Trump VP contender Kristi Noem stands by killing her dog Cricket amid bipartisan ridicule

• Republican Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota doubled down in a social media post on a controversial anecdote about killing her puppy in an upcoming memoir.
• Noem has attempted to spin the anecdote into a case for her political deftness and willingness to make "tough challenges" as she vies to become Donald Trump's vice presidential pick.
• Democrats and Republicans alike have taken to social media to ridicule Noem for the memoir anecdote and mark this controversy as a possible death knell for her VP chances.

Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on Sunday attempted to spin a controversial anecdote about killing her puppy, revealed in her upcoming memoir, into a case for her political deftness as she vies to become Donald Trump's vice presidential pick.

A Friday report from The Guardian described snippets of her memoir about her decisions to kill various family farm animals, including a 14-month-old puppy named Cricket and an unnamed goat.

"I can understand why some people are upset about a 20-year-old story of Cricket, one of the working dogs at our ranch," Noem wrote in an X post on Sunday. "Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never passed on my responsibilities to anyone else to handle. Even if it's hard and painful. I followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor."

Noem has spent the weekend dealing with ridicule from both Democrats and Republicans since those anecdotes became public.

In both instances, she has stood by her decision to put down the animals, saying that Cricket had an "aggressive personality" and that the goat was "nasty and mean," according to The Guardian report.

Noem's Sunday defense comes as a last-ditch effort to quell the flurry of doubts that the