Cricket\u2019s sorry fate was raised by Republican senator Thom Tillis during Tuesday\u2019s Senate hearings, during which Noem faced a caustic and relentless line of questioning from Democrats and Republicans alike. <\/p>\n
Difficult as it is to imagine now, Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, was loosely mentioned as a vice-presidential running mate for Donald Trump in the early days of the 2024 election. <\/p>\n
The publication of her memoir, in the spring of that year, put a swift end to that. In it she recounted, with apparent pride, her decisiveness in dealing with a 14-month-old hunting dog, Cricket, who, on a hunt, had gone berserk with excitement, attacked a neighbour\u2019s chickens and then attempted to bite Noem. <\/p>\n
Back at the ranch, Noem took Cricket to a gravel pit and shot her. For good measure, she also laid waste to a goat who was ill-tempered with the children. The story of bucolic slaughter was intended as a tale of South Dakotan, no-nonsense, tough-choice leadership. <\/p>\n
The outcry was predictable. Noem\u2019s veep aspirations disappeared. She was fortunate in that Trump is, at best, indifferent to dogs \u2013 and, it would seem, goats \u2013 and gave her his nod as homeland security secretary. <\/p>\n
![\"Kristi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/RBTRNOW3BIWMSKKHMSFDLU5LKE.jpg\")
Kristi Noem, then governor of South Dakota, with Donald Trump at an event in October 2024. Photograph: Michelle Gustafson\/The New York Times<\/p>\n
This week, Tillis, a retiring Republican who has found his critical voice, explained why he felt the story of Cricket\u2019s demise played into the disastrous decision-making Noem had displayed over the months when public protests against the sinister behaviour of Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> (Ice) agents turned fatal in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s relevant because if you read it, she tries to suggest that a 14-month-old dog that\u2019s only half way through what most people that train dogs for hunting purposes think is necessary … so she puts that dog in service long before she should and then she goes and kills it. Then she goes back to the farm and grabs the family goat and shoots it because it made her mad. That\u2019s a thought process. The fact that she acted precipitously on limited information not really understanding that she had put something into a situation that it was not ready for felt a lot like some of the decision-making done in Minneapolis.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump phoned Noem on Thursday to tell her directly she was being relieved of her duties, an act that could be interpreted as merciful had it not occurred minutes before she took to the podium for a public speaking engagement in Nashville. <\/p>\n Markwayne Mullin, the veteran Oklahoma senator \u2013 whose previous Senate highlights include inviting an opponent to duke it out with him \u2013 is quite liked by many colleagues across the aisle and is expected to be confirmed at the end of the month.<\/p>\n The reasons behind Noem\u2019s dismissal run long. In the long term, her tenure will be remembered for the notorious moment when she branded Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the Ice protesters fatally shot on the streets of Minneapolis, as \u201cdomestic terrorists\u201d. <\/p>\n Her lack of empathy, and refusal to retract the comment, was mirrored by the preening, sinister performances of Ice field commander Greg Bovino. <\/p>\n Restoring control at the southern border had been the jewel in the crown of Trump\u2019s first-year policies. But then it overtook unhappiness with inflation as a cause of complaint as poll after poll returned deep public unease with the brutal tactics. Trump replaced Bovino and sent experienced border tsar Tom Homan to Minnesota to restore control.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, scandal continued to follow Noem. Last November, ProPublica broke the story that a $200 million (\u20ac177 million) department of homeland security advertising campaign had been awarded to a \u201cRepublican<\/a> consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to Noem and her senior aides\u201d. <\/p>\n The main recipient was a company listed in Delaware and established just eight days before the contracts were settled. In return, the taxpayer was treated to nationally-broadcast adverts of Noem sitting on horseback against a South Dakota backdrop of which John Ford might have been proud \u2013 prairies, mountains and, fatally, Mount Rushmore. If there is any face of the administration that Trump would like to see set against the presidential carvings at Rushmore, it\u2019s the one staring back at him in the mirror every morning. The panoramic adverts, complete with Noem warning immigrants to either get out or else, did not go unnoticed. <\/p>\n