South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Wednesday said America’s founding principles are “under attack” and that President Trump is the right candidate to defend them.
She said the Republican party will preserve limited government and constitutional rights, notably the Second Amendment. Democrats, she argued, will imperil those rights under the influence of “radicals.”
“From Seattle and Portland to Washington and New York, Democrat-run cities across this country are being overrun by violent mobs,” she said on the third night of the Republican National Convention. “The violence is rampant. There’s looting, chaos, destruction, and murder. People that can afford to flee have fled. But the people that can’t — good, hard-working Americans — are left to fend for themselves.”
Ms. Noem is a staunch ally of Mr. Trump. She welcomed the president to Mount Rushmore on Independence Day weekend to relaunch fireworks at the park and received a huge ovation from delegates at the convention hall in Charlotte on Monday.
During the spring lockdowns due to COVID-19, she boasted that she didn’t have to slowly reopen because she never closed the economy.
“We are not — and will not — be the subjects of an elite class of so-called experts. We the people are the government,” she said in her convention speech.
South Dakota’s seven-day rolling average of coronavirus cases stands at 150 per day compared to about 90 two weeks ago, according to a New York Times database.
Brett Giroir, the U.S. coronavirus testing czar, cited South Dakota on Wednesday as one of a handful of states on an “upward trajectory” even as much of the nation shows gradual improvement.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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