Vice President JD Vance declared this week that mistreating dogs is a "100 percent sign" someone is a "really terrible person," sources confirmed Wednesday.
Vance made the remarks during an appearance on the New York Post's Pod Force One podcast, where he explained that anyone who can "cause suffering to an innocent animal" probably doesn't worry about suffering in people either.
"If you mistreat dogs, that's a 100 percent sign that you're gonna be a really terrible person," Vance told host Miranda Devine, noting that serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer started their careers by being cruel to animals. The Vice President reportedly nodded thoughtfully as he delivered this assessment, apparently unaware that his own Homeland Security Secretary killed dogs.
Secretary Kristi Noem made international headlines in April 2024 after revealing in her memoir No Going Back that she had shot dead her 14-month-old family dog Cricket, a wirehaired pointer, as well as a goat she described as "disgusting, musky, rancid". Noem framed the killings as proof of her willingness to make tough decisions, a quality that apparently resonated with the administration.
When originally informed of Noem's dog execution, then-candidate Donald Trump reportedly told his son Donald Trump Jr, "Even you wouldn't kill a dog, and you kill everything"—a remark that administration officials insist was meant as a compliment about Jr's hunting prowess.
Vance expanded on his thesis by invoking fictional serial killer Freddy Krueger as an additional example of the animal-cruelty-to-human-violence pipeline, which experts say demonstrates either remarkable commitment to his argument or a concerning inability to distinguish between documentary evidence and horror films.
The Vice President was initially discussing criticism of Twitch streamer Hasan Piker over allegations of using a shock collar on his dog, which Piker has denied, when he seized the opportunity to establish his comprehensive philosophy on pet ownership and moral character.
"If you're not taking care of God's creatures, then you're certainly going to be a pretty bad person," Vance concluded, his words hanging in the air like a perfectly timed punchline that no one in the room seemed to get.
