Kacey Musgraves performs during a Middle of Nowhere Tour stop at New York's Madison Square Garden on Aug. 31, 2026. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for ABA) While the pop culture world is still reeling over Kelly Clarkson’s feud with a Brooklyn store, there’s a new online row bubbling up on X between Kacey Musgraves and Kristi Noem.
It began over the weekend when Musgraves posted up at American Airlines Center in Dallas for a pair of back-to-back shows on her Middle of Nowhere Tour. She hosted a special guest in James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, who shared some candid snaps from his front row seat, including a shot of the superstar singer taking a selfie of him while wearing a bedazzled Dallas top.
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“Thank you for having me last night, Kacey Musgraves!” offered Talarico on X the day after attending the show. The gesture and Talarico’s attendance apparently didn’t sit right with ousted secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem, who reposted the pics and slammed Musgraves in the process.
“I’ll take [Ella Langley] over Kacey Musgraves any day,” blasted Noem, who recently filed to divorce her husband, Byron Noem, her high school sweetheart, in the wake of a cross-dressing scandal that unfolded after The Daily Mail published photos of him wearing women’s clothing and fake breasts. “And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico.”
The Noem dig referenced Langley’s smash hit, “Choosin’ Texas,” which broke Mariah Carey’s long-held Billboard charts record for most weeks at No. 1, while Paxton is Talarico’s Republican opponent.
Well, once Musgraves got wind of Noem’s new post, she replied Monday afternoon by slamming the politician and former South Dakota governor with a widely criticized anecdote shared from her memoir, No Going Back. In the tome, Noem revealed that she shot her 14-month-old wirehair pointer, Cricket, after the dog exhibited behavioral issues.
“I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it,” Musgraves posted on X. See below.
I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you would have shot it. https://t.co/bI50bahJZu
— K A C E Y (@KaceyMusgraves) October 12, 2026
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