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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Noem’s book rollout has put the governor in an unwanted spotlight. | |
But she had already fallen off Trump’s VP shortlist | |
By Daniel Strauss, Alayna Treene, Kristen Holmes and Kit Maher, CNN | |
Updated: | |
3:45 PM EDT, Sat May 4, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
For South Dakota Gov. , much of the 2024 campaign cycle has turned out | |
to be a case study in what not to do to rise into potential vice | |
presidential contention. | |
That includes the latest hiccup, with the second-term South Dakota | |
governor – once considered a top potential running mate who has since | |
fallen off former President Donald Trump’s shortlist, according to | |
multiple Republicans with knowledge of that list – finding herself in | |
an unwanted spotlight over questions about actions she describes in her | |
upcoming book: “No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with | |
Politics and How We Move America Forward.” | |
Noem’s crisis hasn’t affected her standing on Trump’s vice | |
presidential candidate shortlist – sources said she had fallen off | |
that list long before that – but it has confirmed to skeptics in | |
Trump’s orbit that she shouldn’t be in consideration and won’t be | |
anytime soon. | |
has become a problem for her for multiple reasons. First, there was | |
Noem’s description of her decision to kill a 14-month-old wirehair | |
pointer, named Cricket, who was not displaying the signs of an ideal | |
hunting dog. The governor wrote that the dog was “untrainable,” | |
according to excerpts first reported by . She also described shooting a | |
goat in the book. | |
Noem has argued that those anecdotes were meant to show how capable she | |
is of doing some of the more gruesome jobs in life when necessary. | |
But the Cricket episode in particular instead resulted in days of Noem | |
having to publicly defend the decision to put the dog down. A | |
bipartisan group of members of Congress set up a Congressional Dog | |
Lovers Caucus in a not so subtle dig to the South Dakota governor. | |
Some Republicans came to her defense, like South Dakota Rep. Dusty | |
Johnson, who acknowledged, “Life is a little different in rural | |
America.” | |
But South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds struck a different tone: “I don’t | |
see how it helps,” he said Tuesday. | |
Noem has repeatedly defended her actions this week. Appearing on Fox | |
News Wednesday, Noem explained it was a “very aggressive dog” that | |
“massacred” a local family’s chickens and attacked her, which | |
ultimately led her to shoot the dog in a gravel pit. She argued it was | |
the responsible decision to protect her children and those around her | |
business. | |
“Dogs that have this kind of a problem, that have been to training | |
for months and still kill for fun, they are extremely dangerous and a | |
responsible owner does what they need to do and what the law will | |
allow,” Noem said. | |
As many questioned why she volunteered this story in her book, Noem | |
said it demonstrates how she doesn’t run from the truth. | |
“What the point of the story is, is that most politicians, they will | |
run from the truth,” Noem said. “They will shy away and hide from | |
making tough decisions. I don’t do either of those.” | |
Trump himself has privately criticized Noem about the story, a person | |
with direct knowledge of the comments told CNN. The former president, | |
however, appeared more dismayed that she chose to disclose the anecdote | |
and at her faltering attempts to do damage control, than the story | |
itself, they said. | |
On Thursday, the situation got worse for Noem when , an independent | |
newspaper, reported that Noem suggested in her book that, as a member | |
of the US House Armed Services Committee, she had met North Korean | |
Dictator Kim Jong Un. Noem, according to that excerpt, also said that | |
she was set to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron as governor | |
before cancelling. In both cases, the Scout reported, records indicated | |
that Noem did not meet with Kim or have a meeting scheduled with | |
Macron. | |
In another excerpt , Noem described a 2021 phone call she says occurred | |
with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley that she took as Haley | |
trying to intimidate Noem from the national spotlight. That excerpt was | |
first reported by Politico on Friday. A Haley spokeswoman though said | |
that Haley called Noem in 2020, not 2021. | |
In response, Ian Fury, Noem’s spokesperson, released a statement that | |
these were small errors and would be changed. | |
“It was brought to our attention that the upcoming book ‘No Going | |
Back’ has two small errors. This has been communicated to the | |
ghostwriter and editor. Kim Jong Un was included in a list of world | |
leaders and shouldn’t have been,” Fury said in a statement to CNN | |
on Friday. “The Governor spoke with Nikki Haley in 2020 and met with | |
her in 2021. The book has not been released yet, and all future | |
editions will be corrected.” | |
Republicans have been befuddled how the book was published with these | |
errors. | |
“You would hope that these sort of anecdotes would be vetted prior to | |
the release of a book, that would typically happen in most high profile | |
book launches, and obviously there’s some orchestrated events going | |
on here. She has several interviews set up,” Jesse Hunt, a Republican | |
strategist and former communications director for the Republican | |
Governors Association, said. “Clearly this was thought out. The | |
advisers that she had involved didn’t see it as having any | |
problematic narratives.” | |
Noem’s standing | |
While at one point considered a top contender for vice president, | |
advisers to Trump have said for weeks that Noem no longer held that | |
standing, even before she revealed she shot her dog and before she | |
posted a bizarre infomercial for a Texas dental practice. However, she | |
was included on the short list that the campaign compiled for vetting, | |
with her advisers noting that no one should be entirely ruled out given | |
Trump’s often spontaneous decision making. Despite this caveat, at | |
least two advisers said she was currently not in the running. | |
For Noem, the increasing scrutiny about her book is the latest bump in | |
an ongoing list of her attempts to raise her profile on the national | |
stage. | |
On paper, Noem had all the markings of a strong contender to be� | |
Trump’s running mate. For the operatives that fixate on simplistic | |
criteria in picking a running mate, the argument behind Noem is she’s | |
an anti-abortion Republican who started out in humble means and rose to | |
the governor’s mansion. Noem has also displayed comfort in front of | |
large crowds or a camera. | |
As governor of South Dakota during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, | |
she resisted lockdowns. While speaking at a National Rifle Association | |
event, she said that her two-year-old grandchild has multiple guns. | |
Noem also has been deferential to Trump and the Trump movement going | |
back to before she was elected to her current job in 2018. She was one | |
of the earliest governors to endorse the former president in the 2024 | |
cycle. | |
But her term as governor has been rocky. She’s received national | |
criticism for her opposition to any Covid-19 lockdown measures – but | |
not by hardcore Trump loyalists. Her office has seen significant staff | |
turnover, with seasoned operatives leaving and Noem bringing in more | |
controversial ones – like former Trump campaign manager Corey | |
Lewandowski. Noem has faced ethics complaints in South Dakota for | |
inappropriately using her office to help her daughter with a real | |
estate appraiser’s license. And more recently, she was banned from | |
some tribal lands in her home state over comments the governor made | |
about tribal leaders focusing more on benefiting from drug cartels than | |
their children. | |
Throughout it all, Noem has sought to boost her national profile. Early | |
in the 2024 cycle, she set up a federal political action committee – | |
a time honored move that future candidates for high office make. Noem | |
has also had her political operation air ads on national television to | |
highlight her state’s economy. In March, Noem opted to star in a near | |
five-minute informercial for a dental practice based in Texas. | |
At one point, some of these moves seemed to be working. But that was | |
long before the public learned about Cricket or the unnamed goat. | |
“He soured on her long before this,” a person close to Trump, who | |
has spoken with the former president about his potential vice | |
presidential contenders, told CNN. | |
“He has questioned some of her choices. But where they may have been | |
lingering questions over whether she could find herself back on the | |
list, this story has killed that. It is totally disqualifying,” they | |
added, referencing the story about how she killed her 14-month-old dog. | |
Trump has often mentioned Noem in both private and public as a loyal | |
supporter. The former president was particularly pleased after her | |
August 2023 television appearance affirming her decision that she would | |
not be running for president in 2024. | |
Noem is still set to appear at a big fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago this | |
weekend, alongside other potential vice presidential picks for Trump. | |
She’s also at the California GOP convention later this May. | |
That’s a schedule a top-tier Republican would have if they were in | |
strong contention to be Trump’s running mate. But the last few weeks | |
and months have cast strong doubt among Republicans about Noem’s | |
viability, and the fallout from the anecdote in her book continues: A | |
fundraising event with the Jefferson County Republicans in Denver was | |
canceled on Saturday over safety concerns. | |
“In the past few days, numerous threats and/or death threats have | |
been made to our organization, the hotel, and to the Governor and her | |
staff. After a conversation with the Governor’s office late | |
Wednesday, we mutually decided that safety was the most important | |
concern for everyone involved,” Nancy Pallozzi, the chair of the | |
Jefferson County Republican Party, said in a statement. | |
CNN has reached out to Noem’s office for comment on the cancellation. | |
“You need to be skilled at defending Trump and the campaign but | |
she’s having trouble defending herself in her own book,” said Matt | |
Gorman, a veteran Republican strategist. | |
Still, Gorman stressed that it’s important for Noem to attend the | |
Mar-a-Lago spring retreat. | |
“I think it’s important to go because one thing that’s important | |
to remember is if you don’t like the current headline, make a new | |
one. So going to Mar-a-Lago, if I were giving her team advice, it’d | |
be be very visible. The worst thing you can do is hideout and let the | |
headlines overtake you. You want to create headlines as much as you | |
can, create your own news, your own content.” | |
This story has been updated with additional developments. | |
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