Kacey Musgraves Claps Back at Kristi Noem: 'You Would've Shot It'

Kacey Musgraves ended a political feud in nine words on Wednesday: "I don't think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it." The country-pop star was replying to Kristi Noem, the former Homeland Security secretary, who had gone on X to mock Musgraves for hosting Texas senate candidate James Talarico at her concert over the weekend.

Noem has not posted on X since. That silence, as of this writing, is the loudest part of the story.

How did the exchange start?

Talarico, a Democrat leading in the polls in reliably red Texas, attended Musgraves' concert and got a warm reception, captured in photos and video. He posted his thanks the next morning. "Thank you for having me last night, Kacey Musgraves!" he wrote, alongside a photo of the singer taking a picture of the two of them.

Noem took exception. She also widened the target, dragging in a second country singer. "I'll take Ella Langley over Kacey Musgraves any day," the Republican tweeted. "And if I'm choosin' Texas, I'll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico."

The line references Langley's hit "Choosin' Texas" — a song by an artist who, for what it's worth, is from Alabama.

Langley, or her team, did not stick around to be conscripted. They quickly untagged her X handle from Noem's post.

Why did the dog line land so hard?

Musgraves' retort works only because of a specific passage in Noem's memoir. The former South Dakota governor wrote about shooting Cricket, her 14-month-old dog, in a gravel pit after deciding the animal was too troublesome. She framed it as proof of her resolve to do difficult things. Instead, the anecdote was widely credited with derailing her chances of becoming Donald Trump's vice presidential pick during the 2024 campaign.

Trump still named her Homeland Security secretary when his current term began. He fired her from the role in March of this year, after a series of controversies. Noem has appeared in the news far less since moving to her current post as U.S. special envoy to the Shield of the Americas.

She picked this fight from that diminished perch. It went about as well as the Cricket anecdote did.

Is this new territory for Musgraves?

It isn't. Earlier this year she angered pro-ICE conservatives by asking concert audiences to donate to the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights as her "birthday wish."

"It's a wonderful organization, and they help give aid — legal aid — and money to children whose parents have been deported unfairly," she told the crowd. "It's not a political thing. It's just, these kids need help."

Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren responded with a question of her own: "What is an unfair deportation?" Musgraves has also spoken out on LGBTQ+ rights, among other causes.

What does the Texas race look like?

Talarico's concert cameo fits a broader pattern of country-music goodwill toward his campaign. Willie Nelson recently endorsed him in a video.

The numbers explain the Republican anxiety. In the latest Trafalgar poll of prospective Texas voters, Talarico holds 47.1% support against 43.6% for Ken Paxton, the scandal-plagued GOP incumbent — an unusual trend in a state that last elected a Democratic senator in 1993.

Noem's intervention, in other words, targeted a race where the Democrat is already ahead. If Talarico keeps that margin through November, Musgraves' one-line rebuttal may age into a campaign souvenir.