The GOP is Cancelling Kristi Noem

Despite her best efforts to burrow herself into Donald Trump’s alimentary canal, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has fallen out of grace with her fellow Republicans. Noem was a favorite of attendees at CPAC in Orlando, Florida, and Trump spoke highly of her during the debut episode of Fox News pundit Lisa Boothe’s new podcast. But the hard-right Republican governor is feeling the wrath of some social conservatives for her opposition to parts of a South Dakota bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing against the opposite sex in her state.

Noem’s issuance of a formal recommendation for style and form modifications to HB 1217 not only drew criticism from its authors in the South Dakota Legislature, who said the changes she wants don’t align with the policy they set out to create; GOP leaders have also questioned whether the governor’s use of the style and form veto is legal considering she’s recommending what they say are substantive changes, not minor clerical errors.

Noem has argued that she still supports the measure, but that it needs to be revised to carve out college athletics because, “If South Dakota passes a law that’s against their policy, they will likely take punitive action against us.”

BREAKING: South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem failed to fully veto an anti-trans bill and instead sent it back to the legislature.

Lawmakers should abandon this bill altogether.

There is no way to make discrimination acceptable.

— ACLU (@ACLU) March 19, 2021

Right-wing pundits have started to come for Noem now. “=The conservative website The Federalist, which dubbed Noem a ‘rockstar’ as recently as January, has now become a hub for Noem criticism. Federalist writers have accused Noem of ruining her political ‘star power’ and ‘walking into a political buzz saw’ with the veto. Townhall columnist Kurt Schlichter called the veto an ‘utterly insane unforced error’ in a Wednesday column, claiming that he got “a weird vibe” from Noem after meeting her at a conservative conference.”

https://twitter.com/ARKloster/status/1374168798077521921

“She was considered a shining star in the GOP with a bright future. No more,” said Michael Farris of the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBTQ hate group influential in GOP politics, in a Facebook post. “We don’t need leaders who lack the courage to stand up to the corporate bullies who want to turn our country into an amoral wasteland filled with compliant consumers.”

Basically, the right-wing is canceling Noem for not being as terrible as they need her to be, while Democrats think she’s already pretty awful.

If your version of feminism is the one that Gov. Lee, Ted Cruz, Kristi Noem, and ADF can get behind then I really feel like you should question everything about yourself.

— Chase Strangio (@chasestrangio) March 26, 2021