While it’s true that Noem shot the cricket herself, other passages suggest a more sinister motive. For example, Noem uses Cricket’s story to embarrass President Biden about his own dog, Commander, who was kicked out of the White House after biting a Secret Service agent. “Dogs that bite are dangerous and unpredictable (are you listening, Joe Biden?),” Noem wrote. In the final chapter, when Nomu explosively and optimistically listed her first-day priorities if she became president in 2025, she reiterated that point. “The first thing I will do is make sure Joe Biden’s dog is nowhere on the property. (Commander, say hello to Cricket.)”
The latter line doesn’t really even work as a burn mark (outgoing presidents are unlikely to leave their pets alone on their south lawn), but such simple acts of vandalism are a faux-tough-guy, unscrupulous signal-caller. Noem is boldly trying to emulate this Trump-era tone, which has become a key part of the Trump era. “To me, Donald Trump is not the way normal people talk, the way my friends and neighbors talk, the way people in Washington, D.C., talk,” Noem gushed. Even while falling into political clichés such as “our best days are yet to come,” she mimicked President Trump’s demeanor, mocked “bastards” and “haters,” and denounced Washington’s They all praise the former president’s “rebel spirit” while lamenting the “swamp”. ”
There are moments in “No Going Back” where Noem sounds like a reasonable leader, even offering some of the general bipartisanship Washington pretends to crave. She said that former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, once encouraged her to seek public office, and that after working with Democrats, she began to express negative opinions about the party. He points out that it has faded. “Healthy discussions took place, education took place, and respect was built.” (It’s a passive voice, but it’s something.) And her loneliness when she moved to Washington as a member of Congress in 2011 The short passage that brings to mind is one of the most humanizing moments in the memoir. “I felt completely alone because there was no one there who really knew me or cared about me,” she writes. “There was no one I had grown up with or shared memories with.”
But Noem also enjoys her smallness and contradictions. She told how she got back at Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for criticizing his coronavirus policies. Noem spent “a significant portion of her job advertising budget” on billboards in neighboring states, including near the governor’s mansion where Walz could see them. (“Migrate to South Dakota for freedom,” they read.) “Just thinking about it still makes me laugh,” Noem wrote. This is because it is ridiculous to seek freedom using people’s tax money.
And right after arguing that female politicians should support each other (“That’s frustrating—no, Horrible (“When insecure women compete with each other instead of helping each other.”) Noem said Nikki Haley, who served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration and later challenged him in the Republican primary, once threatened her during a phone call. “I’ve never had one before,” he complains, sounding rather dubious. phone. Noem highlighted moments in which Haley criticized Trump and then supported her, concluding, “You never know who she’s going to be tomorrow.”
