On Monday, the hosts and panelists of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” unleashed a torrent of condemnation upon Governor Kristi Noem, who shockingly revealed in her latest book that she took aim and ended the life of an innocent 14-month-old puppy named Cricket because she “hated that dog.”
Co-host Mika Brzezinski expressed her of disbelief and revulsion as she described the details of Noem’s book. Joe Scarborough couldn’t contain his incredulity, repeatedly blurting out “wow.” He questioned not only the act itself but also Noem’s unfathomable decision to boast about it, even suggesting it could somehow bolster her chances of becoming Donald Trump’s running mate in 2024.
Brzezinski took the criticism further, suggesting that anyone who could take pleasure in such a heartless act lacked the temperament for any position of authority. She recounted her own upbringing on a farm, where respect for life and a dignified approach to hunting were instilled, contrasting it sharply with Noem’s apparent joy in the killing.
“I’m having a hard time with this one,” Brzezinski began. “So I come from growing up on somewhat of a family farm run by Eastern European immigrants. We definitely had — we were deer hunters, turkey hunters, geese. There was absolutely a sense of life and death with animals in our life, but there was never a joy in killing, and there was a respect to it and a process if you were hunting and if you brought home game.”
Don't Miss
She added: “But this story was more about how she felt killing an animal, and that’s what’s scary about it. The impatience, the kind of like a switch flipped in her brain, and she decided she needed to kill it. Like, this is not someone you want in charge, not someone thinking through.”
Scarborough joined in, lamenting the depths to which the conservative movement had sunk under Trump’s influence, suggesting that Noem’s inclusion of the puppy-killing anecdote was a desperate ploy to curry favor with the base.
Contributor Johnathan Lemire speculated on the twisted logic behind Noem’s decision, suggesting that perhaps she believed aligning herself with Trump’s disdain for dogs would somehow endear her to his supporters.
“Donald Trump famously doesn’t like dogs, so perhaps that was part of her calculation, as well,” he said. “But it is — it is stunning, what a self-own this was,” he continued. “To put this in her book and now stand by it. She put out a statement last night, you know, saying she acknowledged that some people were upset at her telling of the execution of her puppy named Cricket in a gravel pit. That’s what it was: an execution of Cricket in a gravel pit.”
In a final twist of irony, Lemire labeled Noem’s admission as a “self-own,” highlighting the sheer absurdity of proudly confessing to the execution of a defenseless puppy named Cricket in a gravel pit. The entire spectacle left viewers aghast at the moral bankruptcy of those willing to sacrifice basic decency for political gain.
Watch the segment below from MSNBC:
