Kristi Noem’s dog-killing embodies the cruel phonyness of today’s Republicans | Ryan Busse

The South Dakota governor's proud dog murder tells a lot about how posturing Trumpists like she and Greg Gianforte think

After South Dakota's Republican governor, Kristi Noem, proudly admitted in a forthcoming memoir to marching her young puppy Cricket to a gravel pit to kill her with a shotgun, she rationalized the despicable act by arguing that Cricket had been aggressive.

She also said that she used the same gravel pit to shoot a disgusting, musky, rancid" unnamed goat - but botched the job, leaving the goat to suffer unnecessarily while she rushed to her truck to get a second shell. (It's unclear why Noem, supposedly a shrewd outdoorswoman, didn't think to carry more shells on her.)