In what has devolved into the TV equivalent of tweeting through it, Kristi Noem appeared for yet another cable news interview on Tuesday morning.
The beleaguered South Dakota governor seems to be on a mission to salvage her exceedingly slim hopes of becoming Donald Trump’s running mate.
It did not go well for her.
Having already enjoyed friendly sitdowns with other Fox News and Newsmax stars, the MAGA governor joined Trump-friendly Fox Business Network anchor Stuart Varney on Tuesday morning to do some more damage control over the revelations in her upcoming book No Going Back.
Noem is currently facing intense bipartisan backlash for boasting in the book that she shot her “untrainable” 14-month-old puppy Cricket, whom she said she “hated.” She’s also come under fire for claiming she met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, asserting that he “underestimated” her. Experts have cast doubt on whether she has ever met the shadowy dictator. And Noem has since blamed her ghostwriter for the anecdote, saying it shouldn’t have been included in the book but has also refused to clarify if she ever spoke with the reclusive leader.
Varney, for his part, noted that the governor’s team advised her not to include the story about her puppy murder in the book, adding that its inclusion has “not gone down well” and has led to many “questioning” Noem’s political future. The governor, meanwhile, defended her canicide, calling Cricket a “vicious” and “dangerous” dog. (In recent days, she’s further suggested President Joe Biden should put his dog down.)
“Do you think it was good politics to include that story?” Varney retorted, prompting Noem to claim that her “political opponents have used it for years,” so she wanted people to “know the truth on it.”
Varney wondered if she thought she could be Trump’s vice president and if she’d talked to him since the dog story came out. “Yes, I talk to Donald Trump often,” she said. “Absolutely.”
Noem became increasingly combative as Varney pressed her on the dog execution, especially when he asked if she’d keep that story in her book if she were writing it today.
“We’ve been consumed with emails saying I won’t vote for this person. I won’t vote for Trump if he puts her in the vice presidential spot,” Varney declared.
“Well, I’ll tell you, Stuart, I’m sorry you’re not hearing from real Americans that live on farms and ranches,” she fired back.
Towards the end of the contentious conversation, Varney asked if Noem still thought she was in line to be Trump’s veep. The embattled Republican responded that only Trump can decide that but that she does speak to him regularly.
Not letting it rest there, the Fox host asked what Trump had said to her and whether the dog story had come up. While Noem said she would never reveal her “personal conversations” with the ex-president, Varney kept grilling her on what Trump thinks of the situation.
“Enough, Stuart. This interview is ridiculous, what you are doing right now,” Noem fumed. “You need to stop.”
She then demanded that they “talk about some real topics that Americans care about,” only for Varney to inform her that they were out of time.
“Well, of course we are,” she snarked back.
It remains to be seen whether she will run to social media to complain about Varney being “fake news,” which was how she responded to her disastrous interview on Sunday morning’s Face the Nation.