When all else fails, blame the interviewer.
Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, is lashing out at Margaret Brennan, host of CBS’s Face the Nation, after a ruinous interview over the weekend.
Before her appearance on the show Sunday, Noem said on X that she was excited to promote her new book, "No Going Back," which she described as a “how-to guide for how Americans can help Make America Great Again!”
But Noem seemed unprepared for any questions about the most newsworthy claims in that book: that she shot and killed her dog, for example. "I wonder if you have regrets about sharing this story?" Brennan asked.
"This book is filled with vulnerable, painful moments in my life," Noem explained. "The reason that this story is in the book is because people need to understand who I am. This was a dangerous animal that was killing livestock and attacking people."
Noem took to X again after the interview to complain about the interviewer.
“This morning in our 15-minute interview, Margaret Brennan interrupted me 36 times — once every 25 seconds on average,” she complained, arguing that other guests, such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, had an easier time.
What Noem describes as interruptions, however, were the CBS host's efforts to clarify details, more often than not giving Noem the last word. And the hard questions Noem faced were entirely a product of her own claims, which have attracted bipartisan condemnation. Besides describing how she killed her dog, Noem's book also includes an account of a meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un — a meeting that never happened, forcing the publisher to issue a correction.
But Noem, who refused to address the false anecdote or otherwise discuss her "many, many" interactions with foreign leaders, insists she is a victim.
“In the fake news media, there are two sets of rules, and conservative[s] are always treated differently,” she said. “That’s why Americans don’t trust the Fake News.”
