That wasn’t exactly why, according to the article. This was, apparently, the shittiest attempt at damage control I’ve ever seen.
But South Dakota Democratic Senate Minority Leader Reynold Nesiba considered the disclosure more calculated than stupid. He said the story has circulated for years among lawmakers that Noem killed a dog in a “fit of anger” and that there were witnesses. He speculated that it was coming out now because Noem is being vetted as a candidate for vice president.
“She knew that this was a political vulnerability, and she needed to put it out there, before it came up in some other venue,” he said. “Why else would she write about it?”
She also writes about shooting a goat the family owned because it was mean to her kids.
She has basically no chance of being Trump’s VP now, but this is the level of quality he’s looking for in a candidate.