Posted on April
20, 2021
Kristi In Crisis
But what if Trump had done it?
by
Daniel
Clark
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem
had been the face of the of the Republican Party's future, until she went
wobbly on a bill to prohibit boys from participating in girls' sports, thereby
demonstrating her unreliability. At
least that has been the accepted narrative, as told by alleged conservatives.
Although she had encouraged her state legislature to
pass such a ban, Noem had second thoughts after
consulting her lawyers, and returned the bill with a request that it be revised
and resubmitted. The NCAA has recently
endorsed the idea of "biological males" -- which is the lunatic-approved term
for men and boys -- competing in women's and girls' sports. Noem was advised
that if the NCAA sued the state of South Dakota over the measure, it would
likely prevail, thus nullifying the ban altogether. In response, she is asking to have the bill
broken into two separate initiatives, one banning men from competing in women's
college sports, and the other forbidding boys from competing in girls' sports
in public schools. That way, the
prohibition for grades K-12 would remain standing even if the one at the
collegiate level were struck down.
So
Noem's great betrayal consists of a tactical retreat
on one issue, so that she may take a more incremental approach that she
believes would stand a better chance of succeeding. For this, Michael Farris of the Alliance
Defending Freedom declared, "She was considered a shining star in the GOP with
a bright future. No more." Columnist Jordan Davidson of The Federalist called her "cowardly,"
and dismissed her as "a worthless standard-bearer." Kurt Schlichter of Townhall wrote,
"Her best case is that she was dumb instead of squishy." As if that criticism weren't unjustified
enough, he went on to liken her to Jeb Bush.
Okay, so these critics have good reason to be
disappointed in Noem's decision, and maybe she's
wrong. Maybe she should have signed the
bill as it was written, and taken the repercussions as they came. Still, her decision is hardly tantamount to
political suicide. The suggestion that
it is reveals a fickleness among her detractors that is unjustifiable, in light
of their unshakeable allegiance to Donald Trump.
The
point of this column is not to disparage the former president, who himself has
had nothing but kind words for Gov. Noem. It needs to be asked of the Trumpies who are now condemning Noem,
however, which of these two politicians is a more consistent adherent to a
conservative political ideology, and which one is less likely to cave in when
challenged. After all, it was not Kristi
Noem who tweeted "Tariffs are great!", voiced support
for "red flag" gun control laws, signed a law springing high-level drug dealers
from prison, proposed to stimulate the economy with $2 trillion in needless
deficit spending, and invited the Taliban to Camp David on the week of 9/11. Nor was it she who let the Turks order American
forces out of Syria, instigated a government shutdown only to relent without
getting the desired border wall funding, backed off a threat to shut down TikTok, claimed the authority to unilaterally repeal the
states' COVID shutdown measures but declined to exercise it, and repeatedly
hurled hollow barrels of bellicosity at Iran and North Korea.
Had Trump made a decision like the one that Noem made, there's no way that nominally conservative think
tanks and publications would portray it as a surrender. Instead, the story would be that Trump knows
how to win. The eleventeen-dimensional
chess grand master is several moves ahead of the opposition, as always. He doesn't back away; he rope-a-dopes. He never gives up; it's just that most of his
cunning schemes have yet to come to fruition.
Not only would Trump have baited his trap for the bad
guys, but by appearing to make a concession, he would have cleverly peeled off
part of the Democrat voting base by making an appeal to the QWERTYUIOP
community. It isn't possible for Trump
to commit ideological heresy, because the ideology changes right along with
him.' Rather than acknowledge that he's
not a conservative, his acolytes credit him with having caused a political
realignment by transforming the conservative movement, as if that had been a
desirable thing in the first place.
Loathe as some people may be to admit it, Donald Trump
will not always be able to run for president.
If they are determined to destroy every other credible candidate based
on the slenderest of premises, they might as well start ordering those "Jeb!" yard
signs right now.
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