JD Vance Says One Thing Makes A 'Terrible Person' & It's Got Kristi Noem On Everyone's Lips
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The following article includes mentions of violence toward animals.
Vice President JD Vance loves running his mouth, which usually gets him in trouble online. Shocking absolutely no one, he put his foot in it yet again. On October 29, 2025, the latest interview on podcast "Pod Force One" featured the VP, and one snippet from the nearly hour-long video spread like wildfire on X. "If you can actually cause suffering to an innocent animal, you're probably the kind of person who doesn't worry about suffering in people as well," Vance told podcast host Miranda Devine. "If you mistreat dogs, that's almost a 100% sign that you're going to be a really terrible person."
Vance: "If you can actually cause suffering to an innocent animal, you're probably the kind of person who doesn't worry about suffering in people... If you mistreat dogs, that's a 100% sign that you're gonna be a really terrible person."
Kristi Noem famously shot her own dog. pic.twitter.com/XvSIQMHKyz
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) October 29, 2025
It's interesting Vance said that, considering how a fellow member of the Trump administration did exactly that. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is infamously known for shooting her own dog. What's even worse is that the controversial politician actually seemed to brag about doing it in her book, "No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward."
In the book, she wrote about how her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, couldn't contain her excitement while on a hunting trip, trying to chase pheasants. She was still a puppy, so this isn't that unusual. However, after Cricket killed another family's chickens, Noem was done with her "untrainable" dog, and decided to kill her. She shot Cricket and then said how she'd thrive in politics, because she wasn't afraid to do "difficult, messy and ugly" things (via The Guardian).
Kristi Noem wasn't the only Trump administration member mentioned
People sprinted to X to share their thoughts on Vice President JD Vance's comments. "Have you met Kristi Noem???" tweeted one person. "[Vance] is the master of self-owning his own side with absolutely no self-awareness. It's literally the only way he is (unintentionally) funny," wrote another. Others pointed out that President Donald Trump reportedly isn't a fan of dogs — during his first term, Trump actually became the first POTUS in over 100 years to not have a pooch at the White House. His daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, begged him to adopt a rescue dog during his first administration, but he didn't bite. However, Donald did sign a bill into law in 2019 that made animal cruelty a federal felony, so it seems unlikely that he hates dogs.
Another X user posted a photo of Donald's oldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, holding the dead body of a leopard, smiling for the camera. "I blame the parents," the person captioned. This happened in 2011 when the brothers went on a hunting expedition in Zimbabwe. Photos showed the two Trumps posing with several dead animals besides the leopard, including a crocodile and a waterbuck. An infamous snapshot of Don Jr. holding the severed tail of an elephant also made the rounds online.
After Trump's Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act became a law, actress Mia Farrow shared the dead leopard photo on X, writing to Donald, "Tell your sons that animal cruelty is now a crime" (via The Independent).