Long after she saved the world from a rambunctious puppy, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem showed the kind of cold, steely resolve required of vice presidential suck-ups candidates.
For instance, there was that time — as mentioned in her book — she stood toe-to-toe with North Korean thug Kim Jong Un and showed him a thing or two about tough South Dakota ranch women.
In her soon-to-be-released book, Noem wrote, “I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders. 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).”
I’ll bet he withered under her gaze.
I can just imagine Noem looking straight at that tinpot dictator, who is known for having opponents executed with anti-aircraft guns, and threatening to drag him down to the gravel pit.
Oh, wait .…
An upcoming book by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem that has created an uproar over her account of shooting a dog also contains at least two instances in which she recounts meetings with world leaders that are in dispute.
In “No Going Back,” Noem says she met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un while serving in Congress on the House Armed Services Committee. Last year as governor, she says she canceled a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
But neither account has been verified by congressional travel documents or outside sources reviewed by The Dakota Scout. And The Scout confirmed with the French president’s office that Macron never had a meeting scheduled with Noem.
…….
“It’s bullshit,” remarked a longtime, high-level Capitol Hill staffer who worked on the House Armed Services Committee during the period in which Noem says she met Kim. That staffer was among a dozen staffers interviewed by The Scout who said they had no knowledge of the meeting, or who said Noem had never mentioned it before.
Bullshit? Oh, c’mon now.
Why it is so unbelievable that Noem met with Kim. After all, she can practically see North Korea from the front porch of the governor’s mansion in Pierre.
Did her publisher do any fact-checking or did they decide to save money and lay off all their editors? So now they are in crisis mode.
If you are a headline writer, you live for the chance to write headlines like this:
Noem book dogged by new claims of inaccuracies
Noem’s spokesperson, Ian Fury, seemed to concede that the Kim story was false Thursday night: “We’ve been made aware that the publisher will be addressing conflated world leaders’ names in the book before it is released.”