South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem now prohibited from being in nearly 20% of her state after two more tribes ousted her this week over comments she made earlier this year about tribal leaders benefiting from drug cartels.
Latest events in ongoing tribal dispute following the backlash Noem faced for writing about killing a hunting dog that she behaved badly in her last book. It’s unclear how these controversies will affect her chances of becoming Donald Trump’s Vice Presidential Candidate because it’s hard to predict what a former president will do.
The Yankton Sioux Tribe voted Friday to ban Noem from leaving his land in southeastern South Dakota, just days after the Sisseton-Wahpeton Owate Tribe took the same actions. The Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes have already taken steps to keep her off their reservations. Three other tribes have not yet banned it.
Noem fueled divisions between the tribes and the rest of the state in March when she publicly said tribal leaders were serving drug cartels on their reservations while ignoring the needs of children and the poor.
“We have some tribal leaders who I believe benefit personally from the presence of the cartels, and that is why they attack me every day,” Noem said at the forum. “But I will fight for the people who actually live in these situations, who call me, write me every day and say, ‘Please, dear governor, please help us in Pine Ridge.’ We’re scared.” »
A Noem spokesman did not respond to emailed questions Saturday about the bans. But she has previously said she believes many people living on reservations still support her, even though she clearly doesn’t get along with tribal leaders.
Noem addressed this issue in publish on X on Thursday and also posted a link to a YouTube channel dedicated to a law enforcement video about drugs on reservations.
“Tribal leaders must take action to stop the cartels from leaving their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty,” Noem said. “We can only do this through partnerships because the Biden administration is not doing its job.”
The tribes have clashed with Noem in the past, including over the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock and during the COVID-19 pandemic when they set up coronavirus checkpoints at the borders of reservations to keep out unnecessary visitors. In 2019, following a protest dispute, she was temporarily banned from the Oglala Sioux Reservation.
And there is a long history of uneasy relations between the state’s Native Americans and the government, dating back to 1890, when soldiers shot and killed hundreds of Lakota men, women and children during the Wounded Knee Massacre as part of a campaign to stop religious activity. a practice known as “Ghost Dance”.
Political commentator Cal Jillson, who works at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said the tribal dispute feels a little different because Noem appears to be “actively stoking it, which suggests she sees political gain.”
“I’m sure Governor Noem doesn’t mind focusing on tensions with Native Americans in South Dakota because if we don’t talk about that, we’re talking about her shooting a dog,” Jillson said .
Noem appeared tired of answering questions about her decision to kill Cricket after the dog attacked the family’s chickens during a stop on the way home from hunting and then tried to bite the governor. Noem also came under fire for including an anecdote, which she has since asked her publisher to pull from a book describing ‘looks down’ on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a private meeting that experts called implausible.
Following these controversies, she canceled several interviews scheduled as part of her book tour. Despite all the questions about No Going Back: The Truth About What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, no one is even asking about Noem’s decision anymore. appear in a promotional style video lavished praise on the team of cosmetic dentists in Texas who provided her with veneers.
Jillson said all of this likely hurts her chances of winning against Trump, who is auditioning a long list of potential vice presidential candidates.
“I think the chaos that Trump revels in is the chaos that he creates. Chaos created by someone else simply takes attention away from him,” Jillson said.
University of South Dakota political science professor Michael Card said that if this is not the vice presidential seat, it is unclear what Noem’s political future holds since she is not allowed to run for another term as governor. Noem is in her second term as governor.
Card said she could vie for U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds’ seat or try to return to the House.