Kristi Noem compares Trump to her 3-year-old granddaughter: 'He's full of surprises too'

• South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem repeatedly praises Donald Trump throughout her book.
• But her decision to compare the former president to her granddaughter may draw eyebrows.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem paid an odd compliment to former President Donald Trump in her much-talked-about memoir.

"In some funny ways, I see similarities between Trump and my granddaughter, Miss Addie (that's what I call her)," Noem wrote in "No Going Back: The Truth on What's Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward" which went on sale on Tuesday.

Noem, who Trump once confirmed was on his vice presidential shortlist, has seen her political standing crater ahead of the book's release after one of the sections devoted to her explanation of why she killed a roughly 14-month-old wirehair pointer named Cricket.

The South Dakota Republican has stood by her decision decades ago to kill the dog and has argued that the moment in her life illustrates how she does not shy away from difficult choices. Noem has also been forced to correct the book after it came to light that it included a claim that she met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (She had not, and the book's digital edition now omits it.)

As for Trump, Noem, who previously served in Congress before she was elected to lead the Mount Rushmore State, offered effusive praise for the former president throughout the book.

"He really doesn't think he's better than anyone else," Noem wrote on Trump, a claim that even the former president might protest. "He values everyone. That's why so many people who have worked for him and his family for years are so loyal to him; he truly cares about them and the work they do. He's full of surprises too."

It's her decision to compare Trump, 77, to her daughter that may draw eyebrows given that it's traditionally Trump's opponents who compare him to a toddler.

"And, yes, age is an issue. I'm a grown man running against a six-year-old," President Joe Biden, the oldest person to hold his job, quipped of Trump during the recent White House Correspondent's Dinner.

Noem adds that her granddaughter, who at the time of her writing was nearly 3 years old, approaches the world in a truly authentic and curious way.

"I love to watch her figure things out, in ways that grown-ups like me, would never consider, because that's just how we've always done things, Noem wrote.

She added, "She has no concept of trying to please people or acting in ways that aren't completely real for her."