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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
David Smith in Washington

‘She’s in the pantheon now’: Kristi Noem and the politicians who hit self-destruct

woman speaks at lectern in front of american flag
Kristi Noem claimed falsely that she met the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in her new book. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

She could have been a contender. But then she wrote a book. And suddenly Kristi Noem was caught like a rabbit – or a rambunctious puppy – in the headlights.

The governor of South Dakota found herself insisting that a false claim she met the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un had been put in her book by accident. Wait, said Elizabeth Vargas of NewsNation, you recorded the whole audiobook version and read this passage out loud. Why didn’t you take it out then?

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