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Puppy killing and the politics of self-destruction
Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, is not the only public figure to have disastrously misjudged popular opinion
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South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem in her autobiography recounts how she shot her puppy because he was apparently untrainable and had bitten people.
PHOTO: AFP
Henry Mance
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For many years, journalists have analysed public figures through a simple, cynical lens: Why is this lying bastard lying to me? But maybe we also need to ask the opposite: Why are they telling us the truth?
Exhibit one: Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota. She had been mentioned as a possible vice-presidential candidate for Donald Trump. So, as American politicians insist on doing, she is publishing an autobiography. Unfortunately for her, the book has already proved a little too honest.
