President-elect Donald Trump was apparently not impressed with Kristi Noem once shooting and killing her dog, as he reportedly shaded the South Dakota governor by comparing her with his son, avid hunter Donald Trump Jr.
After news of the shooting broke last year, the elder Trump told Trump Jr., “That’s not good at all,” according to a Tuesday report in the New York Post, citing an excerpt from the upcoming book “Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power.”
Trump isn’t necessarily known to be a big fan of dogs. He doesn’t own one and has used the phrase “like a dog” when discussing the treatment of people he’s insulting.
Still, he appeared to see the issue with Noem shooting her pooch, reportedly giving his firstborn child a dubious compliment by saying, “Even you wouldn’t kill a dog, and you kill everything.”
In the 2024 book “No Going Back,” Noem had revealed that she once killed a wirehaired pointer when it was around 14 months old after realizing that the animal was “untrainable” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog,” among other things.
Noem said she included the anecdote in her book to show her willingness to do anything that needs to be done, no matter how “difficult, messy and ugly” it may be.
However, public outcry over the dog story ruined any chances she might’ve had of becoming Trump’s vice presidential running mate, according to reports in the New York Post and The Daily Beast.
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Noem could still play a part in Trump’s incoming administration if she is confirmed as the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
“Revenge,” written by Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt, is set to be published March 18.
Read more on “Revenge” at the New York Post.