In one of those strange but entertaining moments in which all parties involved look relatively bad, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre commented, on Monday, May 6, on South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s suggestion that President Joe Biden’s bite-prone dog Commander ought be put down before he causes any more trouble.
As background, the Biden family had to send Commander out of the White House because he kept biting people, including Secret Service agents. Though the Bidens resisted removing him despite his biting habit, he was eventually sent away because enough was enough.
Also as background, Gov. Noem, who was in the running to be Trump’s Vice President until recently, has an autobiography coming out and some of the ghostwritten text was leaked to the media. In it, Gov. Noem brags, among other things, about shooting a misbehaving dog. She attempted to frame the story as a “things that have to be done on the farm” moral lesson, but many were horrified by what they saw as an unnecessary slaying of an innocent animal and tasteless bragging about it in an attempt to look tough.
Then, doubling down on that, Gov. Noem indicated that Commander should be put down when speaking to Margaret Brennan on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” She said, “Well, number one, Joe Biden’s dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people. So, how many people is enough people to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog and what to do with it? “That’s a question that the president should be held accountable to.”
KJP, sounding off on Gov. Noem’s remarks during the Monday press briefing, said that they were “disturbing,” taking the opportunity to make the governor look as terrible and heartless as possible. She said, “When we learned last week, obviously like all of you, in her book that she killed her puppy, you heard me say that was very sad. We find her comments from yesterday disturbing.”
Continuing, KJP said, “We find them absurd. And, and here – this is a country that loves dogs. And you have a leader talking about putting dogs down, killing them. And that’s a disturbing statement. I would say her she should probably should stop digging herself in a hole.”
Watch her here:
Trump had been considering Noem for filling his Vice President role, but was reportedly “disgusted” by the shooting the dog story and now is looking at other candidates like JD Vance and Marco Rubio instead. Speaking to POLITICO, Scott Jennings, a former George W. Bush political advisor, explained that Trump now has no reason to pick her because “she is of no use.”
Continuing, he explained that she brings nothing positive to the table, telling that outlet, “What does she bring? The possibility of weirdo drama. That’s it. She appeals to no constituency Trump doesn’t already have.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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