Trump eyeing Gov. Kristi Noem as running mate — maybe that’s something she would actually care about
Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei recently wrote a piece for Axios about what we can expect in a second Trump administration, if we are so unfortunate.
It is anticipated that the new, more dictatorial regime would be stripped of any “voices of reason” and would be entirely staffed with “MAGA warriors.” Interestingly, they only named two potential picks for vice president, Ohio’s newly elected Sen. J.D. Vance, of “Hillbilly Elegy” fame, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
Yes, you read that right. Apparently Noem (seen above in a White House meeting with then President Donald Trump in a public domain photo posted on wikimedia commons) is on the very short list to be Trump’s running mate, assuming the pundits are right and he clinches the Republican presidential nomination in spite of his 91 pending felony charges. Those of us who are more familiar with Noem might shake our heads in disbelief.
At one time, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds might have seemed a likelier pick, if Trump wanted to run with a woman from the Midwest, since Iowa has more electoral votes and was regarded as a “swing state” until the last couple election cycles. But Reynolds committed political suicide when she endorsed Ron de Santis for president, even as his campaign is clearly floundering.
Since South Dakota’s three electoral votes have not been in play since the 1996 presidential election contest between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, one might wonder why our governor would top the list of potential Veeps. Of course, George W. Bush tapped Dick Cheney as his running mate in 2000, even though he clearly did not need help in Cheney’s Wyoming. And in 2008, Republican presidential nominee John McCain chose Sarah Palin from remote Alaska to run with him, a decision which McCain apparently regretted later.
Clearly, other considerations enter into the decision about a running mate besides the ability to help nail down a major electoral prize. If that is Trump’s primary criterion, Vance will get the nod over Noem.
While Noem was re-elected last year by a massive 27-point margin, she seems to have very little interest in doing her job as governor. Her recent budget address to the Legislature was perfunctory at best.
When she was running for a second term, she pledged to work to eliminate the sales tax on groceries, but she made only a token attempt to get that reform through the Legislature, where her party currently enjoys 90-percent majorities.
Noem likes to brag about the people who arrived in South Dakota from liberal states, especially during the Covid crisis, because they admired her and wanted to live in a state with low taxes and no mask requirements. She has been diligent about appearing on FOX News and other right-wing media, and about exploring the world with her consort, Corey Lewandowski.
Currently, Pennington County appears to have three vacancies in its legislative delegation. Jessica Castleberry was forced to resign her state Senate seat this summer, after it came to light that she had received over $600,000 in illegal Covid relief stimulus payments. Rep. Jess Olson has resigned her seat for health reasons, and a third legislator, Becky Drury, has apparently moved out of her district and might be eligible for Olson’s seat.
The legislative session will begin in a matter of weeks, but so far, Noem seems uninterested in fulfilling her responsibility to fill these vacancies. Two circuit judges in the Rapid City area, Craig Pfeifle and his wife Jane Wipf Pfeifle, have announced their retirements, effective in February. It will be Noem’s responsibility to fill those vacancies, if she can find time to do so.
She was apparently incensed when she learned, after taking office, that her power to appoint judges is not absolute, since the governor must appoint attorneys who have been recommended by the nonpartisan Judicial Qualifications Commission. Evidently, Noem’s preference would be to appoint strictly MAGA warriors to the bench, since every decision she makes is nakedly political.
If Kristi Noem becomes the first South Dakotan, and the first Republican woman, to serve as vice president, we will suddenly have a new governor, Larry Rhoden. It would be interesting to know what percentage of South Dakotans are even familiar with him.
One might expect that Rhoden would be more interested in performing the duties of the office than his predecessor, who has only been concerned with advancing her own political career.
Jay Davis is a retired Rapid City attorney
