The Charlie Kirk Show - Governor Kristi Noem | PROOF That Lockdowns Don't Work

00:00:00.000 Thank you for listening to this Podcast 1 production.

00:00:02.000 Now available on Apple Podcasts, Podcast 1, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts.

00:00:08.000 Hey, everybody.

00:00:09.000 Boy, do we have a treat for you on this show today?

00:00:14.000 Exclusive, in-depth, unedited interview with the governor of South Dakota, the governor who's hosting the Prize of the United States at Mount Rushmore.

00:00:25.000 The airing of this episode today.

00:00:27.000 The governor who never shut down her state at all, despite the authoritarian groupthink that was happening across our country.

00:00:35.000 And as we are seeing states lockdown right now, we need to look at confident, courageous, conservative leaders like Christine Noam.

00:00:43.000 Her state is booming.

00:00:45.000 Her state has the best economic numbers of any state in the country.

00:00:48.000 Her state has barely lost any money as a budget shortfall.

00:00:52.000 A little bit, but not a lot.

00:00:54.000 She talks about that in this episode.

00:00:55.000 She gives concrete advice on how young conservatives can fight back and what the Republican Party needs to do.

00:01:00.000 We talk about immigration.

00:01:01.000 We talk about Mount Rushmore.

00:01:02.000 We talk about Joe Biden.

00:01:04.000 We need more Republicans like Christy Noam.

00:01:06.000 Email me your questions, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:01:09.000 If you like what you hear on this episode, please shoot a tweet or an email or a Facebook post encouraging Governor Noam because she gets so much negative out there.

00:01:18.000 She needs to hear from us, the conservative base, that we are with her and that we support her.

00:01:22.000 Thank you to our supporters that make this specific episode commercial-free.

00:01:26.000 CharlieKirk.com slash support, CharlieKirk.com slash support.

00:01:30.000 This episode, no commercials, just Charlie Kirk, Governor Christy Noam, Liberty, Freedom, America, Truth.

00:01:37.000 You guys are going to love it.

00:01:38.000 Buckle up.

00:01:39.000 Here we go.

00:01:40.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:01:42.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campuses.

00:01:44.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:01:47.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:01:51.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:01:52.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:01:53.000 His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.

00:02:01.000 We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.

00:02:10.000 That's why we are here.

00:02:13.000 Welcome to this episode of the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:02:13.000 Hey, everybody.

00:02:16.000 A very special guest.

00:02:18.000 You say that to everyone.

00:02:19.000 No, it's my favorite governor in the entire country.

00:02:21.000 It's probably the only governor with courage anymore.

00:02:23.000 I shouldn't say, but there's some good governors out there.

00:02:25.000 But one in particular that has really proven to be a fighter in the last couple of months.

00:02:29.000 And a friend of mine, Governor Christy Noam.

00:02:32.000 Good to be with you, too.

00:02:32.000 Yes.

00:02:34.000 It's been a little while since I've seen you.

00:02:35.000 Thank you for coming to South Dakota.

00:02:36.000 Yeah, so the media is very intense.

00:02:39.000 So I'm going to do what the media used to do with Barack Obama with you at the beginning.

00:02:44.000 How are you doing?

00:02:44.000 Okay.

00:02:45.000 Oh, yes, I'm doing good.

00:02:47.000 Thank you for asking.

00:02:49.000 That's what they always used to do with Obama.

00:02:50.000 Like, how does it feel to be president?

00:02:51.000 How does it feel to be president?

00:02:53.000 So let's just start very simple.

00:02:55.000 How are you holding up?

00:02:55.000 How are you doing?

00:02:56.000 I mean, you didn't close down your state at all.

00:02:58.000 You were public enemy number one during the virus shutdown.

00:03:03.000 How are you holding up?

00:03:04.000 We're doing good.

00:03:05.000 We really are.

00:03:05.000 The people of South Dakota are fantastic.

00:03:08.000 And remember, before I became governor, I spent eight years in D.C., which was not fun for me.

00:03:14.000 And especially being a part of Congress, the ability to come home and be a governor and set an agenda and to make decisions every day that really impact people's lives.

00:03:23.000 I think that fits my personality a little bit better.

00:03:26.000 And I'm happy here.

00:03:27.000 This is a beautiful place with wonderful people.

00:03:30.000 And although the last several months have been incredibly challenging, boy, we've stepped up and done a fairly good job.

00:03:36.000 Let's talk about it.

00:03:37.000 So you made the decision not to shut down your state.

00:03:40.000 And other governors are now doing interesting revisionist history.

00:03:44.000 I've seen it firsthand where they're like, oh, we didn't shut down the state.

00:03:46.000 Like they went through some form of shelter in place.

00:03:50.000 You trusted your citizens.

00:03:51.000 Why did you make that decision?

00:03:53.000 You know, when we first learned about COVID-19, I set up a partial EOC emergency operations center in January.

00:04:01.000 So we were talking about this a couple months before we ever had our first case in South Dakota.

00:04:05.000 Our first case came March 10th.

00:04:08.000 And at that point in time, we were prepared.

00:04:11.000 And I had gotten briefed not only by my public health officials, my Secretary of Health, but also my attorneys.

00:04:17.000 I talked to some constitutional lawyers.

00:04:19.000 I spent a lot of time with my economic development folks, finding out really the details on what my authorities were as governor, and then really self-evaluating why I ran for governor and why I was in this position at this time.

00:04:35.000 So I really, when it came to making decisions on if I was going to order businesses to close or order people to stay in their homes, I knew that I had to live with myself and that we had a nationwide crisis on our hands and that that is a perilous time because if you have leaders that overstep their role, that's when you lose your country.

00:04:56.000 When you have them take more authorities than what they're granted by the oath that they've taken, that's when you lose your liberties and freedoms.

00:05:03.000 And I knew that in South Dakota we weren't going to take that path.

00:05:06.000 It's refreshing to hear a leader that actually goes through the decision-making process of why am I here and what can I do.

00:05:12.000 So you actually didn't have the constitutional authority to tell people the shelter.

00:05:16.000 You don't have the constitutional authority and none of these governors do or to close businesses.

00:05:20.000 You know, frankly, they can all be sued for a taking of their business because they don't have the authority legally to shut them down.

00:05:28.000 So I went through all of those discussions and also realized that I had never seen a situation where people were so gripped by fear and that what we really needed was information in people's hands and give them the opportunity to make the best decision for their family.

00:05:44.000 So I talked a lot about personal responsibility.

00:05:47.000 I talked a lot about the flexibility that they were going to have to make the decisions that they were comfortable with.

00:05:54.000 And I had to do it every day.

00:05:55.000 I think we did 60 press conferences in a row every day.

00:05:59.000 Some days we did two because we had new information.

00:06:03.000 We had more things I wanted to share with them.

00:06:05.000 But I think that communication, but also recognizing that they were wanting me to make decisions that they should be making and then using it as an opportunity to remind them of our values and what makes us special here in South Dakota really made the difference.

00:06:21.000 So you used the press conferences as an opportunity not just to give case updates, but you actually explained what liberty is and personal responsibility is, something that so many leaders, I just think, ran away from that conversation.

00:06:34.000 Well, I did.

00:06:35.000 And also once I got off of those press conferences, I spent hours on the phone with mayors and with county commissioners who were freaking out and scared and wanted me to be making the decisions that they were to be making in their local communities.

00:06:52.000 South Dakota is so diverse and this country is so diverse that a blanket approach to an entire state wasn't appropriate in any shape or form.

00:07:02.000 And that they really could look at their community and make a decision on how to bring people to the table to take care of folks.

00:07:08.000 So we had some communities here that I feel like didn't handle the situation as well, but we had some rock stars that pulled together task forces and if they had a hotspot, went in and addressed it, took care of those people, did more testing that really showed how a community can cooperate and not have to put in these draconian measures that really take away people's freedoms.

00:07:33.000 So you actually it's interesting people are saying, well, we have to reopen.

00:07:37.000 That really wasn't a phenomenon for you, right?

00:07:39.000 You've been open for 10 years.

00:07:41.000 Yeah, we never closed down.

00:07:42.000 So that's what we talked about when we were going to have a discussion on telling people that they needed to get back out and needed to start attending activities and doing things.

00:07:53.000 I couldn't say reopening our state because we'd never closed.

00:07:56.000 We talked about going back to normal.

00:07:58.000 A lot of people talk about a new normal.

00:08:00.000 I liked the old normal, so I don't say that.

00:08:03.000 I don't say that.

00:08:04.000 We just say back to normal.

00:08:05.000 And I think South Dakota is largely back to normal.

00:08:08.000 And it's amazing to me.

00:08:10.000 We're 11 weeks out about from when people truly went back to normal in South Dakota, and we've only seen our cases go down.

00:08:18.000 We only have 65 people in the hospital today.

00:08:21.000 At this point, the CDC and the models that Dr. Fauci told us to follow, we would have 10,000 people in the hospital because of COVID-19, and we have 65.

00:08:30.000 So I even did a press conference on how wrong the models were.

00:08:34.000 Well, let's talk about that.

00:08:36.000 So they said 10,000.

00:08:38.000 In a state of 800,000 people.

00:08:39.000 Yes, we'd have 10,000 in the hospital that we needed to build capacity into our health care system to take care of that many patients with COVID-19.

00:08:48.000 So we prepared for that.

00:08:50.000 I asked people to stay home as much as they could originally.

00:08:53.000 I said just social distance when you can, but make decisions that work for you.

00:08:59.000 And then we built in capacity to take care of our peak if it would come.

00:09:03.000 But today, which is about just a couple of weeks after when our peak would have been, we should have had 10,000 in the hospital.

00:09:09.000 We have 65.

00:09:10.000 So, how does your state compare to other states that did shut down?

00:09:14.000 Is it I think we're far outperforming them.

00:09:17.000 Really?

00:09:18.000 Yes, absolutely.

00:09:19.000 We have less people in the hospital.

00:09:20.000 We have a low death rate in the nation.

00:09:23.000 And I didn't focus on infections.

00:09:25.000 I was pretty clear with South Dakota that people were going to get this virus.

00:09:29.000 Yeah.

00:09:30.000 But the people that needed health care when they got the virus was who we needed to protect.

00:09:35.000 So if you were vulnerable, if you were elderly, if you had a health care condition that made you more susceptible, that we would take care of you.

00:09:42.000 But I said people will get infected, and that will be something that will work this virus through our state.

00:09:49.000 But what we needed to do was prepare and then make the decisions that work for you.

00:09:53.000 You probably, and the science will show this in the next couple months, you probably had South Dakota develop some form of herd immunity or at least be able to develop antibodies.

00:10:03.000 And I'm sure we're going to see that in the coming months because when you just shelter in place, you have essentially typically the way we have viruses hit flat is you have young people in particular that are able to develop that system.

00:10:19.000 Are you encouraging schools to open in the fall?

00:10:21.000 Yes, our schools will open.

00:10:23.000 You know, we lost track when our schools were not in session of about 20 to 30 percent of our kids.

00:10:28.000 So that means their parents, their guardians didn't check in, they didn't do any homework.

00:10:32.000 We don't know how they're doing.

00:10:34.000 So we think it's beneficial to have kids in the building, just to have those teachers and administrators, you know, knowing where they are, how they're doing, and to see if we can assist those families.

00:10:44.000 So, yes, our students will come back.

00:10:46.000 We're giving some flexibility to the local districts based on what that looks like.

00:10:50.000 Some of them have different types of facilities, different locations.

00:10:54.000 So it'll look a little different in each district, but they will be back in their buildings.

00:10:57.000 So I come from the state of Illinois originally, Turning Point USA is headquartered in Arizona.

00:11:02.000 Both states have decided to not embrace liberty and freedom.

00:11:06.000 Republican governor in one state, Democrat governor in the other state.

00:11:10.000 And both are actually experiencing huge budget shortfalls.

00:11:14.000 So they were going to the federal government with their hands out and they're saying, please bail us out.

00:11:17.000 Please bail us out because we had no choice.

00:11:20.000 And we all pay a lot in federal income taxes.

00:11:23.000 How's South Dakota doing fiscally?

00:11:26.000 Yeah, we're doing pretty good.

00:11:27.000 I think we're outperforming every other state.

00:11:29.000 And I think it's because we let our business owners make decisions that allowed them to keep bringing revenue in and to take care of their employees and allow them the opportunity to put food on the table.

00:11:40.000 So, you know, I think I had the hardest hit month was a 0.3% decline in revenue.

00:11:46.000 Now, remember, in South Dakota, the only funds that we bring in to make sure that we're paying our state government bills is a sales tax.

00:11:55.000 We don't have an income tax, personal organization.

00:11:57.000 We don't have the bulk and shale.

00:11:59.000 We don't have that either.

00:11:59.000 We don't.

00:12:00.000 We have Mount Rushmore.

00:12:01.000 We don't have oil.

00:12:04.000 And we don't have any other tax that might be there.

00:12:07.000 The property taxes all stay local.

00:12:09.000 So we fund our state off of sales tax largely.

00:12:12.000 And we saw a 0.3% decrease for a month.

00:12:16.000 But now it's rebounded quite well.

00:12:18.000 So we looked at about a $4 million shortfall.

00:12:22.000 That's it.

00:12:23.000 Which I think is phenomenal.

00:12:24.000 We expected it to be greater than that.

00:12:26.000 Illinois is looking at like a $40 billion shortage.

00:12:29.000 I know.

00:12:29.000 So we do have costs that we incurred because of COVID-19.

00:12:34.000 The federal government did send us some money, but we're going to use that to really aggressively help our small businesses and to develop.

00:12:41.000 I told my team I wanted them to use whatever revenues that were here, that we needed to use those to prepare South Dakota to be successful for the next 20 years.

00:12:51.000 I don't want them looking short term, but that we need to be looking long-term to how can we use this to facilitate better efficiencies and to make our state more stable and grow the next 20 years.

00:13:02.000 So how's South Dakota doing on employment numbers?

00:13:05.000 Oh, great.

00:13:05.000 Yeah, we have our people are going back to work.

00:13:08.000 You know, we saw quite a few people unemployed right away, but we have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation.

00:13:14.000 And we still have, it's higher than normal, obviously.

00:13:18.000 But I think we're rebounding quicker than everybody else as well.

00:13:21.000 And what's interesting about what happened here was that tourism is our number two industry in South Dakota.

00:13:28.000 They relied a lot on H-2B visa workers to come in during the tourism season.

00:13:33.000 We're seeing young kids get jobs that haven't had it before that are working, families that are doing things together that never have before to run the family business.

00:13:42.000 I think it's reinvigorated a cooperation.

00:13:45.000 And I talked a lot about strong families throughout this, too, that we've recognized the importance of families spending time together and working together.

00:13:54.000 And that's what's happening in South Dakota.

00:13:56.000 And I think they're recognizing that going back to this tradition of family values and work is really what we want to keep.

00:14:04.000 It's so refreshing to hear that. 1.00

00:14:06.000 So you're saying that the American workers are filling the jobs that H2B. 0.82

00:14:11.000 They really are.

00:14:12.000 We've had more people step up.

00:14:14.000 And some of our elderly folks that have always done certain jobs, you know, they're still out there doing some of that.

00:14:19.000 But those that have chosen to stay home have been filled by younger workers that maybe they were busy running around doing a dozen different activities before, where when those stopped, they started filling in other areas.

00:14:30.000 And it really inspired them to the value of work.

00:14:33.000 Well, I have to say that's a point in the category of the president's recent immigration policy saying that Americans can step up and do these jobs.

00:14:41.000 And they're liking it.

00:14:42.000 It's not that this is a hardship.

00:14:43.000 They are enjoying this.

00:14:45.000 They're recognizing the value of serving each other.

00:14:48.000 And that's really one of the things we don't talk about enough.

00:14:51.000 We were created to serve people.

00:14:54.000 And here in South Dakota, I think people are renewing their belief in the value of that.

00:15:00.000 Totally.

00:15:01.000 I completely, I see that.

00:15:02.000 I mean, being here, it's I'm back in my country again, seriously, where I go to New York or L.A. and it's some sort of dystopian nightmare.

00:15:10.000 So the president's coming here very soon.

00:15:13.000 And we're releasing this episode.

00:15:15.000 I'm sure people are going to be listening to it after he speaks, but we are releasing it before he comes here to South Dakota.

00:15:22.000 He'll be visiting Mount Rushmore.

00:15:24.000 The Democrats want to get rid of Mount Rushmore.

00:15:27.000 In fact, they sent out a tweet, which is now deleted, where they said Mount Rushmore is a symbol of white supremacy.

00:15:33.000 Do you think Mount Rushmore is coming down anytime soon?

00:15:36.000 No, it won't while I'm governor, I know for sure.

00:15:39.000 But it's a national monument, so it really does matter who's leading this country as to what we protect and what we value.

00:15:47.000 And, you know, the Democrats have lost their minds.

00:15:52.000 What they're saying and what they're doing is unbelievable to me.

00:15:56.000 I didn't dream that we would be in this position, and we need people to stand up and really call them out for what they're doing.

00:16:02.000 This is a deliberate attack on the people who founded this country with a purpose to remove the principles that we stand on each day.

00:16:11.000 They want to rewrite our history so they can reset the political agenda.

00:16:15.000 Yes.

00:16:16.000 And we need to call them out on that.

00:16:18.000 And we need to do it daily and aggressively and recognize this is the fight that we were put here for of our generation.

00:16:25.000 It really is.

00:16:26.000 And that this is why we're in the positions that we're in.

00:16:29.000 And every single person has an opportunity, whether you're at the gas station, a grocery store, go into church.

00:16:37.000 Ask the people next to you what they think of the situation that's going on.

00:16:40.000 Use it as an opportunity to educate them.

00:16:42.000 I think for so many years, we did talking points and used one-liners on social media, and we didn't educate people about why we need to value what we value in this country.

00:16:54.000 And we're a world driven by emotions.

00:16:57.000 There's got to be some more thought put into really what we say and what we do.

00:17:01.000 Not enough logic and thinking and history.

00:17:04.000 So the New York Times published an op-ed editorial, whatever they call it today.

00:17:10.000 It's basically the whatever the most radical opinion is in the country that is contributing to the downfall of America.

00:17:18.000 You can find it in the op-ed section of the New York Times where they say, yes, even Mount Rushmore.

00:17:23.000 That was amazing to me because that truly shows that this isn't a fringe group that's talking about this.

00:17:29.000 I got mocked just a couple of weeks ago for saying that we would defend Mount Rushmore by my local press here.

00:17:35.000 They said there's not even any threats to Mount Rushmore.

00:17:38.000 Well, just a word.

00:17:39.000 The New York Times.

00:17:40.000 Yes, the New York Times, absolutely.

00:17:42.000 We had that conversation with one of our local papers recently, the paper of record.

00:17:47.000 But this is clearly an attack on Mount Rushmore and everything that it stands for.

00:17:54.000 And nobody believes that those four men didn't make mistakes.

00:17:57.000 Nobody's saying that.

00:17:58.000 But what we're saying is what they did do and what they gave us for our country and what it gives us is incredibly important.

00:18:08.000 It needs to be remembered.

00:18:09.000 And they tell a story every day by being on that mountain.

00:18:12.000 Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt.

00:18:15.000 For those people that don't know, what is the history of Mount Rushmore?

00:18:17.000 Calvin Coolidge played a role, right?

00:18:19.000 Well, Calvin Coolidge was here in South Dakota.

00:18:22.000 He spent his summer here in South Dakota.

00:18:25.000 In fact, the State Game Lodge in Custer State Park was built for him.

00:18:29.000 And the Rapid City High School was used as his offices.

00:18:32.000 Every day he would go into Rapid City, but spent the entire summer here.

00:18:37.000 And Gutz and Borglum was going to carve the mountain but did not have enough money and wanted to do this carving of Mount Rushmore and dropped a wreath from an airplane to Coolidge when he was here at the State Game Lodge explaining what he wanted to do and talking about it and asking him to come see the mountain.

00:18:55.000 And he did.

00:18:56.000 And ultimately, that was the vision that was planted in Coolidge's heart to advocate for getting the funds and the federal funds necessary to complete the project.

00:19:04.000 So it was a remarkable story.

00:19:08.000 And I think that it was the vision of the people here to really complete it and know that it would be something that would be here forever.

00:19:15.000 That's when America, I think we need to get back to this, used to do really big ambitions.

00:19:20.000 Yeah.

00:19:20.000 You used to do big things.

00:19:21.000 You look at what we've done in the past by the monuments, the dams, the infrastructure, the things that we've done.

00:19:29.000 You know, we talk about Teddy Roosevelt and his, you know, his vision for the West.

00:19:35.000 And we are the West.

00:19:36.000 And what he means, the man in the arena poem is something I'm going to reference tomorrow in the little speech that I get the chance to give.

00:19:44.000 And that those people need to be valued.

00:19:47.000 But that was something that he stood on.

00:19:49.000 And he recognized is that we should be in the arena fighting these fights because it's important.

00:19:55.000 I look at the four men on Mount Rushmore, and each one of them plays a different role that we can all learn something from.

00:20:02.000 Washington was, and it's interesting because Washington's most prominently displayed, right?

00:20:07.000 And it's not that it's the most important, but it's obvious that he's the front facing, which is the founder of the country and the man who could have been a king.

00:20:15.000 The only one unanimously elected, and everyone agreed needed to lead our country.

00:20:22.000 And he could have served infinite amount of terms.

00:20:24.000 Absolutely.

00:20:25.000 And could have been king, like you referenced.

00:20:26.000 And he set the precedent of two terms.

00:20:29.000 FDR decided to disobey that precedent.

00:20:32.000 Serving three, getting elected to a fourth, dying in the fourth.

00:20:34.000 Truman becomes, and then eventually they put in an amendment.

00:20:37.000 And then you see Lincoln, who, and it's very interesting because Lincoln, I believe, is on the other side.

00:20:42.000 Almost they're looking tangential to each other, where you saw the country at a crossroads.

00:20:48.000 So you can almost see that physically represented.

00:20:50.000 And Lincoln put us in an even greater direction, you could say.

00:20:55.000 And then you see Jefferson, who's kind of uniquely put right behind Washington.

00:21:00.000 And I think that's interesting because a lot of ways Jefferson was the philosophical author of the country, and it's represented in there.

00:21:08.000 And then you kind of see neatly tucked there is Roosevelt, right?

00:21:11.000 Not to de-emphasize him, but in some ways to show that we're all following in the footsteps of these giants and Roosevelt being the most recent.

00:21:20.000 See, that sort of archetypical analysis is totally lost on the left.

00:21:23.000 Well, and also Lincoln was a very unpopular president.

00:21:23.000 Oh, absolutely.

00:21:27.000 I mean, he didn't think he would get reelected.

00:21:30.000 And so that is something that I think we can learn something from each of these men and the way that they led and the challenges that they faced and even apply it to our most recent presidential election.

00:21:41.000 Yes.

00:21:42.000 That there was presidents in the past that were unpopular.

00:21:46.000 Look at the amazing, phenomenal things that they accomplished and how they changed our country for the better.

00:21:50.000 Yes.

00:21:51.000 And that is what we need to be focusing on in these presidential elections is what will these individuals be doing for our country that will give us the opportunity to have a more fair, a law-abiding and value-driven country.

00:22:05.000 Yes.

00:22:06.000 And so I want to ask you about the 2020 election.

00:22:08.000 But before I forget this thought, you're actually going as far to say we're going to try to put up new statues in the state of South Carolina.

00:22:16.000 I don't know if we could talk about this publicly.

00:22:18.000 Well, we have at the state capitol in Pier, South Dakota, the rotunda was built originally to have four statues on the four corners of the rotunda outside displayed facing north, south, east, and west.

00:22:33.000 And my vision is to raise the funds so that we could put the four presidents that are represented on Mount Rushmore, put their statues and monuments on our Capitol rotunda so that while the rest of the country is tearing down monuments, that South Dakota is putting them up and not just putting them up, we're putting them on our Capitol building proudly, showing what these men meant to our country and that we still value the gift that they gave us.

00:22:57.000 So when they're taking down Lincoln in Boston, they're taking him to Washington and Portland.

00:23:01.000 You're like, send them to the city.

00:23:03.000 They're taking down Roosevelt National History Museum. 0.98

00:23:06.000 Send them to South Dakota. 0.88

00:23:07.000 It'll save me some money. 0.92

00:23:08.000 That'd be fantastic.

00:23:10.000 That is such a simple anecdote of any Republican governor watching this.

00:23:15.000 Why do you not have the courage that Christy Nomez?

00:23:18.000 You can smile.

00:23:18.000 I can say that.

00:23:19.000 So that's all I have to say.

00:23:21.000 Well, and for, you know, you have to remember, I was raised by a cowboy that was pretty intense.

00:23:29.000 So, you know, when you're raised on a ranch and every day your parents give you impossible things to do.

00:23:35.000 And challenge you.

00:23:36.000 I think you just learn to solve your own problems and to focus on what really is important.

00:23:41.000 I had somebody tell me quite a while ago: they said, Governor, do you want to feel good or do you want to do good?

00:23:50.000 And so, every time I'm making a decision, that still runs through my head: that I don't ever want to be a governor that does things that just feel good.

00:23:58.000 I want to do good.

00:23:59.000 Everything we do needs to do good.

00:24:00.000 And I'm not interested in what this job gets me.

00:24:04.000 I think that I care about my kids and my grandkids.

00:24:08.000 And what kind of an America are they going to grow up in?

00:24:11.000 Do you think that part of that clear-eyed perspective you have is because you were in Congress for eight years, because you kind of saw the flash and the pizzazz of politics?

00:24:22.000 Do you think that was instructive?

00:24:24.000 Yeah, I think that Congress was incredibly discouraging to me.

00:24:29.000 I'll talk about that because I completely agree.

00:24:31.000 Yeah, I was never served in Congress.

00:24:33.000 Well, the only reason I ran for Congress was because I was so frustrated by what President Obama was doing.

00:24:39.000 He was changing our way of life.

00:24:41.000 And I was also raised by a dad who always said, You don't complain about things, you fix them.

00:24:45.000 And I got super convicted of the fact that I was constantly complaining about what was going on in this country.

00:24:51.000 And people were asking me to run, and I was refusing to.

00:24:54.000 So finally, I just decided to run.

00:24:56.000 And if I lost, everybody would leave me alone.

00:24:59.000 And I could say I tried.

00:25:00.000 And if I won, it was going to be a miracle because it was one of the top five races in the nation.

00:25:04.000 And the gal I was going to run against had a 70% approval rating.

00:25:08.000 So it was. 0.63

00:25:09.000 In the Republican primary? 0.90

00:25:10.000 No, she was a Democrat.

00:25:11.000 Wow. 0.99

00:25:12.000 We were represented by a blue dog Democrat. 0.96

00:25:14.000 Yeah. 0.95

00:25:14.000 Really? 0.95

00:25:15.000 So when I. Were you in politics before?

00:25:17.000 I was in the legislature.

00:25:18.000 But in the legislature, it's a 40-day session.

00:25:21.000 Go back to work.

00:25:21.000 It's very part of the business.

00:25:22.000 Yeah.

00:25:23.000 We were paid like $4,000 a year to go do that.

00:25:26.000 But so when I got in, nobody gave me a chance to win.

00:25:30.000 So when I got there, I was shocked at how broken it was.

00:25:35.000 I recognized, you know, in the South Dakota legislature, you have a bill that's going to get a hearing.

00:25:41.000 If it passes through committee, in three days, it'll be on the floor.

00:25:44.000 Every bill that passes the floor immediately goes to the other House for a committee hearing.

00:25:49.000 If it dies, it goes away.

00:25:51.000 In Congress, I could have a bill, and I may never get a hearing for 20 years.

00:25:56.000 The only way you can get a bill heard in a committee hearing is if the chairman likes you.

00:26:00.000 If he decides, oh, this is important enough, I'll talk about it.

00:26:03.000 If it passes through committee, there's no guarantee that it's ever going to get to the floor.

00:26:07.000 The only way it's voted on on the floor is if you can get the majority leader to decide it's important enough to put it on the floor and talk to the Speaker and have them put it as a part of their agenda.

00:26:17.000 Even if you pass it through the House, no guarantee the Senate was ever going to pick up that piece of legislation.

00:26:23.000 And I won, one member from South Dakota out of 435, I recognized I am here away from everything that I love to be one person in a broken system when, and I'm spinning my wheels.

00:26:38.000 And I got the chance to do some big things.

00:26:40.000 You know, I got the chance to do tax reform with President Trump.

00:26:43.000 We had the chance to do several different farm bills and environmental things that I wanted fixed.

00:26:48.000 But thank God I got the chance to do tax reform because that's really why I went.

00:26:53.000 But I recognize as governor, as a governor, you can come back, you can set an agenda, you can make decisions, you can implement them.

00:27:01.000 And the opportunity there and then to be home was so much better than being in Congress and that I could push policy much more effectively than I could in that broken system.

00:27:13.000 Yes.

00:27:13.000 And so the posturing in D.C. is what got old.

00:27:16.000 It's exhausting.

00:27:18.000 The speeches, the press conferences, the wanting to be heard, and I get it.

00:27:23.000 I mean, people there would say, well, you did it too.

00:27:26.000 Yeah, you talk about the issues that are important.

00:27:30.000 But I knew if I stayed there, I was going to get bitter.

00:27:34.000 And I was either going to not care and like it too much, I was going to start to buy into it, or I was going to become a bitter and angry person, and I decided to make a change.

00:27:44.000 And now you're serving a state.

00:27:46.000 And I think part of the issue is that we have senators that should be elected by the state legislatures, not by the people directly.

00:27:52.000 And I know it sounds counterintuitive.

00:27:54.000 People say, why wouldn't you want the people to do it?

00:27:56.000 Well, they elect the state legislatures because I think the rise of a populist senator has just totally contributed to the downfall of our country.

00:28:04.000 So, Governor, also, can you speak to this?

00:28:06.000 A lot of young people listen to this podcast, especially young women.

00:28:09.000 And right now, we are in a cultural crisis in our country.

00:28:13.000 This is not a policy debate.

00:28:14.000 This is not something in a committee.

00:28:16.000 You recognize this.

00:28:17.000 You've gone straight into the culture battle.

00:28:19.000 You said, We're going to put up statues.

00:28:21.000 We're going to defend Mount Rushmore.

00:28:22.000 What you did during the virus lockdown fight was incredible.

00:28:26.000 Can you speak to how you're able to deal with the incoming?

00:28:29.000 Because so many young people listening to this are losing their jobs.

00:28:32.000 They're being bullied online.

00:28:33.000 They're calling the worst things you could possibly be called.

00:28:35.000 We just had an event recently in Rapid City where a young Native American girl came up and she's like, I'm getting kicked out of every social circle and family circle because I wear this shirt and it was a Trump shirt.

00:28:45.000 Oh, wow.

00:28:46.000 And they will disown you in some of those cases.

00:28:49.000 Yeah, they will.

00:28:49.000 And so, can you speak to that?

00:28:51.000 Because you've experienced incredible incoming as a conservative female governor. 1.00

00:28:56.000 Figure out what protects your heart and your soul and your mind.

00:29:01.000 For me, there's a very limited amount of time I can spend on social media without it affecting me.

00:29:07.000 So I can read posts.

00:29:09.000 I can't read comments on my posts.

00:29:11.000 Because as much as people think you get a thick skin, if you say I'm going to get a thick skin, it will change you.

00:29:17.000 And what we need are people that are still impacted daily by people's stories.

00:29:23.000 So don't get a thick skin, but you also have to be careful what you put into your mind because it will change you.

00:29:30.000 And I also don't watch the news at night.

00:29:32.000 In the morning, my staff will send me what I need to know.

00:29:35.000 I'll watch some news in the morning, but at night, I totally recommend this.

00:29:38.000 I just can't.

00:29:39.000 I can't do it because it'll make me stay awake at night.

00:29:42.000 I'll become disturbed.

00:29:43.000 It'll make me upset.

00:29:44.000 And I just have to surround myself with people who really do value me and recognize that if you're not on Team Christie and you're not here to give me honest answers and honest feedback, that it's not going to be valuable to me making wise decisions.

00:30:00.000 So for those that are really feeling impacted by the criticism that you're getting, the last thing I would say, and I've shared this, I think, at a couple of your turning point conferences before, is that we live in a world that is addicted to being offended.

00:30:17.000 This world loves to get offended every day.

00:30:20.000 And I had somebody tell me 20 years ago that people are going to throw offenses at you every day by what they say and what they do.

00:30:28.000 It's your decision if you want to bend over, pick it up, and carry it around with you.

00:30:33.000 But then at the end of the day, if you keep doing that, you're the one carrying the burden, not them.

00:30:38.000 So when they throw those offenses out, just walk by them.

00:30:41.000 Don't pick them up.

00:30:43.000 And especially in the political world for opinions, people will say things and do things to you that will be extremely offensive.

00:30:51.000 Make a choice to not be offended.

00:30:53.000 Make a choice not to be someone who gets angry or upset or emotional about it.

00:30:59.000 Just let it lay there and recognize that you don't want to carry that burden around with you.

00:31:03.000 It's well said.

00:31:04.000 So two more quick questions, and then you have to go right about hosting the president really quick.

00:31:10.000 Which the first is, what's your message to the Republican Party right now?

00:31:14.000 You're the only governor that didn't shut down.

00:31:15.000 You're more popular than ever before in your state.

00:31:18.000 I'm saying that.

00:31:19.000 I don't know if the data shows it.

00:31:21.000 I've seen some people mention some polling that shows that your popularity has actually gone up.

00:31:25.000 What's your message to the Republican Party right now?

00:31:28.000 Man, tell the truth.

00:31:29.000 Stand up.

00:31:31.000 You don't have to, you know, be offensive or angry.

00:31:37.000 Boy, tell the truth and fight.

00:31:40.000 You know, I thought 10 years ago we were fighting for our country.

00:31:44.000 This truly is an attack on the heart and soul of our nation.

00:31:49.000 And Republicans better figure out what they believe and start talking the talk and walking it out each and every day.

00:31:56.000 Because I'm very disappointed by the back and forth that I've seen.

00:31:59.000 I've seen more waffling by Republicans on policy, on opinions, on what they say.

00:32:04.000 That's alarming to me.

00:32:06.000 Scripture specifically warns us about double-minded men, that they are unstable in all their ways.

00:32:13.000 And when you see these politicians bouncing back and forth, I look at them and I say, unstable.

00:32:19.000 I cannot let them impact me or make my decisions for me because for generations and hundreds and hundreds and thousands of years, we've been specifically told that double-minded people are unstable in all their ways.

00:32:31.000 So now is the time to figure out what you believe and, boy, go to war on it because it's important.

00:32:38.000 That's awesome.

00:32:39.000 Last question.

00:32:40.000 Tell us about your analysis of the 2020 race, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, President Trump's coming here.

00:32:45.000 A lot of people are going to be asking you what your thoughts are on the upcoming race.

00:32:49.000 I think it's fair to say Trump's going to win South Dakota.

00:32:52.000 Yes, he will win South Dakota.

00:32:54.000 President Trump will win South Dakota.

00:32:56.000 There are other states where there are people that still need to remember all that he's done for this country and go through the conversations that we would be having if he wasn't president.

00:33:08.000 Think about how your life would change with Joe Biden and the White House.

00:33:11.000 Just spend a little bit of time recognizing you're going to have less money in your pocket.

00:33:14.000 You're going to have a lot more regulations that are going to be driving up the cost of your home, your cars.

00:33:19.000 You're going to have more money coming out of your paycheck.

00:33:21.000 You're going to have less opportunities for your kids to start their own businesses if you want, and you're also going to have less choices.

00:33:28.000 You will not have choices in health care where you want to get it, decisions and prescriptions, what you'll be able to do as far as opportunities to really choose what kind of lifestyle you want to live.

00:33:40.000 So this president has given us an incredible opportunity to tell that story for the next several months about what he has done for us in this country, and that's really what we need to be telling.

00:33:51.000 But he will not win unless it's all hands on deck.

00:33:54.000 Amen.

00:33:54.000 We need every single person out there.

00:33:56.000 Every Republican senator.

00:33:58.000 Every Republican senator.

00:33:59.000 And they need to get straight and get out there on the road and start talking to people.

00:34:03.000 Because as long as they waffle back and forth, they're doing a grave disservice to the public.

00:34:08.000 And they spend way too much time in the kingdom of Washington, D.C., not in the state.

00:34:11.000 You know, we, again, in this race, people focus on flaws all the time.

00:34:16.000 Let's focus on what they're doing, what they're bringing to the country.

00:34:20.000 And there's a very clear choice between Joe Biden and President Trump.

00:34:23.000 It shouldn't even be debatable.

00:34:25.000 Amen.

00:34:26.000 Well, Governor, in closing, I just want to say you've gone through a lot of criticism the last couple months.

00:34:31.000 The conservative, patriotic American base is so beyond supportive of you.

00:34:36.000 And we're thankful for you because thank goodness we had one leader that stepped up and just set the standard.

00:34:43.000 I can't tell you how many conversations I have where people are like, well, the governor of South Dakota did it.

00:34:48.000 Why can't you do it?

00:34:49.000 And so you raised the bar of liberty and freedom.

00:34:52.000 And if it takes one out of 50, then so be it.

00:34:54.000 Well, you know, that's not why we did it.

00:34:56.000 You know, we made these decisions because they were the right ones.

00:35:00.000 And so I'm just hopeful.

00:35:02.000 I know we're still going to have challenges in our future, but I'm hopeful that our story will be told and be remembered as one that really helped the people here be more successful.

00:35:12.000 We're going to make sure it's told.

00:35:13.000 Good.

00:35:13.000 God bless you, Governor.

00:35:14.000 Thanks for everything.

00:35:14.000 Appreciate it.

00:35:18.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:35:19.000 Thank you to our supporters at charliekirk.com/slash support, charliekirk.com slash support.

00:35:25.000 The monthly supporters help keep this episode commercial-free.

00:35:30.000 Thank you guys so much.

00:35:31.000 Get involved with Turning PointUSA, tpusa.com, tpusa.com.

00:35:35.000 If you guys want a signed copy of the MAGA Doctrine, we are sending out 20 just here on the Governor Gnome episode.

00:35:40.000 Say you listened to the Governor Gnome episode with a screenshot of you guys giving us a five-star review and being subscribed to the Charlie Kirk Show.

00:35:46.000 20 books just for Governor Gnome episode.

00:35:49.000 God bless you guys.

00:35:50.000 Thank you so much for listening.

00:35:51.000 Email us your questions.

00:35:52.000 Enjoy your Independence Day weekend.

00:35:54.000 We're going to be dropping episodes over the weekend.

00:35:56.000 God bless.

The Charlie Kirk Show - July 03, 2020

Governor Kristi Noem | PROOF That Lockdowns Don't Work

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