Tag: Gov. Noem

South Dakota governor sending National Guard to Mexico border on mission funded by GOP megadonor

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South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) will deploy up to 50 National Guard troops to the southern U.S. border, her office said Tuesday, with a highly unusual caveat — the mission will be funded by a “private donation” from an out-of-state GOP megadonor billionaire.

The Guard members will deploy in response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s plea to augment border security with law enforcement resources from other states, Noem’s office said in a statement.

Like Abbott (R), Noem is a close ally of former president Donald Trump, whose focus on illegal immigration spurred his controversial deployment of military personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border and remains a pillar of the Republican Party’s political platform. In a statement, she blasted the Biden administration over its immigration policies, which Trump and fellow conservatives have denounced as weak and ineffective. Continue reading.

MyPillow CEO flew Kristi Noem to GOP governors conference on his private jet

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Mike Lindell was then kicked out of the RGA event after threatening to confront certain governors.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem flew on MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s private jet on her way to the Republican Governors Association spring meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, this week, according to two people familiar with the matter. 

Lindell, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, was kicked out of the event after he had promised to confront Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp about why they aren’t pushing to overturn the 2020 election results in their states. An RGA official had said he was not allowed to attend RGA events because he wasn’t a full member of the organization.

Lindell was able to gain access to the RGA meeting as a guest of Noem’s and as a prospective member, according to one of the people familiar with Noem’s travel arrangements. Continue reading.

Kristi Noem Was Rising Fast—Until This Bill Landed on Her Desk

The South Dakota governor has now managed to piss off almost everyone.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem seemed to be on the fast track: a national profile, a good relationship with former President Donald Trump, and the favor of conservatives in her state and across the country. But a bill targeting transgender athletes—and the no-win politics that have engulfed the legislation—now suddenly threatens to sideline her ambitions.

House Bill 1217 in the South Dakota legislature would prohibit transgender women from participating in female sports. And while Noem first celebrated the measure’s passage in early March, the ramifications of such a law, and the subsequent changes Noem is now seeking, have drawn ire from conservative activists and right-wing media.

“I’m excited to sign this bill very soon,” a tweet from her official account stated on March 8.

But then she didn’t. And by March 11, Noem began backing away from the bill as business and sports interests in this basketball-mad state made it clear they were not happy with the legislation. Continue reading.

The Covid Queen of South Dakota

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Gov. Kristi Noem’s state has been ravaged by her Trumpian response to the pandemic — but that hasn’t paused her national ambitions

At first, the angel of death skipped over South Dakota. This pleased the Snow Queen.

It was Fourth of July weekend, and Gov. Kristi Noem was hosting Donald Trump for fireworks at Mount Rushmore. Covid-19 had already killed 122,000 Americans. Still, Noem cleaved closer to Trump’s failed policies than any other governor. In public, she recited Trump’s talking points: Covid was a Democratic plot to take over the country, masks were optional, and we’re open for business. Superficially, the statements seemed less crazy when delivered in the calm voice of a rancher’s daughter instead of that of an outdated tangerine con man. She even had South Dakota host a clinical trial for hydroxychloroquine, the president’s preferred snake oil.

Noem made the bet that the novel coronavirus would miss her rural state, and so far she had been mostly right. As the holiday approached, South Dakota had lost only 97 people. Of course, those 97 died horrifically. Early in the crisis, ICU nurse Adam Drake monitored a Covid-positive young man at Rapid City’s Monument Health Hospital. The man was intubated and allowed no visitors, per Covid protocol. He was heavily sedated and remained unresponsive until the 27-year-old Drake held up an iPad with the man’s family on the other side of a video call. Then tears ran down the man’s face. He died a few days later. Continue reading.

Republican governor’s coronavirus grant fund gave $600,000 to her family’s ranch

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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) is coming under fire after it was discovered that the businesses of her family members were given $600,000 in COVID-19 funds from a state grant program pushed by her.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that out of the 126 businesses across South Dakota, only five were given grants of $500,000, including a ranch owned by the Noem family. 

The business, which is run by Noem’s brothers Rock and Robb Arnold, got the full amount after their sister expanded the amount.  Continue reading.

S.D. Gov. Kristi Noem says she nailed the pandemic response. Fauci: The numbers ‘don’t lie.’

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South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R), a conservative favorite, received a standing ovation at the Conservative Political Action Conference when she criticized Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for being “wrong a lot” — which the nation’s top infectious-disease expert said was unhelpful.

While making a dig at Fauci at the Orlando conference, Noem touted her personal liberties approach to the coronavirus pandemic, forgoing recommendations to mandate masks and instead allowing a massive motorcycle rally later tied to a national surge in infections. Despite Noem’s claims of success, her state has reported more infections per resident than any state besides North Dakota.

“South Dakota is the only state in America that never ordered a single business or church to close,” she said to applause and cheers. “We never instituted a shelter-in-place order. We never mandated that people wear masks. We never even defined what an essential business is.” Continue reading.

Exclusive: GOP governor Kristi Noem, potential Trump successor, used state aircraft for tens of thousands of dollars in political travel

Newly unearthed flight logs show South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem used a state airplane to travel to right wing political events around the country, a revelation that has state lawmakers questioning whether she violated a state law forbidding political and personal use of the aircraft.

The flight logs, published for the first time in this report, raise questions about the propriety of tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of taxpayer-funded flights to out-of-state events hosted by groups such as the National Rifle Association, Turning Point USA, and an organization affiliated with the late GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, South Dakota politicians and experts told Raw Story.

Also in question is whether Noem wasted taxpayer money by having the state airplane pick her up for official business when she was living at her family home in Castlewood, rather than in the governor’s residence in Pierre, the state’s capital where the airplane is kept. In one case, the airplane picked her up from her daughter’s wedding in the far west part of the state.

NOTE: Gov. Noem is the keynote speaker at the Minnesota Republican Party’s Lincoln Dinner next month.