Kristi Noem: “COVID didn’t crush the economy. Government crushed the economy.”
“I believe in people’s freedoms and liberties, and I always balance that with every decision that I make as governor.”
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem was a big hit at CPAC this weekend. One of the most popular parts of her speech came when she talked about how she didn’t shut down businesses or churches because of COVID.
She emphasized that the destruction of the economy was a choice made by government.
Andrew Mark Miller reports at the Washington Examiner:
Kristi Noem rips virus lockdowns in CPAC speech: ‘COVID didn’t crush economy. Government did’
Gov. Kristi Noem received several loud applause breaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference after slamming the government-imposed coronavirus lockdowns and touting her handling of the virus in South Dakota.
“COVID didn’t crush the economy. Government crushed the economy,” Noem told the crowd of conservatives gathered in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday. “South Dakota is the only state in America that never ordered a single business or church to close.”…
“I took an oath when I was in Congress to uphold the United States Constitution,” Noem said last April. “So, I believe in people’s freedoms and liberties, and I always balance that with every decision that I make as governor. I get overly concerned with leaders who take too much power in a time of crisis because I think that’s how we directly lose our country someday by leaders overstepping their proper role.”
See the video below:
.@govkristinoem: "COVID didn't crush the economy. Government crushed the economy.
South Dakota is the only state in America that never ordered a single business or church to close." pic.twitter.com/hDJJPLlBa3
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 27, 2021
Noem also got cheers for going after Dr. Fauci.
Charles Creitz writes at FOX News:
Going on to slam Fauci, who served on both Trump’s and President Joe Biden’s coronavirus task force, and currently leads the latters’ efforts, Noem said the NIH physician routinely offered flawed guidance and predictions.
“In South Dakota, I provided all of the information that we had to our people, and then I trusted to make the best decisions for themselves [on how to prevent the spread of the virus] for their families and in turn their communities,” she said.
“We never focused on the case numbers. Instead, we kept our eye on hospital capacity. Now, Dr. Fauci, he told me that on my worst day I’d have ten thousand patients in the hospital on our worst day, we had a little over six hundred.”
“I don’t I don’t if you agree with me, but Dr. Fauci is wrong a lot.”
Here’s the clip:
.@govkristinoem: "Now Dr. Fauci, he told me that on my worst day I'd have 10,000 patients in the hospital.
On our worst day, we had a little over 600.
I don't know if you agree with me, but Dr. Fauci is wrong a lot." pic.twitter.com/PeSoc39N1i
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 27, 2021
If Trump decides to run again in 2024, Noem wouldn’t be a bad choice for a running mate.
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
She’s my governor and I can’t stand her. I have very little problem with her handling of Covid. My issues are with all the other stuff that doesn’t get brought up on conservative blogs and reddit..
To preface this, I’m conservative even for South Dakota. I’ve lived in the state for 26 years. I also have never smoked pot or done any kind of drugs and won’t be even when legalization passes. I voted for her both when she ran for the House and Governor
The nepotism and salary issues with her daughter and son in law are offensive. Her daughter started out working for her at 40k, and within a year, was up to 60k. This was at a time that Noem didn’t want to give state employees any kind of COL raise (after 3 years of COL raises of about 1%). Noem said that it was because the duties changed and that it is common for pay adjustments to happen based on that. Which is a crock. It’s almost impossible to get your pay increased due to job duty changes. It is far more likely for them to take duties away from you if you try.
The other big issue I have with her is that the state voted overwhelmingly to legalize hemp farming. She vetoed it and consistently fought against it saying that it would be too hard to detect marijuana farming if hemp farming was legal. Her husband sells crop insurance, and hemp farming was not able to be insured. And miracle of miracles, as soon as crop insurance could be sold for hemp farming, her position changed.
Her fighting against Amendment A is even more absurd. It passed with a higher percentage of the population voting for it than voted for her for Governor
Both rulings are absurd if you actually look at the language. This was a judge appointed by Noem in 2019 and she had the case brought in that judge’s district because she knew she would get that result.
The simplest is the “modification” argument. The judge ruled it was a “revision” which is just stupid. It’s an Amendment. Amendments change things.
The “one subject” ruling was also stupid. The subject in this case was legalization of all forms of the plant family that marijuana is part of. Also, the time to stop the measure if it violated this rule was when the Secretary of State certified the signatures for the initiated measure. The legal reasoning of this judge is absurd. I have no doubt that the State Supreme Court will overturn it.
This judge had a result they wanted and is twisting the meaning of laws to get that result. Any conservative should be as upset about this as they are about Roberts and his constant twisting of principles and laws.
Noem has real issues and I really wish conservatives would stop promoting her. She is not someone the GOP should put forward on the national stage.
I think that if conservatives start pushing her into the national spotlight because of her stances on Covid, which I happen to mostly agree with, it is going to seriously hurt the Republican Party. It’s easy to judge somebody just by the little sound bites that make it on the news. Actually knowing something about the person is important if you’re going to suggest them for a national ticket
Like it or not, she is without question the best governor in the nation in regard to her handling of the epidemic. You don’t have to like it, or her, but there’s a significant dearth of saintliness in politics. Deal with it. Being the best of a bad lot may not make her a great person, but based on current data, I’d rather have her as a President than most of the others on offer.
What data is that? Accordingly to death rate South Dakota takes the 8th highest spot when compared to other states.
For clarity that’s on the basis of a per 100,000 death rate
Death rate from COVID isn’t the only metric in play. There’s education, mental health, civil liberties, and economic variables to consider as well.
Well robust Covid policies at state and national level would have likely allowed education to continue as well as ensuring that disruption to the economy was mitigated against. The west has done pretty badly compared to a number of Eastern countries. That’s said the US has done uniquely badly in the face of covid for a variety of reasons exacerbating those issues. In the case of South Dakota activity allowing things like big events allowed mass transmission of void to the state and others for no particular gain. There is ample evidence that those countries that dealt with the issues are now in a much better position than those who failed to adopt a robust response. If the US had actually responded properly and in good time there is an argument to say that
The civil liberties argument is pretty weak when the resultant death rate is so high.
Glitchy bloody phone ment to continue that last para.
Evidence that a strong response would lead to less lockdown measures and thus allowing partial opening of the economy and education etc alleviating the civil liberties issue
Education did continue in many US states that didn’t implement draconian “robust” policies, and they didn’t suffer the dire consequences that other states that did implement “robust” policies. Your position is not only based on hindsight, it’s empirically false.
Everyone has. No one was prepared for a bioweapon. They tend to have that effect. And if you trust the numbers coming out of China, send me your e-mail, because I have some investment opportunities that might interest you.
Yes, when leftist governors implemented policies that directly resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of the most vulnerable to Covid, that tends to happen. When government at all levels incentivized the misreporting of Covid deaths, you get bad data. Plenty of states, and even countries like Sweden and South Korea didn’t implement the science free lockdowns, and all fared relatively well.
No particular gain according to what metric? In a free society, one that respects liberal democratic principles, the freedom of association is all the gain you need.
You keep using “robust” in a completely meaningless fashion. The US tried to respond properly, but Leftist elements were too busy calling travel bans “racist” and our leftist media was still peddling “the flu is worse” misinformation at the beginning. Plenty of states had “robust” responses that were absolutely ineffective, and in many cases, caused far more harm. The common denominator seems to be Leftist politics.
The civil liberties rate is never weak. Particularly when there is no science that supports lockdowns, and the existing science shows that cloth masks are ineffective (and most everyone is wearing cloth masks, not surgical masks or respirators).
Nonsense. A “strong response” was lockdown measures, which have proven utterly disastrous.
Burn the Witch
Education: Given the US has the 7th highest death rate (on a per million basis) maybe keeping schools open was a bad idea. We know this because children can still spread the virus. That isn’t based on hindsight that’s just logical.
“Everyone has. No one was prepared for a bioweapon. They tend to have that effect. And if you trust the numbers coming out of China, send me your e-mail, because I have some investment opportunities that might interest you.”
A pandemic virus has been widely predicted and the risks thereof have been considered for a long time. Bird flue, Ebola, various other forms of respiratory viral infection have all had capabilities of being the next pandemic in the last decade or so. As for calling it a bioweapon, that’s unlikely.
“Yes, when leftist governors implemented policies that directly resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of the most vulnerable to Covid, that tends to happen. When government at all levels incentivized the misreporting of Covid deaths, you get bad data. Plenty of states, and even countries like Sweden and South Korea didn’t implement the science free lockdowns, and all fared relatively well.”
If you are referring to Cuomo then yes that’s correct. Misreporting of Covid deaths – that’s blatantly false. Your examples don’t really work either Sweden has had a very high death rate and South Korea was competent in its response in particular they reacted very quickly and used test and trace to ensure that the virus was contained for long periods. By citing South Korea you actually support my previous point.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/biweekly-covid-deaths?tab=chart&time=2020-02-15..latest&country=DNK~FIN~NOR~SWE
“No particular gain according to what metric? In a free society, one that respects liberal democratic principles, the freedom of association is all the gain you need.”
What a load of crap, your saying that having a biker rally is justification for killing people. Its akin to a wartime situation where civil liberties are curtailed for the common good. What’s your rationale for saying that the biker rally was special or deserving of an exemption?
“You keep using “robust” in a completely meaningless fashion. The US tried to respond properly, but Leftist elements were too busy calling travel bans “racist” and our leftist media was still peddling “the flu is worse” misinformation at the beginning. Plenty of states had “robust” responses that were absolutely ineffective, and in many cases, caused far more harm. The common denominator seems to be Leftist politics.”
The US barely did anything, Trump did practically fuck all. The only action Trump got right was the travel ban and operation warp speed otherwise he was worse than useless with his peddling of bullshit, mixed messages, failure to support states, chaotic attempts to get PPE. You seem to forget that the states connect to each other if there is mixed responses that makes it harder for the other states because virus’s spread.
Flu is worse – im not sure what you are arguing here.
“The civil liberties rate is never weak. Particularly when there is no science that supports lockdowns, and the existing science shows that cloth masks are ineffective (and most everyone is wearing cloth masks, not surgical masks or respirators).”
There have been a number of studies that support the use of masks including cloth masks, and yes there have been studies on the efficy of lockdown too.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7268966/
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8
“Nonsense. A “strong response” was lockdown measures, which have proven utterly disastrous.”
A strong response would have been a consistent message about social distancing and masks, a central system for providing PPE instead of having the states fight over supply, a mandate for across the board measures to limit gatherings, encouraging state governors to impose measures, a proper test and trace system. Given there is a clear rise in deaths when lockdown measures have ceased you cant really support your statement.
So Marx311, I’m giving some serious thought to enforcing strict “misinformation” comment moderation. After all, we can’t have lunatics spewing lies and nonsense, right? From our point of view, you are spreading misinformation about WuFlu on our boards, and I’m really struggling with the deep existential dilemma of allowing you to continue spewing your (according to the right’s correct think) wrongthink. Hmm, how hard should we try to remove the clear wrongthink you constantly spew?
It’s quite the dilemma, right? Can you keep spewing your wrongthink in our comment section? I mean, you have personally advocated for the right of site-owners to moderate and remove wrongthink, so what possible objection could you have if we start removing your deranged, possibly violence- and insurrection-inducing hate speech? Hmmmm . . . .
OMG, what a load of crap. I haven’t got the patience to fisk you in detail, but I’ll pick a few highlights.
There’s no evidence for that.
You have got to be ****ing kidding. You can’t spit in our faces and tell us it’s raining. We all know the “Wuhan Death” numbers have been wildly inflated, when people who died of car crashes or falling off ladders were listed as having died of the virus merely because they died with it. Denying it just makes you look silly.
I wondered whether that’s what you meant earlier. What’s your rationale for claiming that the biker rally spread the virus? Only 260 cases have been linked to it, most of which were harmless. (Here’s a clue: don’t cite the ridiculous so-called “study” by the IZA Institute; doing so would only discredit you even further.)
On preventing the virus’s spread Trump did at least as well as anybody else in the world. And Operation Warp Speed is a very BFD. Without it all the experts were expecting it to take five years; they ridiculed him for predicting results within the year, and they were wrong. As usual.
@Fuzzy slippers and Milhouse
Dealing with Covid death figures first. No offence Milhouse but that’s just bs. If you are citing very limited and specific instances where Covid has been listed as a comorbity for a death sure but those figures account for figures number 10’s. That doesn’t make any kind of significant dent in the over all figures. Additionally the overall death rate compared to the previous five years has been significantly higher and in line with spikes in covid cases.
With regard to kids spreading Covid:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02973-3
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/children-and-school-settings-covid-19-transmission
So yes there is evidence that children spread Covid the issue is that they are not generally susceptible to becoming I’ll with Covid that’s an important distinction
Biker rally:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6947e1.htm
These are the figures that we know of and given the nature of covid we know that dependant on the r number an initial rise in cases will lead to an increase down the line so the end total caused by the rally could be a lot higher.
Fuzzy slippers:
Wow misinformation eh, I’ve cited reliable sources, produced logical coherent reasons and you’ve insulted me. Fine ban me for pointing out flaws in your world view, fine ban me for citing sources and using reason, fine ban me for saying things outside of your echo chamber. But let’s be honest you aren’t threatening to ban me for misinformation you’re threatening to ban me because you don’t like that you are unable to accept an alternative substantive point of view that’s based on evidence. Your view not so much in particular with regard to climate change and Covid. The politics questions are much more opinion based so yeah in some places sure you might be right. I’ve done my level best to reason with you but you just go down the path of oh you disagree therefore you are an idiot. Which from an epistemology perspective you can’t really justify.
@milhouse
Forgot to respond on Trump.
Sure he did well with operation warp speed so have many other nations with there efforts with a vaccine.
As for his response overall just no. He has undermined the messaging at every turn, mixed messages ant face mask, any lockdown etc. He peddled bullshit cures, allowed states to compete for scarce PPE, didn’t enact the defence act, has one of the highest death rates from Covid in the world and let’s be honest about this a number of much poorer countries have done much better. And before you go there j know full well that the UK has done badly too, I’m equally as unimpressed by the UKs response although for different reasons.
@Fuzzy slippers
If you are equating my speech to inciting violence or hate speech you really need to go back to school. That’s clearly a false equivalence when I say something along the lines of ‘climate change is caused by man according to x’ Vs Trump supporters threatening to lynch Mike Pence.
@Fuzzy slippers
From your perspective it’s really easy to not break your own ethical point of view. If you don’t like what I say don’t reply. Simple. Let other commenters make there own decisions on whether what I say has merit or not.
Mark (sorry for the downvote, that was intended to be a “reply”…), what data are you comparing?
Which seven states are worse off according to those numbers? Do the numbers generally support government action had a significant and positive effect?
Also, per 100k population numbers seem comparable, but the states have vastly different population numbers so a single case translates to very different numbers.
Take into account consequences for the economy and mental health, let alone the immediate gain/loss of liberty, I’d wager the less coercive the government measures the better the net results.
Hi Felix
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/
The above link has all the state’s. By no means is South Dakota the worst new jersey has that dubious honour.
Well put it this way there is a relationship between death rate and economic lockdown. As in those countries that have successfully contained the virus have been able to reduce the economic harm. Clearly from a state perspective that’s a combined issue ie the better the federal and individual state responses the better it is. If other states do badly then that makes it harder for other states. Like wise a weak federal response doesn’t help either.
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-health-economy
This applies to the civil liberties as well by extension, successfully containing the virus means that there is less of a requirement for lockdown etc.
Don’t get me wrong the US has done badly as a whole as has most of the western world
Good to hear from locals on the ground. All politicians are hypocrites about some things. It’s a matter of degree. Understood that you have to live with her & I don’t, but assuming everything you say about her is accurate, I still consider her a net positive.
Just so you know, it’s not a real account. It’s a spam that’s copy/pasted across multiple platforms. Found this same spam on Powerline from an account that was previously dormant for 8 years.
It’s clear they are worried about Governor Noem.
Yes I registered just to counter this propaganda.
Because I rarely post on blogs. I’m very active on reddit and you can see my history on /r/conservative. I am no leftist.
Yes, I feel strongly about Noem because of the reasons I put. I even gave the reasons why I’ve been posting this.
I think that if conservatives start pushing her into the national spotlight because of her stances on Covid, which I happen to mostly agree with, it is going to seriously hurt the Republican Party. It’s easy to judge somebody just by the little sound bites that make it on the news. Actually knowing something about the person is important if you’re going to suggest them for a national ticket.
And yes, the content of my posts about Noem tend to be the same because the issues with her haven’t changed. Why would I rewrite the same thing over and over again?
There are so many better people the GOP could promote besides Noem. This attention she’s getting is purely because of her Covid policies (which again, I happen to mostly agree with).
Whom do you have in mind to promote for 2024? I’m not enamored at the parochialism of Abbott; I see Cruz as a good AG, but not as the one in charge; Pence would make a decent XO but his flip on ‘bake the cake’ in Indiana soured me on him in charge; Palin is washed up; I could go down the list and they all have short-comings. Even Trump 2024 raises concerns for me about building a movement around an individual instead of a philosophy: a ‘cult of personality’ is inherently unstable and short-lived.
Whom do you look toward for 2024?
Thanks for your concern trolling. We’ll take your comments under advisement. And stuff.
Thanks for the alert. I give benefit of the doubt by default until reason not to.
My Governor is Michelle Lujan Grisham. Compare her to Kristy Noem and get back to me.
Good luck finding a politician who supports everything you do. If that’s your standard, you wouldn’t support anyone in the GOP anywhere, and especially not Trump.
What part of what I wrote makes you think it’s because she doesn’t agree with me politically?
The part that begins at the first sentence, that ends with the last sentence, and everything in between.
I notice you do not have any sources supporting your accusations that you yourself say are not widely known. Put up. Or are we to assume you are simply a leftist trying to push party-serving disinformation?
So, criticizing a Republican now means you’re a leftist?
I’ve never voted for a democrat in my life. I can’t see myself ever doing so.
My problems with Noem aren’t even with her policy stances. I voted for her knowing her stance on hemp farming.
My problems with her are entirely based on the corruption I see with her family (pay and crop insurance) and her installing a judge she knew would twist the law to get a result she wanted.
They’re not widely known outside of the state because no one pays attention to politics at that level outside of the state they are living in. They are well known in South Dakota and a quick google search pulls up information about them.
Duaghter and SIL pay
https://www.keloland.com/news/investigates/governors-daughter-gets-hefty-raise/
Hemp farming
https://apnews.com/article/eabe149418cd46dcbd18fe9b834f3639
husband selling insurance.
https://www.nga.org/governor-spouse/bryon-noem/
crop insurance (although it’s been in the works longer than this article mentions.
https://www.agriculture.com/crops/hemp/usda-announces-changes-to-hemp-crop-insurance
Noem changes stance (yes, she says it’s for other reasons, but the timing was suspect)
https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/content/news/Noem-releases-potential-potential-path-toward-legalizing-hemp-566843571.html
The Amendment A stuff is public record.
Of course not. Nor did I say that.
Pushing disparaging information on a Republican without any effort to back it up is different from criticizing though, and since we do not know one another personally, I’d rather ask. I will not assume the worst of a Republican just because someone on the internet did post something bad about them without giving any sources. Nor will I do the “research” without a good reason when the accuser can and should do that for his audience.
Since you actually did provide some links (I’ll follow up on later) you’re quite safe from me calling you a leftist unless it turns out that your basic source of information is Mother Jones, of course, or there are other independent reasons to do so.
OK, the “nepotism” charge I find lacking. If she were unqualified for the job I’m sure your source would have pointed that out. Just because someone “hasn’t graduated” yet is too little to prove they are not qualified for a job without formal qualification requirements.
As for the son-in-law I have seen nothing but the fact that he works for the government. No indication that he is paid more than usual for the job he does in the article you linked.
As for the hemp controversy. No there there either. Are you complaining that the Governor was convinced to change her mind and come to a position more in line with what the Republican legislators want? I cannot fault her for doing politics. Or are you seriously saying she did so in order to benefit her husband’s insurance business? I don’t believe that is very likely, unless there is some sort of monopoly on crop insurance in the state and insurance of hemp is much more lucrative than insurance of any other crop.
As for the Amendment issue, I won’t research that, but facially what you say does not convince me. The fact is that the judge ruled that way and apparently that ruling hasn’t been overturned. In any case, unless the argument of the governor is frivolous involving the courts seems to be the correct procedure if there is a disagreement about the correct legal handling of such an issue if the government cannot do it themselves in the first place.
Most of what I wrote is very much “inside baseball” type stuff.
I’m not saying that her daughter isn’t qualified for her job. I’m saying that increasing her pay by 50% in a year is BS.
In regards to hemp farming. My argument is that hemp farming would be a very popular crop in South Dakota and many farmers would switch to it. If they did so in large numbers, her husband would lose business because he wouldn’t have been able to sell insurance to those farmers.
The Amendment issue is the most damning.
The judge’s ruling just happened recently and it hasn’t had a chance to be heard by the state Supreme Court.
The arguments against Amendment A are entirely frivolous and I spelled out why
I like her, she has guts and a backbone
But I would feel better with DeSantis if President Trump does not run
Agree on both points and have stated that (somewhere) before. DeSantis appears to have the smarts, no-nonsense attitude, drive, and determination to win the next season of President Donald J. Trump’s “The Presidential Apprentice.”
Provided he doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet, though that doesn’t seem to matter any more as is evidenced by The Kenyan and now Silver Alert Joe.
Don’t rule out Mike Pompeo.
It is refreshing to see and hear sanity during this pandemic.
I loved the part of the speech where she spoke about shepards and sheep. “We will not be sheep.”
Great public servant! Great speech. Something that grinds me is my Governor relaxing restrictions acting like it’s him and his benovelance allowing his citizens freedom. Also note: my Governor, Mealy mouth Mike DeWine, RINO-Ohio, is not at CPAC!
speaking as one who was born and raised in Ohio (in Florida now), the last two rep govs. and the entire Ohio state repub party has been a big let down
None of the GOP can be trusted. The GOPe is like a disease, waiting to exploit us no less than the left.
The GOPe is like a disease, waiting to exploit us no less than the left.
Jerry Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy:
In any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.
The current leadership of the GOP is rife with the second type – focused upon preserving the GOP as an institution, and other institutions that employ the operatives of the GOP, as their primary objective.
Not assuring respect and protection for life and liberty.
Those “professionals” form one wing of a permanent professional/political complex that is the support for both threats Eisenhower warned us about – the scientific/technological elite, as well as the military/industrial complex.
“Professionals” that co-opted the Tea Party … and undermined President Trump at almost every turn … exploiting both to advance the care-and-feeding of themselves and the institution they ride upon.
IMHO, we need a movement – not another institution – to supplant the existing GOP.
Or, if Red America chooses to retain the GOP as an organization to represent it, because of (rigged) election laws that favor the two major parties, it MUST be reformulated into more movement than institution, to remove the influences … such as the numerous opportunities for the permanent employment of “professionals” … that have made it a poster child for the Iron Law.
As you can see from the comments Noem is going to get the Trump/Palin treatment, aka the nuts/sluts/corruption attack. When the trolls, bots, and actually corrupt media get done with her half the country will detest her. Who is alseen? He or she seems like an oppo research agent. Conservative my a**.
She better get ready. I am not dismissing her, I like her and supported her early in her political career. The already mounting attack on her is just another sign of our bifurcated nation and the utter debasement of the American culturally Marxist Democrat left.
Just ignore these types. I do. 😛
COVID didn’t crush economy. Government did’.