The media scrutiny surrounding South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s forthcoming book keeps getting stronger as the leaked stories from it keep getting stranger. After The Guardian obtained a chapter in which Noem recounted the decision to shoot and kill her family dog and a goat on her farm, more eyebrow-raising tales have emerged.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Victor Davis Hanson, author of The End of Everything, to discuss some of the lies that Noem has been forced to walk back and the political miscalculation she made in publishing this book.
Korean Confusion
When The Guardian report first broke last week about Noem choosing to kill her dog Cricket after an ill-fated pheasant hunt and trip to a friend’s farm, Megyn called the move “political malpractice.”
In her view, the governor’s attempt to smooth things over in the wake of the backlash has been just as clumsy. “She is out there on her book tour and she is still trying to do cleanup on her ‘I murdered my puppy story,’ changing the [details] yet again,” Megyn noted. “This is such an exercise of one woman just single-handedly destroying her own reputation.”
But that is not Noem’s only issue. While the book – No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward – does not come out until Tuesday, more leaked pages reveal the vice presidential hopeful played fast and loose with some of the facts of her own political career.
At one point, Noem apparently referenced a meeting she had with North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un. The problem? She never met with the despot. She was asked about the untruth during an interview with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on Sunday.
BRENNAN: You talk about meeting some world leaders and one specific one. Quote, ‘I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, 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).’ Did you meet Kim Jong Un?
NOEM: You know, as soon as this was brought to my attention, I certainly made some changes and looked at this, this passage. And I’ve met with many, many world leaders. I’ve traveled around the world. As soon as it was brought to my attention, we went forward and have made some edits…
BRENNAN: So you did not meet with Kim Jong Un, that’s what you’re saying?
NOEM: I’ve met with many, many world leaders, many world leaders… I’m not going to talk about my specific meetings with world leaders. I’m just not going to do that. This anecdote shouldn’t have been in the book and as soon as it was brought to my attention, I made sure that that was adjusted.
It is public knowledge that Noem worked with a ghostwriter. And while some assumed that may have been the reason the anecdote made it into the book unchecked, that theory doesn’t quite hold up. “I don’t know if she wrote any piece of this. I don’t know who is making up the lie, but I do know it wasn’t just ‘brought to her attention,'” Megyn said. “She read it into the audio book herself, which – to Margaret Brennan’s credit – she asked her about.”
BRENNAN: I know you read this book before it was published because you released video of your recording of the audio book. You didn’t catch these errors when you were recording it?
NOEM: Oh, Margaret, as soon as it was brought to my attention, I took action to make sure that it was reflected… You’re talking about a book that hasn’t been released yet, that’s been corrected before it’s been released, and you haven’t said one thing about Joe Biden saying that he was in prison with Nelson Mandela, that he started the civil rights movement.
The lack of accountability, in Megyn’s view, was unbecoming. “She never met with Kim Jong Un. It was a lie. It wasn’t true, but it wound up in her book,” she said. “She doesn’t have the nerve to just say, ‘It’s not true. We made a mistake. I apologize. This is who I mixed him up with.'”
French Fib
At another point in the book, The Dakota Scout reported that Noem claimed she canceled a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in 2023 after he delivered what she considered to be “a very pro-Hamas and anti-Israel comment to the press.” Macron’s office confirmed to the outlet that no such meeting was ever on the books, let alone canceled.
Megyn said that the underlying theme between the dog story (which is true) and the untrue tales about her meeting with foreign leaders is her desire to project strength and toughness. “Kristi Noem is trying to brag about her self-importance without doing the very thing she says she does in this book, which is make hard choices and be this tough leader,” she explained. “She is not tough at all. She is too scared to even admit she lied and she screwed up in her book.”
‘Something Is Going On’
Given that Noem was once believed to be on Donald Trump’s shortlist for VP, Hanson said the hyperbole is particularly puzzling. “Don’t you feel that when… somebody is going to give you a promotion, at that time is when you go over very carefully your CV or what you say,” he asked. “And yet rather than going over everything so she doesn’t end up where she is now, she sort of exaggerates things in the worst possible way.”
While Hanson said Noem likely has some insecurities around her lack of foreign policy bona fides, he questioned if it is part of a larger trend. “I’ve watched her career… and something is going on there,” he said. “She doesn’t look the same. She doesn’t talk the same. Her commercials are different. They are all about her, and I don’t know what has happened.”
Megyn agreed. “I’m not opposed to fake hair at all – I’ve got a couple extras in [my hair] and I love it… but she has gone like Lady Godiva with the extensions down to here and… it’s not professional,” she explained. “She has obviously had a lot of Botox and filler… in her face. She did a weird ad for capped teeth, which I guess she has also had. She is trying to be like some sort of a glam queen instead of a respected leader.”
All of this, Hanson said, will almost certainly end her political aspirations this election cycle. “If you’re on the vice presidential selection team for Donald Trump, that’s the last thing you need right now,” he concluded. “Prior to this, she had been a pretty good chief executive of a small but important state. She really played up her out west, cowgirl, hard work… nuclear family. But then why do things that just obviate all of that? I don’t understand it.”
You can check out Megyn’s interview with Hanson by tuning in to episode 783 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.