South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem made a name for herself after she stood boldly against COVID-19 lockdown policies in her state. Going from a relative unknown to a nationally-recognized figure essentially overnight, Noem is now considered to be on the short list of Republican presidential contenders moving forward.
Former President Donald Trump even named Noem a rising young star within his remade America-First GOP during a recent podcast appearance with Lisa Boothe of Fox News. Noem has emerged along with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri as viable politicians who could carry the base for generations beyond Trump.
And then, in one fell swoop, she messed it all up by opposing House Bill 1217, a measure pushed by South Dakota Republicans in the state legislature that would protect female sports from the invasion by transgender athletes born biological males. Christian activists are enraged at the latest betrayal of traditional values and mental sanity from a Republican leader.
“Today, Gov. Noem proposed changes to House Bill 1217 that would eliminate protections for female college athletes outright and gut the ability for all women and girls to have recourse against unfair policies in women’s sports,” Kristen Waggoner, who works as general counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, wrote last week.
“We are extremely disappointed to see Gov. Noem break her word on this critical legislation. For more than a week, Noem’s office has frozen out advocates of H.B. 1217 and instead taken advice from the bill’s most vocal critics, which include the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and the South Dakota Board of Regents,” American Principles Project president Terry Schilling said.
Chamber (of Commerce) Music
On an appearance on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Noem was pilloried by the populist commentator who accused her of “caving” to corporate interests.
“This is thousands of years of common sense and tradition,” Carlson said. “Girls play girl sports. Boys play boy sports.”
“Why not instead just say, ‘Bring it on NCAA, I’m a national figure, go ahead and try and exclude us, I will fight you in the court of public opinion and defend principle!’ Why not just do that?” Carlson asked Noem.
“Tucker, you’re preaching my sermon. That’s just what I did today,” she said in response.
“You vetoed the bill,” Carlson hit back.
Even though the Republican constituents loathe the excesses of the LGBT agenda and think the notion of trans athletes is something out of the “Twilight Zone,” Noem’s corporate backers disagree. They see this propaganda drive as a new opiate of the masses, to keep consumers focused on their social degeneracy rather than worker solidarity. The Chamber made sure Noem was acutely aware that Amazon could yank their proposed fulfillment center out of the state if they opposed LGBT agenda so she folded. Protecting globalist profits was prioritized ahead of protecting our children. This is “America Last” leadership at its shameful worst.
Noem and her defenders are incredulously claiming that the governor’s office merely wants to address problems with the legislation. She does not want to offend the courts or federal bureaucrats who regularly abuse their authority to promote transgenderism. Noem says that the legislation to protect female athletics would undermine the “great strides we have taken to gain national exposure and increase opportunities for our next generation over the past two decades.”
“South Dakota has shown that our student athletes can compete with anyone in the country, but competing on the national stage means compliance with the national governing bodies that oversee collegiate athletics,” Noem added.
The national governing bodies overseeing collegiate athletics are filled with radical leftists acting in accordance with all of the excesses of the LGBT agenda. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recently announced their total submission to the “Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Unity Pledge” before their annual NCAA tournament. The Unity Pledge debuted last year and featured privileged athletes reading empty rhetoric about unity, diversity, and social justice. Even though the campaign has not gotten much traction on social media, the NCAA is mindlessly submitting to their demands anyway. During their upcoming basketball championship, the NCAA will print Black Lives Matter platitudes on their courts. Expect many kneel down sessions and defiant fists in the air to follow. These are the people from whom Noem receives her marching orders.
Noem’s rhetoric of submission to federal power is grossly anti-American whatever may be her excuses. Any individual with rudimentary knowledge about the founding and the original intent of the U.S. Constitution knows that states are not meant mindlessly to comply with federal edicts. Founders James Madison and Thomas Jefferson outlined the doctrine of state-level resistance in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions to oppose federal edicts that are at odds with public liberty. Liberal leaders do not have any problems using state power to thwart the will of their enemies, as they have done with marijuana legalization or sanctuary cities. While liberals exploit the powers at their disposal to achieve success, Republicans parrot silly excuses made up by lobbyists to confuse their constituents and disenfranchise their grassroots supporters.
COVID Not a True Test
Noem seemed like she was one of the few who could buck the trend when she rejected COVID-19 lockdown mandates in South Dakota. After her capitulation on transgender insanity, it is apparent Noem is another corporate servant of Big Capital. She fights COVID-19 mandates not due to principle but rather because it negatively impacts the bottom-line of big business entities affiliated with the Republican establishment.
We must collectively strive for something better in our national leaders. We cannot backslide from President Trump as our standard-bearer to yet another milquetoast corporate Republican.
On the podcast where he discussed Noem as a contender, Trump referenced a “stacked” group of contenders who could serve as his successor, including the likes of Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), SenatorTed Cruz (R-Texas), and gubernatorial candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas. Trump’s words on the podcast may placate some boomers’ worries about the future and make them more likely to support Trump’s new PACs and new projects, but he is clearly exaggerating. The bench is deep with RINOs only, as newly-elected GOP lawmakers immediately cave on immigration, surrender on the Second Amendment, coronate Joe Biden, and deny the reality of electoral fraud. Even with the grassroots firmly on Trump’s side, the RINOs outnumber the strong courageous figures in the party easily by a 10-to-1 margin.
In an age of ubiquitous deception, where politicians of both major parties regularly serve globalist interests, average voters do not have any room for error. They are the only bulwark to stand against the overwhelming tidal wave of corruption that is enveloping our entire civilization. When Trump rode down the escalator and changed history, he threw a wrench in the gears from which the elites are still desperately trying to recover. If we allow a pretender to the throne take the reins from Trump, that is how the corrupt system will recover. Noem’s capitulation on protecting young girls puts her firmly in that camp, and she must be rejected as a presidential candidate moving forward.