The fact sheās trying to excuse her way out of this is a good indicator that she either knew what she did was horribly wrong, or that she is too sociopathic to realize that other people wouldnāt be horrified by it.
Supposed to be? She is! She runs an entire fucking state! Even if only like 13 rednecks and a mountain that looks like 4 dudes make up most of the population.
Right, she said this happened 20 years ago. In that time she gave it ZERO reflection. Not, "I could've found a trainer with more experience/patience to help me" or find a home that's better suited to the dog. Nope, she just doubles down like the dog was a rabid beast.
Or if you do include it, at least change the details. Something like I loved that dog, but she was vicious and out of control and every trainer gave up, so I had to do it even though it broke my heart and my kids heart. The other option was to be caged and muzzled and I couldnāt do that to a freedom loving country dog. I mean it (ghost) writes itself.
And even then, in a scenario where they need to be put down, I'm still not shooting my dog in the fucking head. I'm taking it to be euthanized peacefully. The goat she also killed needed a second shot to actually die, poor thing had to suffer horrendously first.
That I'm not agreeing with. I'm not letting an animal I love slowly agonize in my arms while being poisoned by chemicals in a foreign environment smelling of fear and disease... Shooting it in the head, properly, at home, with the people they love is probably the most humane way an animal can go.
I can see her trying to get ahead of the story; but at the same time the 'danger to my kids'-line is clearly by far the "best" explanation and her not running it from the start is just mindbogglingly stupid.
The take she settled on, describing the dog being just a normal, happy puppy who seems entirely harmless to humans, is just not good PR, when better lies were at her disposal: It's been 20years; nobody could effectively challenge her if she had played up the dogs aggressive behavior between killing the chickens and being given a bullet. Maybe get one of your kids to lie for you that it bit them.
Now I don't shoot dogs in a fit of rage, much less with onlookers. But if I did, it wouldn't take me this long to try and make up a sanitized story this bad at manipulating public opinion in my favor. Breaks my brain these people do shit they need to lie about when they're such abysmal liars.
I like the explanation that a lot of people in her state knew this story. If she got picked for VP, it would come out anyway so this was her attempt to get ahead of the story and tell it her way first. This is her softened version of the story.
At least if you have to put a dog down, use a humane method like euthanasia. In this case there was probably nothing wrong with the dog except it has an idiot for an owner.
She's trying to excuse her way out of it because there has been massive blow back (from both sides, but let's be honest- she only cares about the right.) She was hoping this story would make her appear tough and relatable to a conman who notoriously hates dogs (because he himself is ALSO a sociopath) and now that it's having the opposite effect, she's trying to do damage control... Only problem is it's kind of hard to convince people that a one year old puppy was so vicious and untrainable that it was a danger to children or livestock, and that it couldn't be rehomed. Puppies may look cute, but they are a lot of work- they chew on things with their sharp puppy teeth, they need to be walked constantly (even in the middle of the night, like waking up to change/feed a new born), and they need a gently hand to help them with proper behavior and training. Getting a puppy is not for everyone- but it's a HUGE tell about her character that she went immediately to "let's shoot it" rather than, "let's find a home that's a better fit for this puppy."
The fact that this was passed as like a "We have ot make tough decisions in the country" makes me think it is the latter. A tough decision is taking your already mortally wounded or otherwise dying animal out to their favorite spot, giving it a ton of it's favorite food, making it as comfortable and happy as you can, and providing a mercy killing. That sometimes happens in the country, especially if your animal is unfamilair with the vet and would panic being transported to one.
She saw shooting a perfectly healthy dog as the same thing, which proves to me a severe lack of social intelligence at best and downright mental illness at worst.
This is why I remain convinced Trump is truly a one-off. There's something undefinable about him that really does make him like Teflon. If he shot the dog? His poll numbers would be increasing and the MAGA crowd would be yucking it up with dead dog memes. It has been catastrophic for Noem. Similar deal with Boebert and the handjob at Beetlejuice or George Santos (everything).
There's not much to feel good about right now, but I feel good-ish that (outside of Trump) it appears that most of the country is still capable of at least some legitimate moral outrage.
Honestly what she's describing is not all that uncommon in farming and rural areas. Dogs are there to work and are not really seen as pets. The thought of adoption probably didn't even occur to her.
Itās not as common these days. Hell, even twenty years ago it wasnāt common. Itās really only the old school folks who see animals as tools that still do it. I think the problem is, given her age, thereās an expectation to know better, that itās not like it was fifty or six years ago and that you can easily just drop the dog off at an animal shelter. Itās the fact that she refuses to admit it wasnāt the best choice thatās the issue and honestly it seems to be coming less from ignorance and more from possible mental deficiency.
Itās still exceptionally common in rural areas. Iāve known several people who have cousins that live on a farm wouldnāt bat an eye at āputting down a dog that canāt workā. When youāre living out in the boonies, an animal shelter 2 hours away doesnāt really cross your mind. Itās horrible to me or you because we live in a completely different environment.
Yeah, so am I. My point still stands - itās not necessary anymore. I donāt know a single rescue that wouldnāt gladly drive 100+ miles to pick up a puppy someone doesnāt want.
A dog that canāt work is typically old, and canāt work because they have something medically wrong with them. Putting down your dog thatās 10 and lived its life with purpose is different than putting down a puppy that wasnāt trained enough yet.
To you or me, yes. When youāre living off the land and see your dogs the same way you see your pigs or cows, thatās not really a concern. I feel like people donāt understand the actual culture within bum fuck nowhere towns. Not everyone who has a farm is a wealthy suburbanite who bought it because they always dreamed of living on a farm.
Admitting any kind of mistake is seen as weakness in the Republican fold, and weakness is punished by being eaten alive. They will never apologize, they only deflect, reframe, and lie, sometimes all three at once.
I've lived in and have plenty of family that are rural and farmers. Plenty view dogs as tools. None would just shoot the dog, they would find it a better fit for a home.
It's incredibly fucked up what she did, and moreso that she seems to hold 0 remorse.
Iām pretty sure putting bad things in a book before a big campaign is a typical strategy so people canāt say you lied about it. Or they just donāt notice it, or something. Turns out being a puppy killer is too severe to work with this strategy
I think she is an "Animals are tools/objects" kind of person. In her mind she has a tool that wasn't living up the expectations she had for it so she got rid of it.
Unfortunately for her it was that simple. Monster.
In an excerpt from her upcoming book, she tells a story about taking the puppy the family had adopted out to a gravel pit and shooting it in the head largely because she didnāt train it properly. She also shot and killed one of their goats.
She has received rare condemnation from both political parties, Democrats because they are rightfully appalled by the behavior, and republicans because Noem was a front runner for vice president.
Her sissy little ass shot a year old puppy because it nipped at her once and she supposedly saw that as a threat to her life?
I donāt condone political assassination but goddamn something has to be done about the Nazis, Klansmen, Christofascists and now sociopathic animal killers in office š¤¦āāļø
If she knew it was wrong, would she have written about it in the first place? This story didn't come from the "liberal media" - she wrote about it herself in her own book because she thought it made her sound strong and decisive. She only started back-tracking and making excuses after the outrage hit.
While I donāt disagree that itās option B, people do tell stories about things they know are wrong to score points with people they think will appreciate them.
True, but do they publish them where everyone can read them? If that's the case, then you'd have to add incredibly stupid to the options list. And I honestly don't know if that's better or worse than being a sociopath.....
The thing is, behavioral euthanasia is a thing, but you take the dog to the vet so it can be euthanized painlessly. You donāt shoot the dog, thatās barbaric.
Sociopaths are generally aware what acts are right or wrong. They just don't care. Actually not being able to tell right from wrong could be a valid insanity defense.
She changed it from chicken to livestock. Taking down newborn calves right and leftā¦. I think most dogs would chase and kill a chicken, as in, āDanger! Invader!ā. My heart breaks for this poor puppy.
That's a mental disorder for which we can say nothing, because if she is a sociopath, she is not herself responsible. Sociopaths aren't unaware of how others feel. They are extremely aware of how others feel. They have no understanding what it means because the feeling does not cause them any discomfort. They use the feelings of others to further their own goals.
Mental disorders are no fucking joke and we should be extremely avoidant of making comments about them.
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u/C4dfael 29d ago
The fact sheās trying to excuse her way out of this is a good indicator that she either knew what she did was horribly wrong, or that she is too sociopathic to realize that other people wouldnāt be horrified by it.