John Hendrickson: “In the book, the governor recalls the day he realized his dog Cricket had gone from a spoiled menace to a problem that needed solving. Noem led the cricket into the gravel pit. Then she pulled her trigger.”
Noem wrote: “It was not a fun job. But it was something that had to be done.”
“The thing that stands out the most is the phrase gravel pit. It's an image fit for a Cormac McCarthy novel. Campaign brochures generally don't scream 'literature'. It is a marketing tool to showcase a politician's personality and leadership skills. Noem may have believed that telling this saga (in addition to her goat-killing story) would serve as a testament to her courage and her rural goodwill, endearing her to millions of potential voters. . Noem, who published this sentence instead, will one day be remembered as the biggest mistake of her career.”
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