else to take on my responsibilities.
I understood my responsibility. And, as a mom, I made a choice between protecting my children, and protecting them from a dangerous animal that was killing livestock and attacking people.
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Members of the press have undoubtedly removed some of the facts shown in the book for their own ends, but if Noem and her people didn’t expect that to happen and craft the book with that in mind, that’s on them. That’s to be expected.
After more discussion of the Cricket incident and Noem’s description of shooting a “smelly” billy goat right after she killed Cricket, Brennan asked Noem about a passage at the end of the book in which she insinuated that she’d shoot Joe Biden’s dog Commander (who has a long history of biting people) the way she did Cricket. Brennan asked:
In fact, at the end of the book, you say the very first thing you would do if you got to the White House that was different from Joe Biden, is you’d make sure Joe Biden’s dog was nowhere on the grounds. “Commander, say hello to Cricket.” Are you doing this to try to look tough? Do you still think that you have a shot at being a V.P.?
Host: At the end of the book you say, the very first thing you would do if you got to the WH that was different from Biden, is you would make sure Biden’s dog was nowhere on the grounds. Commander say hello to cricket. Are you trying to look tough? pic.twitter.com/oAlQBHDCmd
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 5, 2024
Commander is a dog who absolutely has behavior problems, and finally Biden was forced to retire Commander to the Delaware beach house. People can absolutely disagree regarding the proper solution to the Commander problem (whether he should be put down, or whether he simply needs to be at a home where there aren’t new people coming in and out all the time), but again we go back to: if you’re explaining, you’re losing. There was no need for Noem to put that sentiment at the end of the book; it seems that she’s rather proud of the Cricket story and wants to brag about it instead of it being just an example of the hard choices one faces on a farm. It’s all unnecessary and shows she’s not ready for the national spotlight.
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During the interview Noem asked Brennan why the mainstream press wasn’t going after Joe Biden for the fairy tales he continues to insert into his life story, which is a great and valid point. A better strategy for Noem would have been to not give the press this opportunity to ignore Biden’s gaffes and lies.
Noem’s terrible strategy continued after the interview, when she tweeted:
This morning in our 15-minute interview, Margaret Brennan interrupted me 36 times — once every 25 seconds on average. But when liberals like@gretchenwhitmer and @SpeakerPelosi are on @FaceTheNation, they aren’t interrupted once. In the fake news media, there are two sets of rules, and conservative are always treated differently. That’s why Americans don’t trust the Fake News.
Sorry, Gov. Noem. Your media woes are all of your own doing. You can’t publish a book and (record the audiobook) that contains factual errors and a tone-deaf and, according to your explanations now, incomplete anecdote about shooting a young dog in the head and then claim that the ensuing backlash is the fault of the media and Republicans who didn’t like your COVID policies.
