Is it just us, or has Kristi Noem gotten weirder?
Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Don't get it twisted — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has always been one of the worst anti-LGBTQ+ politicians in the country.
Noem's spearheading of a transgender sports ban in her state is credited with inspiring other legislation across the country, and in the years since she's done anything but settle down. But it's not just queer people Noem is harming — her bizarre actions are also proving to be a risk to her future in politics (and innocent farm animals...)
So here are some of Noem's craziest moments. Or, in her own words, here are the stories the conservative “wouldn't tell if I were a better politician.”
Hiding from 'We're Here' stars in her office
Photo by Greg Endries/HBO
Amy Rambow, star of We're Here season two and founder of the South Dakota LGBTQ+ organization Watertown Love, attempted to meet with Noem during Equality South Dakota's Visibility and Advocacy Day at the capital which occurred directly after the governor had signed an anti-trans sports bill into law.
Noem refused to speak with the group as she entered her office, and camped out inside until the event concluded.
Making a commercial targeting trans inclusion
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Before it was passed and signed into law, Noem released a national commercial promoting her transgender-exclusionary sports bil. The ad, which debuted during prime-time news programs around the nation, didn't use the words "transgender" or "trans," but instead insisted that Noem was trying to protect girls' and women's sports.
"In South Dakota, only girls play girls' sports. Why? Because of Gov. Kristi Noem's leadership," the ad stated. "Noem has been protecting girls' sports for years and never backed down."
'Liberal ideologies' are 'poison' to universities
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In a 2023 letter to the state’s Board of Regents — the group that supervises the state’s higher education institutions — Noem demanded they "prohibit drag shows from taking place on university campuses" and "remove all references to preferred pronouns in all school materials and any enforcement of such.”
Noem wrote that states have “allowed liberal ideologies to poison their universities and colleges," adding that institutions that were “once a hotbed of ideological diversity, debate, and the pursuit of truth and discovery” have now “become one-sided, close-minded, and focused on feelings rather than facts.”
She then had the gall to insist that universities “remove any policy or procedure that prohibits students from exercising their right to free speech."
Bragging about killing a puppy... and goat
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Noem revealed in her book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong With Politics and How We Move America Forward, that she shot dead her dog Cricket, a wirehair pointer, after the puppy disrupted a hunt. Noem described the dog as having an “aggressive personality," and said that she killed many of a neighbor's chickens after the governor failed to control her.
Noem wrote that she hated Cricket after the incident, and “realized I had to put her down.” She then took the dog to a gravel pit and shot her to death, later doing the same to a “nasty and mean” male goat her family had owned.
Threatening to kill ANOTHER dog
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Even after receiving bipartisan condemnation for killing a puppy, Noem did not relent or show remorse — instead, she suggested that President Joe Biden's dog, Commander, should meet the same fate.
“What would I do if I was president on the first day in office in 2025?" she wrote in her book's final passage. "The first thing I’d do is make sure Joe Biden’s dog was nowhere on the grounds. (‘Commander, say hello to Cricket for me.’)"
Lying about meeting Kim Jong-un
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Also in her book, Noem fabricated a meeting between herself and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, which the Dakota Scout first discovered had never occurred.
“I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un," she wrote. "I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all).”
Her publisher, Center Street, has since said in a statement that parts of Noem's book will be redacted and reprinted to remove the falsehoods.
