It seems that South Dakota governor Kristi Noem’s decision to publicly admit, without any kind of prompting, to killing a puppy might backfire on her and actually kill her chances to be chosen as Donald Trump’s running mate. But to NBC host Seth Meyers, that makes sense.
On Friday the Guardian obtained a copy of Noem’s upcoming memoir, in which she recalls a story from roughly 13 years ago, when she had a 14-month old pointer named Cricket.
The governor details how very little she trained the dog — who, at 14 months old, could still be considered a puppy — and how one day, after some behavior by the pup that Noem couldn’t rein in herself, she decided the dog needed to be put down, so she brought it to a nearby gravel pit where she shot it herself. (Noem also openly admitted that she “hated” the animal).
According to Meyers, a close Trump ally said “it’s impossible” for Noem to be chosen as VP now. But really, he wasn’t surprised by this development.
“After all, they can’t have her standing right next to an old yeller,” the host joked.
Meyers then promised that he and his team are “gonna land this ‘she killed a dog’ plane soon,” but vowed to make one joke about the situation during every monologue this week.
Indeed, the host tore Noem apart for it on Monday night too, marveling at the fact that she chose to reveal this story at all.
“It’s horrible enough to kill a dog, but even crazier to brag about it,” Meyers said during his “A Closer Look” segment on Monday. “That’s a level of psycho I didn’t even know existed. Even Buffalo Bill had the self awareness to keep his abhorrent behavior indoors.”
You can watch Seth Meyers’ full monologue in the video above.