Why Would a Republican Brag About Shooting Her 14-Month-Old Puppy Dead? Well …

This is Totally Normal Quote of the Day, a feature highlighting a statement from the news that exemplifies just how extremely normal everything has become.

“Post a picture with your dog that doesn’t involve shooting them and throwing them in a gravel pit.” —Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, trolling South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem

It may be the smallest and most insular political fight of the moment—but Democrats and Republicans are now (sort of) fighting about whether it’s OK to shoot your dog.

To be clear, though, the general consensus across both sides of the political aisle is a resounding “No! Please don’t!” But that’s not everyone’s take.

The discourse began last week when the Guardian reported on a bizarre excerpt from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s new memoir.

In an advance copy of the book titled, rather verbosely, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward, Noem recounts shooting a 14-month-old puppy, Cricket, who she was training for pheasant hunting.

The young dog (that she “hated,” she writes) allegedly exhibited aggression. Cricket once crunched a chicken to death in one bite, for example. Noem called the dog “untrainable” and “less than worthless.”

Finally, she concluded she would have to put Cricket down—by shooting the dog in a gravel pit. She also wrote about bringing a “nasty” goat to the same location to kill, as well.

“I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn’t tell the story here,” the governor writes in her book. The large mass of people horrified by this anecdote would probably agree!

On the other hand: What’s more attention-getting than highlighting your tough-on-crime approach to training a puppy?

Trump has yet to announce his vice president pick, but rumors have swirled that Noem is on the shortlist. Whether or not her VP bid is strengthened—or tanked—by this animal controversy remains to be seen.

She doubled down in defense of her actions in a statement on X on Sunday: “What I learned from my years of public service, especially leading South Dakota through COVID, is people are looking for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from tough challenges.”

“Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never passed on my responsibilities to anyone else to handle. Even if it’s hard and painful,” she added. “I followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor. As I explained in the book, it wasn’t easy. But often the easy way isn’t the right way.”

The comparison between Noem putting her dog down and navigating tumultuous decisionmaking as a political leader requires some literary imagination. Being a puppy killer isn’t exactly a cause célèbre, no matter the “challenge” of it.

Democrats, meanwhile, are eating this up. A spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee wrote, from the perspective of dogs, “If you want elected officials who don’t brag about brutally killing their pets as part of their self-promotional book tour, then listen to our owners—and vote Democrat.”

Hillary Clinton also weighed in with some shade, retweeting a 2021 post that said: “Don’t vote for anyone you wouldn’t trust with your dog.”

And many Democratic governors—including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy—posted sweet photos of themselves with their own canines on X with the prompt, “Post a picture with your dog that doesn’t involve shooting them and throwing them in a gravel pit.” Ah well, so it goes.