White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre excoriated South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for suggesting that the president's vicious dog be put down, the Daily Mail reported. This followed another firestorm involving Noem's admission that she shot one of her farm dogs years ago.
President Joe Biden's German Shepherd Commander has been a source of grief after being involved in several biting incidents at the White House. Meanwhile, Noem has been defending the time she was forced to shoot her dog Cricket after it killed some of her neighbor's chickens.
While doing so, Noem said Commander should meet a similar fate. "Well, number one, Joe Biden's dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people. So how many people is enough people to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog?" Noem said on CNN's "Face the Nation" on CBS Sunday.
On Monday, Jean-Pierre used her bully pulpit to pile on Noem for her comments on the program. "When we learned last week, obviously like all of you, in her book that she killed her puppy, you heard me say that was very sad," Jean-Pierre said.
"We find her comments from yesterday disturbing," she added. 'We find them absurd. And, and here – this is a country that loves dogs," Jean-Pierre continued.
"And you have a leader talking about putting dogs down, killing them. And that's a disturbing statement. I would say her she should probably should stop digging herself in a hole," the press secretary added.
Reporters continued to pepper Jean-Pierre with questions about this issue, including the fate of the president's ill-tempered dog. "Commander is living with family members," Jean-Pierre replied.
“She probably should stop digging herself in a hole.”
— White House Press Sec. Karine Jean-Pierre reacts to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem suggesting that President Biden’s dog, Commander, should be put down pic.twitter.com/K7vfmFCd59
— The Recount (@therecount) May 6, 2024
Noem shared the anecdote about the dog in her campaign memoirs over the advice of her team, Politico reported. Perhaps she saw it as a way to showcase her ability to make a tough decision.
Unfortunately for her, the American people didn't see it that way. What followed was "a weeklong news cycle — and a round of obituaries for that same political future — by including a tale about Noem leading a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer named Cricket to a gravel pit and shooting him to death after he ruined a pheasant hunt and killed a neighbor’s chickens," the outlet said.
Noem's admission was a grave miscalculation. However, Jean-Pierre's repulsion to the very sane and sober advice to put down a dog who keeps biting humans is part of a growing trend.
Dogs are part of the fabric of American society, but some of these animals shouldn't be because they're dangerous. Still, people ignore evidence that breeds such as pit bulls frequently bite and often inflict injury because it's become increasingly taboo to say so.
Noem's tale about shooting her own dog in such a manner did not land as she'd hoped. However, Jean-Pierre's comments about the situation illustrated a disordered mindset about protecting dogs who are harmful regardless of the cost to human life and health.
