My Point of View: Noem’s story about taking pictures canine was an enchantment to Trump – Albert Lea Tribune

My Point of View by Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is correct. There’s “No Going Back.”

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

In her new, very appropriately titled e book, Noem described taking pictures a 14-month-old looking canine that she was having problem coaching. When her daughter Kennedy (who would have been about 7 on the time) stepped off the varsity bus that day, she seemed round and requested, “Where’s Cricket?”
The web recoiled in horror.

I grew up on a farm the place many pets met premature deaths (not for misbehavior). I do know the place Noem is coming from — it’s a place the place animals’ utility is valued over affection — however her story hits in another way now than it will have a couple of a long time in the past.

She was aiming at an viewers of 1, in fact. Unfortunately for her, that audience-of-one can learn the room, and the room collectively dug Noem’s political grave the way in which she dug Cricket’s grave.

I’ve by no means seen something prefer it.

I shouldn’t have been shocked, given the way in which that proper wing Twitter troll “Catturd” was handled final month when he unintentionally ran over certainly one of his dogs together with his truck. He was beside himself with grief, and he obtained an outpouring of sympathy and help, together with from individuals who disagree with him vehemently on politics. (Yes, there have been web trolls who mocked him for it, and they’re actually damaged individuals.)

Almost nothing else brings individuals collectively like affection for dogs and cats. People got here collectively earlier this month to arrange, donate to and store at a storage sale that raised greater than $6500 for the native Humane Society.

So, why did Noem assume that sharing this “politically incorrect” story about killing an adolescent canine was a wise transfer?

First, it ought to be apparent by now that “politically incorrect” is one other technique to say insensitive, cruel or unempathetic. For instance, it was additionally “politically incorrect” for some individuals to make enjoyable of Catturd when he unintentionally crushed his canine Smiles. They don’t deserve something however criticism for kicking somebody in agony. Neither does Noem deserve any credit score for her actions. She may have spent some power discovering a brand new home for the big puppy whose conduct was in keeping with its breed profile as an alternative of taking it to a gravel pit.

Why sign that she will be cruel and insensitive? Because Noem is aware of that’s precisely what Donald Trump is in search of in his vice presidential choose.

Mike Pence made Trump very offended when he selected to serve the constitutional order fairly than collaborating in Trump’s coup technique on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”

Pence did have the braveness to do what he was constitutionally obligated to do, which was certify Joe Biden’s win at a joint session of Congress, though a crowd of Trump supporters was menacingly chanting “Hang Mike Pence” and had erected a gallows on the Capitol grounds.

Kristi Noem’s story is her means of telling Trump that she would do his soiled work with out flinching. Unlike Pence, she would serve Trump as an alternative of the Constitution.

Why sign her capability to be cruel with a narrative a few canine particularly? Because Trump has an especially low opinion of dogs.
Trump was the primary president in over 100 years to not have a pet canine on the White House. Comparing individuals to dogs is certainly one of Trump’s favourite methods to dehumanize them.

For instance, in Trump’s phrases, Mitt Romney “choked like a dog,” General Stanley McChrystal was fired “like a dog,” Ted Cruz “lies like a dog,” Brent Bozell was “begging for money like a dog,” Steve Bannon was “dumped like a dog,” Paul Ryan was “out there dying like a dog,” and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi “died like a dog.”

Trump typically calls ladies dogs. Of Omarosa Manigault he mentioned, “Good work by [White House Chief of Staff John] Kelly for quickly firing that dog!”

Trump mentioned he attacked Arianna Huffington’s look shortly after he introduced his candidacy in 2015 “because she is a dog who wrongfully comments on me.”

Get the image? Trump makes use of comparisons to dogs as an insult as a result of he hates dogs.

Dehumanization like that could be a fascist type of politics. Even if individuals don’t need to acknowledge the fascist component, they might acknowledge that having a horrible opinion of man’s finest pal is an indication of broken character.

Noem, like many individuals who appealed to Trump’s indecency, has abruptly discovered herself in a gravel pit of public opinion.

There’s “no going back.” It’s too late for Noem to present Cricket a distinct final result or simply hold Cricket’s execution to herself, however possibly this incident will assist voters clearly see that Trump is a horrible person, a horrible selection for president, and we will solely transfer ahead to a greater, kinder future with out him.

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson is a member of the Freeborn County DFL Party.