‘Justice for Cricket’: Trump’s nomination of Kristi Noem for DHS reignites fury over her dog-killing boast

Dog people are not happy with President-elect Donald Trump's reported pick for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

The South Dakota governor is a longtime ally of Trump and had been considered one of the top contenders to be his running mate until revelations she shot and killed her dog helped derail her chances.

The headlines came from Noem's own admission and subsequent doubling down of killing her 14-month-old pup Cricket after she was unable to train it to hunt properly.

“I hated that dog,” Noem wrote of the dog, calling it simultaneously ”untrainable” and “the picture of pure joy.”

Noem wrote that she decided to shoot Cricket after the dog attacked a neighbor’s chickens. After killing Cricket, the Guardian reported, Noem also decided to shoot a "nasty and mean" goat—though the goat survived the first shot and she had to retrieve another shell from her truck to finish the job.

News of Noem's dog killing sent her vice presidential odds plummeting on prediction markets.

On Polymarket, Noem held around a 10% chance of scoring the job in March. After the Cricket story broke, her chances dropped to 3%.

Now, Cricket's story is coming back into the limelight via critics posting dog pictures and memes in response to the reports she's being tapped to lead Homeland Security.

"Me realizing Kristi Noem may become Secretary of Homeland Security," captioned one X user of a GIF showing a golden retriever peeing on the floor.

"My puppy dog when I told her Kristi Noem was moving to DC," posted someone else.

"Every dog upon hearing Kristi Noem being tapped for Secretary of Homeland Security," said one person, who included a GIF of a scared dog.

"All dogs, please, this is not a drill, please seek shelter immediately," quipped another person.

"Here's a picture of a dog trying to leave the country before Kristi Noem becomes homeland security director," joked someone else.

Noem's selection has eyebrows among some conservatives and supporters of Trump as well.

One X user—who says he voted for Trump—wrote that the pick is "ridiculous."

"Unless we are at risk of invasion by sheepdogs, he needs to rethink this, or the Senate needs to block this one," he wrote, adding a photoshopped Old Yeller movie poster.

"Why not pick someone with military background or any type of intelligence background to be Director of Homeland Security?" asked one right-wing account. "Kristi Noem is by far the worst pick so far."

"Kristi Noem is the worst pick so far. By far," echoed former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis.

"Nominating dog kiIIer Kristi Noem is a betrayal of Peanut the Squirrel," concluded someone else. "I love President Trump, but his advisors made a big mistake by telling him to nominate Noem."

"I stand with Peanut the squirrel, Fred the raccoon and Cricket the dog. Justice for Cricket, no to Kristi Noem. There, I said it," stated someone else.

One Trump supporter on X stated that "people who abuse animals have no right to be in any position of leadership."

But some argue that the Cricket story exemplifies why she'd make a great Homeland Security Secretary.

"I find it [the Cricket story] to be awful. Absolutely horrifying. But if she’s that callous she’ll be great handling illegals," concluded one right-wing influencer.

"I hate her," echoed someone else. "She'll do great."

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