I give Noem a lot of credit for being unwavering in her opposition to lockdowns. She took that stand earlier than anyone and stood by it, even as it came under fire when slaughterhouses in her state had to be temporarily closed to sanitize. Behind COVID, she has been erratic in her approach to opposing gender ideology as it seeps into sports and education, making Title IX protections for female athletes totally meaningless.
I think a lot of her popularity is due to her life story and background. She's a for-real rancher, a good businesswoman, and an attractive person.
Her behavior is simply the expression of identity politics, which confuses ideas with members of a movement. Mike Huckabee and John McCain paved the way for this: Huckabee by equating social conservatism with supporting people who are social conservatives, such as when he bragged in 2008 that he would fight for "people who are pro-life," as opposed to fighting against abortion; and McCain by equating support for the military with patriotism, without ever clearly articulating what his patriotic values were. This trained Republican voters to respond to shibboleths, and led them to fall for Donald Trump's act. Trump dupes people into thinking he supports the military because he says soldiers are wonderful and hugs flags, and dupes social conservatives into thinking he supports their causes because he will defend them -- not their cause, but them -- from the liberals who are out to get them. So now Noem thinks that supporting conservative values means "supporting the most conservative governor in the country." This is the same mentality that equates empowering blacks with donating to Jesse Jackson's slush fund.
That's not the way she should be acting if she has any presidential ambitions. OTOH given that I don't want to see her in the white house I hope she keeps it up.
Good analysis.
I give Noem a lot of credit for being unwavering in her opposition to lockdowns. She took that stand earlier than anyone and stood by it, even as it came under fire when slaughterhouses in her state had to be temporarily closed to sanitize. Behind COVID, she has been erratic in her approach to opposing gender ideology as it seeps into sports and education, making Title IX protections for female athletes totally meaningless.
I think a lot of her popularity is due to her life story and background. She's a for-real rancher, a good businesswoman, and an attractive person.
Her behavior is simply the expression of identity politics, which confuses ideas with members of a movement. Mike Huckabee and John McCain paved the way for this: Huckabee by equating social conservatism with supporting people who are social conservatives, such as when he bragged in 2008 that he would fight for "people who are pro-life," as opposed to fighting against abortion; and McCain by equating support for the military with patriotism, without ever clearly articulating what his patriotic values were. This trained Republican voters to respond to shibboleths, and led them to fall for Donald Trump's act. Trump dupes people into thinking he supports the military because he says soldiers are wonderful and hugs flags, and dupes social conservatives into thinking he supports their causes because he will defend them -- not their cause, but them -- from the liberals who are out to get them. So now Noem thinks that supporting conservative values means "supporting the most conservative governor in the country." This is the same mentality that equates empowering blacks with donating to Jesse Jackson's slush fund.
That's not the way she should be acting if she has any presidential ambitions. OTOH given that I don't want to see her in the white house I hope she keeps it up.