It appears that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) may have just seriously jeopardized her chance of becoming former President Donald Trump's running mate for the 2024 general election. 

Noem did so, according to The Guardian, with a story about how she once killed her dog.

The story is part of a new book that Noem is publishing, called No Going Back: The Truth On What's Wrong With Politics And How We Move America Forward.

The Guardian's report is based on an advanced copy that it has obtained of the book.

She took Cricket to a gravel pit and . . .

In the book, according to the Guardian, Noem recounts a story in which she killed a 14-month-old dog named Cricket. The incident occurred on her family farm.

"Cricket was a wirehair pointer, about 14 months old,” she wrote, adding that the dog had an “aggressive personality” that made her “untrainable."

In the book, Noem takes the reader through the dog's faults, including how it messed up the training of other hunting dogs and how it, on one occasion, attacked and killed some chickens.

"I hated that dog,” Noem wrote, adding that the dog was “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog.”

So, Noem made the decision to kill the dog. She writes that she led the dog to a gravel pit and shot it.

Did this story really need to be told?

Noem claims that it did. According to the Guardian, she said that she included it in her book "to illustrate her willingness, in politics as well as in South Dakota life, to do anything 'difficult, messy and ugly' if it simply needs to be done."

The South Dakota governor may have a point here. But, many are now arguing, persuasively, that this was not the way to make this point.

It's not because Noem put the dog down, but, rather, it is because Noem, with this story, almost seems to be bragging about it. It's okay to make such difficult decisions, but it is not okay to gloat about them.

Now, it appears that this has backfired on Noem - that her chances of becoming Trump's running mate have seriously diminished.

Newsweek reports:

Polymarket, a platform where users can place "yes" or "no" bets on the likelihood of world events, is currently giving Noem a 3 percent chance of potentially being the next Republican vice president. On Friday, Noem was given a 5 percent chance of being selected as Trump's next running mate, down from 10 percent the previous day. On March 25, Polymarket was listing Noem as the second favorite with 9 percent chance, behind South Carolina Senator Tim Scott on 22 percent.