Jonah Goldberg
@JonahDispatch
Okay so I'm finally up to speed on Noem killing her dog. I was open to the idea there was more to the story, farm life is hard, etc. But this seems indefensible to me. If I had that attitude about my Carolina Dog, I would have shot Zo a dozen times over when she was young. 1/
Cricket was not, from Noem's own account an irredeemable dog and there were plenty of alternatives available to her. But at the risk of taking Noem more seriously than she deserves, I think it's worth thinking more about why she tells this story. 2/
Noem wants to be VP. Noem is close to Corey Lewandowski who is a thuggish guy who thinks talking tough is a core part of MAGA and essential to impressing Trump.
Indeed, Trump, famously wants Roy Cohn types willing to go as dirty and ugly on his behalf as possible. 3/
Noem, by her own account, says she tells this story, to show that she's willing to do "difficult, messy and ugly" things when necessary.
It was not a pleasant job," she writes, "but it had to be done," she writes. 4/
Never mind that it was not necessary.
Indeed, the HARD thing would been to put in the work to train cricket or find the dog a better home.
But Noem thinks *it was* necessary to say "I hated that dog" and that it was "worthless as a hunting dog."
So here's my point ... 5/
Dog-killing, is a horrible analogy for gov't service or politics. People aren't to be put down "like a dog" (one of Trump's favorite phrases). And willingness to shoot a happy dog is not really transferable to politics.
But I think she thinks Trump doesn't see it that way. 6/6
