I'm no political consultant, so maybe I'm speaking from ignorance here, but I think the first rule of politics has to be something like: "Never brag about the time you killed the family dog!"

Again I'm no expert but I think Kristi Noem made a critical error here.

Noem writes an election-year memoir as she's hoping and praying to be selected as Donald Trump's VP. And in that memoir she writes, "I hated that dog" and "I realized I had to put her down" before graphically describing shooting the dog.

I know what she's going for here. Noem wants you to know that she can make tough decisions and dare to carry them out. She's a tough country gal. That's why she wrote this.

But what's the takeaway? "Dog killer!"

[Watch on mute because there's language]

SERIOUSLY! KRISTI! What are we doing here?

We've got some A+ gold star reactions for you, because Noem may have been right in her decision to put down the dog, but she was wrong in the decision to share the story.

Not everyone is totally upset. Some have a more nuanced take.

Now there is also A LOT of rage from animal rights people and from lefties who think it's okay to murder babies in the womb. I won't be accepting any criticism from them or putting them in this story. You can imagine why.

Noem did respond to the negative media reporting by addressing life on the farm that most rural Americans understand ... as well as talking about even more of the animals she had to kill.

Yeah, her defense is that she's "politically incorrect."

Again, we don't know all the details. I'm not convinced she's a cold-blooded animal hater ...

But, again, from an optics standpoint, WHAT THE HECK was she thinking?

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