Dana Hess writes for South Dakota Searchlight, an online news organization.

These are tough times for Kristi Noem. She’s frequently the butt of jokes from late-night comedians. She’s been lampooned on “Saturday Night Live.” Her plight inspires memes on the internet: Run, Cricket! Run!

In one of the roughest book tours in the entire history of print, Noem finds herself defending the killing of a family dog — a story she included in her book to show she knows how to make tough decisions — and dodging questions about why she made up an anecdote about meeting the reclusive dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Un.

The book, ironically titled “No Going Back,” is just one of her latest efforts to ingratiate herself with Donald Trump as she competes to be his selection to serve as his vice presidential candidate.

Sure, Noem has no one to blame but herself for her current predicament. She sought to be a national leader and instead became a national punchline. Her current fate is made all the more bitter by the fact that it certainly didn’t have to be this way.

Go back in time to the pandemic when Noem was seen in some circles as a hero for keeping South Dakota businesses open. Journalists who pointed out that the state led the league in per capita COVID-19 deaths were dismissed by Noem’s office as fake news. However, people didn’t seem to want to know the facts. Sick of their own governments literally being in their face with mask mandates, they liked the notion that there was freedom in South Dakota.

At this point, Noem’s popularity exploded. If you doubt this, don’t go back and check old polls or look up what the pundits were saying then.

All you need to do is ask your real estate agent, many of whom were getting calls from across the country from people intent on moving to South Dakota because of the example and policies set by Noem. These were people who were tired of being told by government how to live their lives, even if those instructions were for their own good.

Of course Noem’s growing popularity put her on Trump’s radar, and that’s when she started to make mistakes. During her dating years, Noem may have known the value of playing hard to get. During her political years, she forgot that tactic and threw herself into a process designed to make her Trump’s choice to be his V.P.

Should Trump be elected, his vice presidency is political gold. In four short years, Trump would be out of office and his vice president would likely have the inside track on getting the Republican nomination. Noem, like others competing in the veepstakes, saw a short-term chance to grab higher office.

Hindsight tells us that Noem would have been better off steering clear of the Trump circus and taking the political long view. Instead of panting after the vice presidency, the post-pandemic Noem should have split her efforts — nurturing her popularity by helping other Republican candidates while focusing on the needs of South Dakotans.

Noem could have strengthened her resume with an eventual run for the U.S. Senate or a Cabinet position in Trump’s administration or a high-profile job, perhaps leading the NRA. Any of that would have helped her be a better, more well-rounded candidate should she choose to run for the presidency some time in the future.

Instead, lured by the prospect of four years serving Trump and then a possible move to the Oval Office, Noem has recast her image. She’s Kristi the wartime governor. She’s Kristi the TV pitchwoman.

Certainly “No Going Back” was written to burnish her V.P. credentials in Trump World. It’s just too bad that in the rest of the world, her story has become a joke for some and a stain for others. The book and its fallout will haunt Noem if she tries to continue her political career.

Instead of taking her growing national popularity and forming a long-term political strategy, Noem chose to take part in Trump’s “Apprentice”-style tryout for vice president. Now she has the distinction of being the largest national political failure from South Dakota since Sen. George McGovern lost the presidency in a landslide to Richard Nixon. The difference between the two is that McGovern was the choice of his party, but Noem made her mess while trying to be the choice of one man.