John McEntee, who started out as Donald Trump’s bag holder and rose to become his most important executive in the final days of Trump’s tumultuous presidential term, has a TikTok account. In a video released last week, he explains that he likes to keep “fake Hollywood money” in his car to give to homeless people. “And if they try to use it, they get arrested, so I’m actually kind of helping clean up the community,” he said.
McEntee, with his boyish face and slicked-back hair, is a former White House director of presidential personnel who is likely to become a central figure in future Trump administration personnel, and he played a murderous investment banker. Looks a lot like Patrick Bateman. Christian Bale starred in the 2000 film American Psycho. The video’s smug villainy explains why South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who craves a bigger role in the MAGA world, thought she could gain inroads by bragging about killing puppies. I think it provides a clue.
Right-wingers often rain down disdain on what they call virtue signaling, a performance epitomized by the “This House” yard signs that once dotted progressive neighborhoods. It is a kind of holiness. Partly in response, they developed what is sometimes called vice-signaling, an attitude of cruelty and defiance against social norms. “Rolling Coal,” modifying diesel engines to spew dark exhaust fumes to galvanize environmentalists, or George Santos’ indiscriminate falsehoods that endeared him to hardcore MAGA followers. Please think about it.
A cult of Bateman has developed right on the online right, which is why images from “American Psycho” appeared repeatedly in Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ bizarre ads during his failed presidential campaign. is. And, of course, no one sends more bad signals than President Trump, who keeps comparing himself to gangster Al Capone.
For years, Noem has tried to fit into President Trump’s circle with parvenu philosophies. She ditched the judicious haircut and subtle makeup of her early days in politics for the popular Palm Beach look at Mar-a-Lago, where she wore a lace-up of Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandeau. She brought in Suki as her top advisor. Two months ago, she posted a bizarre, infomercial-esque social media spot about traveling to Texas for cosmetic dental treatment, but it also trumpets her own suitability as a corrupt and shameless salesman. It looked like he was trying to show it to the president. (Consumer advocacy group Travelers United is currently suing her for her deceptive advertising.)
Until recently, she was considered a potential Trump running mate, and her new book, No Going Back, could be titled “Pick Me!”. In it, she criticized former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel for not doing more to investigate “suspicious voting” after Trump’s loss in 2020, and said she had tried to distance herself from Trump since January 6. He slammed Nikki Haley for doing so. She says nonsense that in order to become president, she would hire John Kerry just for the pleasure of being able to say to him, “You’re fired!”
Noem’s now famous dog-killing anecdote should be seen in the context of this effort to mold herself to the specifications of the MAGA movement. As you probably already know, Noem spends several pages of her thin memoir first killing Cricket, a 14-month-old disobedient pointer, and then a “mean and mean” goat.
According to Politico, she wanted to include the story in her first book, which she published two years ago, but was rejected by her publishing team. Apparently, she felt compelled to try again. It’s a story that she considers important to her own personality. This puzzled many observers. “Did you have any other personal anecdotes?” asked a National Review reporter. “Doesn’t she know that humans like dogs?”
Her inclusion in this story makes more sense when you consider the kind of person she’s trying to impress. The former president and those around him often seem drawn to violence and despicable displays of control. Of course, Mr. Trump has made no secret of his disdain for dogs or his admiration for brutal dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, whom Nom pretended to have met.
Lewandowski, a thug, was charged with assault in 2016 for allegedly grabbing a Breitbart reporter, but the charges were later dropped and he later filed a plea deal against the wife of a Trump donor. He was charged again with a misdemeanor in 2022 for making aggressive sexual advances. . (The incident caused Noem to briefly sever ties with Lewandowski, but it appears he has returned to her good graces and Trump’s. ).
McEntee, the senior personnel adviser for Project 2025, the right-wing plan for the second Trump administration, could be a gateway to many White House jobs. And of course, President Trump’s two older sons love to post photos of themselves with the carcasses of the trophy animals they hunt.
It’s natural for someone trying to overcome this environment to think that Cricket’s story will make her look good. Noem now claims the piece was meant to illustrate her own ability to make difficult choices, but there’s something refreshing about the way she talks about it in her book. Near the end, she tries to tease Joe Biden about his out-of-control German shepherd by saying, “Commander, say hello to Cricket for me.”
If such clumsy brutality explodes in Noem’s face, it’s partly because Americans tend to value dogs more than people, but the scenes she described are so despicable. That’s also why. Successful collateral signaling requires a degree of intentionality. In an article about Bateman’s appeal to young right-wing men, the conservative Washington Examiner wrote, “He wields power over himself and those around him, but many young people, especially conservatives, find it “I feel like this is unattainable for us,” he said.
In contrast, Noem made herself look out of control. She was furious with her dog, and when she decided on a whim to kill the goat as well, she didn’t bring enough bullets to kill it first. There is no ambition in this dirty, wild eye-flapping act. And I imagine that Republicans — and not just Republicans — are particularly uncomfortable hearing this from women.
Still, her failed attempts to present herself as Trump-appropriate speak volumes about how she understands the MAGA ethos. An old saw says that imitation is the best form of flattery. It could also be an inadvertent insult.
