“I’ll take Ella Langley over Kacey Musgraves any day,” tweeted the Republican firebrand. “And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico.”
Musgraves quote-tweeted Noem and responded: “I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it.”
Langley appeared not to welcome Noem pitting her against Musgraves, as she or her team quickly moved to untag her X moniker from the politician’s tweet.
Noem has not returned to X for any more posts since Musgraves’ sardonic comeback, as of this writing.
Noem became famous for an anecdote in her memoir about shooting her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, to death in a gravel pit after she deemed the animal too troublesome. The story was intended to be an example of the one-time South Dakota governor’s firm resolve to do tough things, but it was seen as derailing her chances at becoming Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick during the 2024 campaign.
This was far from the first time Musgraves has been upfront about her beliefs, political or otherwise. Earlier this year, she raised the ire of some pro-ICE conservatives when she spoke up at a concert urging donations to the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights as her “birthday wish.” She told her concert audience, “It’s a wonderful organization, and they help give aid — legal aid — and money to children whose parents have been deported unfairly. It’s not a political thing. It’s just, these kids need help.” Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren responded, “What is an unfair deportation?” The singer has also spoken up on LGBTQ+ rights, among other concerns.
Talerico has been getting plenty of support from country-singing Texans, as he was recently endorsed in a video by WIllie Nelson.
