Noem book describing dog killing is a donation perk at upcoming GOP fundraiser

Kristi Noem’s new book, in which the South Dakota governor and Donald Trump vice presidential aspirant describes why she killed her 14-month-old dog, has sparked widespread outrage.

But to the California Republican Party, reading about how Noem shot Cricket — her family’s wirehair pointer — is a perk.

The book, No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, is included with every purchase of a ticket for a lunch banquet May 18 in Burlingame, Calif., during the California GOP Convention.

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The prices: $400 for preferred seating, $300 for general admission, and $575 for a photo with Noem and a general admission ticket. Just want the photo and no grub? That’s $350.

People attending can hear Noem speak, eat lunch and go home to read about the dog she “hated.”

The California GOP did not immediately answer Raw Story’s question about whether it is reconsidering the book as a perk for the lunch.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump greets South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem during a rally at the Dayton International Airport on March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. The rally was hosted by the Buckeye Values PAC. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Noem personally stands to profit the from bulk purchase of her book by Republican political committees. The National Republican Congressional Committee, for one, purchased a bulk delivery of Noem's previous book and offered it as a donation incentive, Forbes' Zach Everson reported in 2022.

In excerpts published by The Guardian, Noem casts the story as an example of her willingness to take on tasks, including the “difficult, messy and ugly” ones.

She called the dog “untrainable” and “dangerous,” describing a scene where the dog escaped Noem’s truck and killed chickens.

Noem took the dog to a gravel pit to rid herself of Cricket.

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“It was not a pleasant job,” she writes, “but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done.”

The “job” of killing animals wasn’t over. She also shot and killed a “nasty and mean” goat, needing two shots to finish because the goat jumped.

“I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn’t tell the story here,” Noem writes.

Or maybe she knew exactly what she was doing, suggested Bill Kristol, political commentator and frequent critic of Trump’s Republican party.

“Knowing Donald Trump fears and hates dogs, Kristi Noem revs up her VP campaign by writing about killing her own dog,” Kristol posted on X.

Another post did a twist on the Jimi Hendrix song, “Hey Joe.”

After a musical note emoji, it said, “Hey Noem … I heard you shot your Puppy down.”

Sam Stein of Politico and MSNBC wrote, “We've gone a long way from Mitt Romney pleading with people that he did not mistreat Seamus by putting that dog on his car's roof to Kristi Noem eagerly writing about how she killed her dog in a gravel pit.”

Romney, a current U.S. senator from Utah and 2012 Republican presidential candidate, was assailed for putting his Irish setter Seamus in a dog carrier on top of a car for a 12-hour vacation ride in 1983.

A Washington Post story included a photo of people carrying signs saying, “Dogs Against Romney” and “I Ride Inside!”

The signs also publicized a website, dogsagainstromney.com, which now goes to a site that reviews dog products.

Commander, the dog of U.S. President Joe Biden, barks as Biden departs on the south lawn of the White House on June 25, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

President Joe Biden has had his own dog-related problems, as family dog Commander, a German shepherd, bit numerous U.S. Secret Service personnel, according to internal documents obtained by CNN and USA Today.

Biden most certainly did not kill Commander in a gravel pit; the presidential pooch is now living with other Biden family members outside the White House, according to first lady Jill Biden’s communications director, Elizabeth Alexander.