Kristi Noem may have thought twice before starting a war of words with Kacey Musgraves, who posted a comeback after the ousted Secretary of Homeland Security took to X to pick a fight with the country-pop star. Because when the going gets tough in a Noem case, it always gets tough.
Noem did not like that Texas senatorial candidate James Talarico, a leading Democrat in polls in the red state, attended a concert of fellow Texans Musgrave over the weekend and received a warm welcome, as seen in photos and videos. “Thank you for having me last night, Kacey Musgraves!” she wrote on social media alongside a photo of the two of them.
This led to Noem not only accusing Musgraves of having an affair with Talarico, but also trying to start a feud with “Choosin’ Texas” hitmaker Ella Langley (who is from Alabama, after all).
“I’ll take Ella Langley to replace Kacey Musgraves any day,” the Republican firebrand tweeted. “And if I choose Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico.”
Musgraves tweeted, quoting Noem and responding: “I don’t think your dog was in this fight but if you were you would have shot him.”
Langley didn’t seem to take kindly to Noem pitting herself against Musgraves; He or his team moved quickly to remove the tag of name X from the politician’s tweet.
As of this writing, Noem has not returned to X for another post since Musgraves’ sarcastic comeback.
Noem became famous for an anecdote in her memoirs about shooting her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, to death in a gravel pit because she thought the animal was too much of a nuisance. The story was once intended to be an example of the South Dakota governor’s determination to do tough things, but it was thought to have derailed her chances of becoming Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick during the 2024 campaign.