Project 2025 architect allegedly used shovel to kill neighbor’s dog: 'Crazy thing to do'

24 September 2024

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's hopes of becoming Donald Trump's 2024 running mate were destroyed after she drew criticism for a dog-killing anecdote in her book "No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward." In the book, Noem bragged about "taking a dog to a gravel pit and shooting it."

Now, another well-known Trump ally, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, is drawing scrutiny for an alleged dog-killing incident from 2004.

Former Roberts colleagues interviewed by The Guardian allege that when Roberts was working as a history professor at New Mexico State University in 2004, he told them he had used a shovel to kill a neighbor's pit bull. Roberts, however, told The Guardian that their allegation is "patently untrue."

Kenneth Hammond, who chaired of the university's history department in 2004, told The Guardian, "My recollection of his account was that he was discussing in the hallway with various members of the faculty, including me, that a neighbor's dog had been barking pretty relentlessly and was, you know, keeping the baby and probably the parents awake — and that he kind of lost it and took a shovel and killed the dog. End of problem."

Hammond also alleged, "I think that probably people were not eager to engage with him over this. It sounded like a pretty crazy thing to do, and people didn’t want to get into it at that point."

Marsha Weisiger, another former Roberts colleague from the 2000s, also says that she heard the dog-killing anecdote from Roberts back then.

Weisiger told The Guardian, "My husband and I were stunned. First of all, that he would do such a thing. And second of all, that he would tell us about it. If I did something horrific, I would not be telling my colleagues about it."

But Roberts told The Guardian, "This is a patently untrue and baseless story backed by zero evidence. In 2004, a neighbor's chained pit bull attempted to jump a fence into my backyard as I was gardening with my young daughter. Thankfully, the owner arrived in time to restrain the animal before it could get loose and attack us."

The dog-killing allegation comes at a time when Roberts is drawing widespread criticism over Project 2025 — the Heritage Foundation's 920-page blueprint for a second Trump Administration — and threatening violence against "the left" if they get in the way.

During an early July appearance on Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast, Roberts said the U.S. was "in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."

Project 2025 has become so politically toxic that Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), have made a concerted effort to distance themselves from it. But many Democratic leaders, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have been stressing that Project 2025 was designed by Trump's close allies. Harris, in fact, has an entire section devoted to Project 2025 on her website.

The Guardian's Stephanie Kirchgaessner notes, "Project 2025, which was written by the Heritage Foundation under Roberts' watch, has become a focal point of the 2024 presidential election as Democrats warn that its radical policy prescriptions — such as the eradication of the Department of Education and imposing further restrictions on abortion — will serve as a blueprint for Trump's administration if he is elected…. In a foreword to Roberts' book written by Vance, the vice-presidential nominee praises Roberts' 'depth and stature within the American Right' and says that, 'in the fights that (lie) ahead, these ideas are an essential weapon.'"

Read The Guardian's full article at this link.

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