Kristi Noem is the Governor of South Dakota and a potential presidential candidate in the 2020 election. She is also the author of Not My First Rodeo: Lessons from the Heartland, a memoir about her life growing up in the small town of Rapid City, South Dakota.
00:00:00.500Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations.
00:00:11.540Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.
00:00:15.200The left in America is in full meltdown following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade,
00:00:21.760giving power back to the states to make their own decisions on it, just like they did for 185 years prior to Roe.
00:00:29.100So, one of the states at the heart of the story is South Dakota.
00:00:32.760When that decision came down, reversing Roe and Casey, almost all abortions became illegal in South Dakota,
00:00:38.960as they did in about a total of 13 states, and the number will climb because there are trigger provisions saying in many, many other states
00:00:46.920that abortion will be outlawed there as well within 30 days or so.
00:00:52.880The governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, is unapologetically pro-life.
00:00:57.080She has repeatedly defended that position, and she is also widely considered a potential presidential candidate for 2024.
00:01:27.220I think people who know you and like you are going to love the book, and I think people who are just wanting to know you better really will,
00:01:33.940because you're very open to the book about your hardships, your challenges, who you were as a person and a young woman before you ever thought about running for office.
00:01:43.100I have to tell you, my first takeaway when I read it was, I mean, I'm sure you've heard this, but it reminds me a little bit of like Yellowstone.
00:01:49.540The show Yellowstone is kind of how you grew up.
00:02:47.200But as I said in the intro, you are unapologetically, unapologetically pro-life and have had a provision in South Dakota saying as soon as they overturn Roe and Casey in your state,
00:02:57.640abortion will be banned in all cases except when necessary to save the life of the mother.
00:03:02.340So what say you to those who are now criticizing that as too narrow?
00:03:07.980What about rape and incest and too cold to the plight of, let's say, a young girl who finds herself the victim of incest and sadly pregnant thereafter?
00:03:20.400Well, the trigger law in South Dakota was passed back in 2005, so it was quite a number of years ago.
00:03:25.440And what it said was that if Roe was ever overturned at the federal level, that in the state of South Dakota, all abortions would be illegal except to save the life of the mother.
00:03:35.340And so when that decision came down, that was immediately the law of the land in our state.
00:03:40.340And, you know, I think that what is important about that law is that it definitely does not prosecute mothers or women or punish them.
00:03:48.700It goes after doctors who knowingly break the law.
00:03:51.820So I'm sure there will be continued debate over this.
00:03:55.260You know, rape and incest is something that a lot of people are talking about.
00:03:58.200And I can't even imagine, you know, the tragic situation so many women go through in those situations.
00:04:06.140For me personally, I've just, I know that science of what happens at conception and technology has shown us so much more the last 10 or 15 years of what happens to babies in the womb and these tragedies.
00:04:19.540I just believe the best option is to follow it up with another tragedy.
00:04:23.320And so, you know, I launched a website that talked about life.
00:04:28.880It was life.sd.gov that shows women and families that are in a crisis or in an unplanned pregnancy, all the resources that are available to come alongside them in that situation.
00:04:39.780Financially, medical help, even connecting them with adoptive families should they choose that route with their babies.
00:04:46.060But knowing that they're not alone is incredibly powerful when they get into a very, very difficult situation like that.
00:04:51.500And I think a lot of mental health counseling and those individuals who walk alongside them and support them in those situations is incredibly important as well.
00:05:01.300But realistically, how many women in South Carolina will be affected by this?
00:05:05.680Because my my impression is amongst South Dakota, my impression is that in most of the states where we're going to see these bans kick in, there was like one abortion clinic anyway.
00:05:17.460Abortion wasn't very popular and it wasn't all that readily available and there was already a political will to eliminate it, which is why the numbers were so low.
00:05:27.160So, I mean, I just I'm not sure I'm buying the left's narrative that just, you know, millions of women now won't be able to get abortions with it where they could have before this decision.
00:05:36.600Yeah, so we had one Planned Parenthood facility in the state of South Dakota that was performing abortions and it was very few.
00:05:44.100I mean, I think it was less than 12 or a year.
00:05:47.860I mean, very and they even brought a doctor in from out of state to perform those abortions.
00:05:52.140You know, one is too many in my book, but they actually stopped doing abortions about six weeks ago, I think, in the state of South Dakota.
00:05:59.540And in anticipation of this decision, which we celebrated, we're glad that our state stands for life.
00:06:06.740I think it's going to be incredibly important, though, even in states like South Dakota, where policymakers and legislators and the governor are pro-life, that we continue to talk to the people.
00:06:16.320Because we've had ballot initiatives before in our state to ban abortion and they have not passed.
00:06:21.780And I think a lot of times the fear tactics and the scare tactics that the left uses, they're effective.
00:06:27.900I mean, we've watched the last several years.
00:06:30.180The left and the media use fear to control people.
00:06:33.460And much of what I'm hearing these extremists on the pro-abortion side just isn't the truth.
00:06:39.300It isn't the truth that women lost health care.
00:06:42.320What it did is the Supreme Court decision put this power back to the states where it should be.
00:06:46.760It fixed a wrong that happened almost 50 years ago.
00:06:49.340And now those decisions will be made closer to the people.
00:06:52.700That's the debate that we want to continue to have in South Dakota.
00:06:55.220And I think every state should start evaluating.
00:06:57.680Well, what's upsetting about the whole debate is that they won't let pro-life advocates, true pro-life advocates like we had Lila Rose on the program yesterday who runs live action.
00:07:06.600You know, one of the best and biggest pro-life groups there is.
00:07:13.780They only want pro-choice advocates on and therefore young women really are led to believe that if they have an unplanned pregnancy, there's really only one realistic option.
00:07:23.160And that if they choose to have the baby and keep the baby or have the baby and want to give the baby up, it's going to be incredibly taxing and ruinous to their lives.
00:07:34.980And I did several national interviews on other networks the last couple of days.
00:07:39.060And it was interesting, the questions that I got asked.
00:07:41.240It was all about denying women health care.
00:07:43.820If I no longer supported IVF, if I no longer supported contraception, all of those types of questions that are extremist views.
00:07:50.820Of course, no mention of the fact that many on the left and in the Democrat Party want abortion on demand and that some parts of this country have embraced even killing babies after birth.
00:08:00.800And what is the difference here in how doctors look at these babies in the womb?
00:08:05.480If you talk to a doctor and they're doing surgery or medical procedures on babies in the womb, they are calling those babies patients.
00:08:12.100They have patients' rights throughout those procedures.
00:08:15.400So how do you give that individual, that baby in a womb, patients' rights and treat them as a patient and then not call them a human being?
00:08:23.040You know, that's the hypocrisy that we're running into in this country and the conversation that needs to open the eyes of many of the people that are out there in the public.
00:08:30.720Right. Of course, that's exactly right.
00:08:32.440And then when those same anchors get a pro-choice governor on their shows, they don't ask them equally tough questions from the other side.
00:08:41.140Right. The media is very openly pro-choice and feels no obligation to even pretend otherwise.
00:08:46.680Yeah, I did a couple of Sunday morning shows and it was interesting.
00:08:50.260I got Martha interrupted me over and over again.
00:08:52.700I actually had to say, listen, I am answering your questions.
00:08:55.980And then I chatted with Margaret after that, too.
00:08:58.140But what was interesting, they're both very confrontational, already had their minds made up.
00:09:02.980And then the next individuals that came on to be interviewed after me is completely different conversation.
00:09:08.060They were normal human beings to them.
00:09:09.760So the antagonistic, unfair way that the media approaches this issue is is designed to divide people and create more confusion.
00:09:19.560And I think that's incredibly unfortunate because that's not their job.
00:09:22.780Their job is to ask questions. I'll answer them.
00:09:26.100To me, it's actually kind of interesting because you would think that if you're going to be if you're going to work yourself up into a real lather, like an anger over this issue, it would be on the pro-life side.
00:09:38.740You know, like I understand that a woman who does not want to carry a baby to term is in a very difficult position and is going to undergo considerable hardship.
00:09:47.040I get that. Never mind if she then keeps the baby.
00:09:50.700Right. But on the other side, we have real interests, too.
00:09:55.620And the later you get in the pregnancy, the more undeniable they become.
00:09:59.500And I just I don't even hear it being discussed.
00:10:01.740It's like the left is so sure that they're on the side of morality on this without paying one minute's notice to the fact that it no matter where you stand on this, abortion does stop at best for the other side of a potential life at best.
00:10:18.420Right. And the reality is it stops like life in process.
00:10:22.340Well, and it's interesting because this is the party and the extremists that embrace and preach equality, you know, all access to everything and treat everybody the same.
00:10:32.160And then they obviously don't. And it's only when it's convenient.
00:10:36.240And that's what I think is a little bit scary about our society today is it's an instant gratification society.
00:10:42.660It's a it's a person that doesn't it's a willing to even be inconvenienced by something.
00:10:48.820And this is much bigger issue than that. But that's what I'm concerned about is the lack of value for a life.
00:10:54.080It's evident when you see the violence on our streets, it's evident when you see it, you know, out there every day and day to day life.
00:11:01.660But when you wrap your arms around killing a baby and embrace it, and then like the governor of New York did here by declaring that her state was going to be known as the place to come to get an abortion.
00:11:14.320Boy, that's a legacy that I I never want South Dakota to ever have.
00:11:18.220Right. Well, it's the same group that wasn't much for personal or bodily autonomy during covid and now.
00:11:26.040Right. And then they cared so much about the value of one life during that.
00:11:31.120But now the shoes on the other foot. What about the one life in the womb?
00:11:34.100And what about right like they're not now they're the message has flipped entirely.
00:11:39.160Yeah. And it was totally OK then for the government to mandate that you get a vaccine.
00:11:42.740And it wasn't your body when it was dealing with getting the vaccine.
00:11:45.840But now it is your body when it comes to even, you know, having another life live with inside you and and be born.
00:11:52.360So that's that's the part that I hope people's eyes are open.
00:11:55.640And I do think people are paying attention now more so than they did two or three years ago.
00:12:00.060You know, covid did that for our country.
00:12:01.620A lot of folks never engaged in government or politics suddenly lost their business or they lost their children's education because of some leader in some position that took away their freedom.
00:12:12.320So there are people paying attention that I hope have a new intelligent conversation about some of these policies and recognize the hypocrisy that the left is embracing.
00:12:21.960Well, and the truth is that abortions have gone way down in the country.
00:12:25.040They're still high. They're still high.
00:12:26.680But they've gone way down in this country versus where they were in the late 70s and the early 80s, in large part because of more information coming out and things like, you know, sonograms and ultrasounds where you can actually see what's inside of you and the access to birth control, which is just, you know, ubiquitous now.
00:12:44.400It's not hard to get birth control. And so there are things women and men can do to prevent themselves from getting in this kind of a situation.
00:12:51.740And it's readily available. And it's actually at the point now where you can, you know, you can get something in your arm.
00:12:57.100You don't even have to think about it for months on end.
00:13:00.780That's right. And I think that it's very important that we who are pro-life truly be pro-life and stand and walk alongside that mother and answer their questions.
00:13:10.680So there's less fear in what will happen to me the next nine, 10 months as I carry this baby and what will happen if I decide to keep my baby, that we're there to answer those questions and make sure that they're not going to be alone.
00:13:23.360Well, I mean, it's hard, right? As the state, there's only so much you can do.
00:13:27.000It's like, I think it's great that you have the website and I saw it and you're directing people to a lot of private services that will step in.
00:13:34.160And this is how it always was, right? Your church will help you. Your community group will help you.
00:13:38.360Is it, there's not that because people are like, well, what, what are you going to do? I've seen in some of your earlier, what are you, you know, the state?
00:13:44.340Well, I mean, there's not that much the state itself can do, but what are your thoughts on it?
00:13:51.280Well, I talk to people, you know, quite often, be careful what you ask the government to do for you.
00:13:56.320And every problem, the government's not the answer. There may be, there's a role here.
00:14:01.200And I found that the last several years as governor, that I have an opportunity to connect people in a way that I maybe didn't before, make people aware of resources, talk to an issue.
00:14:11.160And there's so many nonprofits, there's so many churches that want to be there.
00:14:15.380It's just getting them connected that we need to.
00:14:17.700There's already several programs out there that come through family services or child protective services,
00:14:22.920or even within the criminal justice system where we can make those connections.
00:14:27.340It's not necessarily starting a new program, but it's making sure that those connections are made.
00:14:32.480So people have the answers when they need them.
00:14:34.380Oh, well, this reminds me of something I wanted to ask you, because that now the new buzz is what about establishing abortion clinics on federal land, like federal forests or even.
00:14:46.360And I know you've got, I think, nine tribes, you say in your book in South Dakota or Native American land.
00:14:52.160And later in the program, we're going to be joined by Jim Garrity of National Review, who points out they forgot to ask the Native American tribes whether that would be OK with them to have abortion clinics on Native American land with non-Native Americans filing and filing out.
00:15:08.520And I mean, land is something that's been big, a big, big part of your life, of your family business.
00:15:12.340So what do you make of this push now by the far left to have Joe Biden declare certain federal forests and so on are now going to be open ground for federal abortion clinics in states that have bans on abortion?
00:15:26.780Well, when it comes to federal lands, a lot of that is going to be funding for those types of facilities on federal lands.
00:15:32.700And that's going to be up to Congress to make sure that they stop something like that.
00:15:36.020Although I have some enforcement jurisdiction and things like that on BLM land, which is, you know, Bureau of Land Management or Forest Service land, our tribes are a very different story.
00:15:48.880I have no jurisdiction on tribal lands, on reservations.
00:15:52.700So when it comes to law and order, when it comes to programs, when it comes to my interaction as a governor with a tribe, it's a government to government relationship.
00:16:01.580And I honor their sovereignty, which means they could set up these abortion clinics.
00:16:07.200There's not a whole lot that I could do as governor about that.
00:16:10.560Hmm. I mean, I wonder whether there's any appetite for that in the even this U.S. Congress.
00:16:16.640Right. Because we've got the Hyde Amendment.
00:16:18.000They're not allowed to use taxpayer dollars to fund abortion.
00:16:20.800So how are they going to fund these clinics?
00:16:22.860I guess, you know, they're just going to have liberal activists who pay all the money to have these things pop up.
00:16:28.080And if we're doing it in federal forests, who's going to be responsible for getting the people in and getting the people out?
00:16:33.560Like the desperation here is palpable.
00:16:37.200But I also think there's a political manipulation here because people want to look like they're doing something.
00:16:46.300But what I would say is, you know, hopefully in a few months we have a new Congress that starts having a more informed debate on what this issue is and really about what real health care for women is.
00:16:59.420Hmm. So you were I should remind the audience because you were in the state legislature in South Dakota.
00:17:05.440Then you went on to be a U.S. congressperson representing your state at the national level and then ran for governor and won.
00:17:13.100And that's the post you're in now. So you do know how Washington works.
00:17:16.200And you spent probably in your estimation too long inside the beltway.
00:17:21.400I think it was six years. Was it six years?
00:17:46.360But does she there is zero chance of anybody impeaching any Supreme Court justice over this.
00:17:53.220But that's what she keeps saying over and over again.
00:17:56.380Yeah, it's interesting. That's one of the things I hated the most about Washington, D.C.
00:18:00.060It was a lot of talk and very little action.
00:18:01.960In fact, people ask me all the time why D.C. is so broken.
00:18:05.600And I would say it's because there's no rules.
00:18:07.960There's literally in the House of Representatives a rules committee where they go and make up a new rule for how they want to vote on the House floor that day.
00:18:16.340And I could have a bill in Washington and it may never get a hearing for 20 years.
00:18:21.160I could file the same bill, but it will never get a hearing unless a chairman decides they want to talk about that subject.
00:18:26.620And then if a bill passes a hearing, it may never even go to the House floor for a vote.
00:18:30.940The only way something gets voted on is if the speaker and the majority leader decide that that's what they want to do.
00:19:00.520It's not any way to run a government or a country.
00:19:03.440And that's why I was so happy to get back to South Dakota and really looked at what I was doing in Washington.
00:19:10.220I had the chance to work on tax reform, had the chance to work on National Defense Authorization Act, did a lot of good work.
00:19:16.620But was excited to come home and get the chance to be a CEO, to have an agenda, to get up every single day and make decisions that impacted our state, and then to continue to fight for and to defend our way of life.
00:19:31.680She was on the program last year and just talked about hating her time in D.C. and how she was this darling of the Democrats until they realized she's an independent thinker and then kind of got ousted by Nancy Pelosi from the in crowd.
00:19:47.140And really, she's not bitter, but she got it.
00:19:49.620She saw the message and feels, I think, similarly to the way you do now.
00:20:02.020I was just texting with her a day or two ago about potentially getting together and maybe doing some messaging together, just common sense.
00:20:09.940You know, here are people with very different backgrounds, but we're both women that care about this country and recognize that the extremes are not getting us anywhere.
00:20:18.200We need to go to really securing our future and what can we do to cooperate on some of these policies and really weigh in so that people sit up and pay attention and listen and become much more educated.
00:20:29.500If there's anything I've learned in public policy is that I couldn't just make decisions, that you have to go and explain why you made the decision that you made.
00:20:38.480During COVID, I gave whole press conferences on just the authority I had as governor and the authority I did not have.
00:20:44.880I gave a whole press conference on just the Constitution and what it meant and what it says governors should be doing, what the federal government should be doing.
00:20:52.600So the people of South Dakota really understood what I was doing and why I was doing it.
00:20:58.020I just don't think we do enough of that to really have a population in this country that that understands really what the role of government should be in their life.
00:21:05.600I mean, the thought of you and Tulsi Gabbard on the same ticket together someday is too much to bear.
00:21:15.060It would be a the best looking ticket ever.
00:21:17.240And then and just the brainpower there, because obviously you're considerably farther to the right than Tulsi is.
00:21:22.400But she's just a reasonable person and she hasn't abandoned all of her democratic principles, but she's willing to compromise and willing to criticize her own side.
00:21:31.020Right. And it would be exciting to see that happen in any shape.
00:21:35.080Well, and I think both of us have some have some scar tissue.
00:21:39.300You know, I've I have I've been beat up by the left for many years, but I've also been beat up by the right.
00:21:45.140And they can be just as vicious as anybody else.
00:21:47.820And they can use whatever talking point they want to to attack someone to try to take out their competition.
00:21:53.840I get it. It's politics, but it also makes you stronger.
00:21:58.480And I think Tulsi and I both know that very well.
00:22:01.020OK, I'm not going to get into that, but I do know what you're talking about.
00:22:05.100And just for the audience, I think this is the reference without naming names.
00:22:08.300There was this absurd rumor about you allegedly having an affair with the Trump staffer years ago.
00:22:13.360A couple came out within the past year or two.
00:22:15.840And it was just out of nowhere. But that was from the right.
00:22:18.400And it was incredible because you're sitting governor.
00:22:21.460You've had a long marriage. You married Brian in like right after.
00:22:24.900Oh, yeah. 30 years ago. And you're I think you're a year younger than I am.
00:23:18.660And then when they couldn't destroy her, they went after my older daughter and caused her to lose her entire business over something that was completely false accusations.
00:23:27.340But it started enough controversy that it affected her business and she had to completely change careers.
00:23:34.020So, of course, they would try to destroy me, then my children.
00:23:37.160And now they've gone after my husband and myself.
00:23:41.660I'd say it's probably hardest on the family when someone's serving in this job.
00:23:44.620But I think it also makes you stronger.
00:23:46.500It's something that, you know, we we try to get through it and not I we honestly don't even read the press that much anymore.
00:23:55.100I have my staff tell me what I need to know, but stay off the social media comments and a lot of those articles because just so much of it, I don't even recognize this reality.
00:24:13.160And one of the interesting things in your book is how you talk about how you could see the sort of the the light corrupting people in Congress, like the need to be interesting to reporters or like the confusion that the press is interested in you.
00:24:31.500Is about you. Right. As opposed to, like, what's important here is my relationship with my constituents, not my relationship with the reporter from The Washington Post.
00:24:41.440And just how it reminded me of forgive me for quoting Michael Avenatti.
00:24:46.900But when he was like he was either being sentenced or something, he was like, I got too close to the sun.
00:24:53.940And I know it made me laugh, but it's kind of what you're talking about.
00:24:57.320Yeah, I've heard that a couple of times about a few members of Congress, too.
00:25:02.960But no, it's true. And I think I was very grateful.
00:25:05.380You know, my husband and I did something when I got elected to Congress because it was, you know, when I ran for Congress, it was because people kept asking me to.
00:25:13.300And it wasn't something we really desired to do for two years.
00:25:56.500And the one, you know, exchange that we had with the kids was that you could bring as many friends with us as you wanted to.
00:26:03.360So often I was showing up at Chamber of Commerce dinners or meetings with seven, eight kids with me.
00:26:10.360And I was a little bit of a circus, but, you know, doing that and having some of those groundings and family, I think, really helped build a stronger family for us so that these firestorms we've seen since COVID that have landed on our family, you know, makes us get through those a little bit better and understand really what this political world is about.
00:26:29.820Was that the race against the blue dog Democrat, the woman who went to Georgetown Law?
00:26:45.480Yeah, it all wound up fine in the end.
00:26:47.600But you, you know, you had that bit of insecurity, like, oh, God, you know, she's got this great pedigree and mine maybe doesn't look the same.
00:26:54.480But you had a different pedigree that mattered more that worked better.
00:26:58.380Yeah, I felt very outmatched in that race.
00:27:00.420You know, this was a lawyer who was like a national debate champion, went to Georgetown Law, was very accomplished, very well-spoken and polished.
00:27:09.820I was a farmer who had had to drop out of college when my dad was killed, took over our businesses.
00:27:14.660In fact, while during that campaign, I was already taking classes to get my degree again, 15 years later, I finished my degree from South Dakota State University the first year I was in Congress.
00:27:27.660So, you know, it was a very delayed process.
00:27:31.560But and I felt like I was did not have the same pedigree, but continued to talk about what mattered to the people of South Dakota.
00:27:42.760I mean, I find that inspirational and I want people to remember that because in today's day and age, even with our university system as messed up as it is and corruptive on, you know, politics as it is, you can succeed very well in life.
00:27:57.780You can do better than the people who are graduating from Harvard and Yale if you stay in touch with the right values, the right people and you work hard.
00:28:06.240And I feel like you're an example of that.
00:28:07.680I say this almost every day to somebody.
00:28:10.120I say, listen, the world will tell you that your education is the most important thing in the world, that you're, you're, you know, but for me, your education is important.
00:28:25.940The person that you might meet at that meeting you go to might end up being your next business partner.
00:28:31.300The person that may be your professor at that university could be your mentor that ends up changing your life forever, being your recommendation, you know, for that next big job that you want.
00:28:44.320So I tell everybody, especially those that are in high school, college and young starting their careers, that, that the most important thing is relationships.
00:28:52.580So slow down, take the time to talk to people that you walk by every day or that you're sitting next to in a meeting or, or some committee that you're serving on.
00:29:00.060Because those could be the people that really help you make the connections that develop your career or give you a better quality of life.
00:29:06.860That, I love hearing that because having spent much of my adult life in Manhattan, it's like you spend the time speaking to the person who's next to you on the subway or in the restaurant.
00:29:15.900And you're, you're going to get a very different look than you probably get in South Dakota.
00:29:24.620Governor Noem has been a big spokesperson for freedoms when it comes to guns, when it comes to religious liberty and the Supreme Court just issued two big decisions on both of those things.
00:29:50.860This is a personal story, but my assistant, Abby, who's been with me for over 12 years now, one time she had to deal with this photographer.
00:29:59.540I don't remember if it was like, it's one of those big women's magazines.
00:30:02.740And they, they wanted me to get my picture taken by this guy, this French photographer.
00:30:47.860Well, you know, it's interesting when you write a book, you know, it's so long ago that you start the process.
00:30:52.660And for a long time, the book didn't have a title and you kind of struggle with that.
00:30:56.640But this, this title fit not my first rodeo, because I think a lot of people first heard my name during COVID.
00:31:02.360You know, that's when Rachel Maddow and Elizabeth Warren and were attacking me night after night on the national news for the decisions that I was making in South Dakota, calling me reckless, irresponsible, dangerous.
00:31:16.160So, but, you know, most people think, well, that's she's, you know, she's new.
00:31:25.600But, you know, this isn't my first rodeo.
00:31:28.000I think that when people learn a little bit about my backstory, the things that I've done, the challenges we've faced and how we've gotten through them, I think they'll realize that, that my background's very unique.
00:31:39.280But I also think it prepared me pretty well to go through something like we've seen in the challenges since I've been governor.
00:31:46.300You were doing things very differently during COVID.
00:31:49.160And I mean, I was loving it as somebody who is much more of a hard libertarian on the COVID policies.
00:31:55.280And I mean, as soon as April, you know, the whole thing went down in March, you had opened South Dakota back up and really weren't requiring any mandates on South Dakotans.
00:32:06.340And you write in the book that this was a, this was a matter of what you call first principles.
00:32:11.840This wasn't sort of coming to a crisis and shooting from the hip.
00:32:15.100You kind of went back to just your overall philosophy of what it means to govern.
00:32:32.700We listened to what was happening when it was developing overseas, when it came to the states and started to hit other states.
00:32:38.720We all looked at the data and the numbers, talked to our health officials.
00:32:42.000I just think I took it a step further.
00:32:43.540I spent a lot of time with my general counsel and I spent a lot of time, you know, with constitutional attorneys trying to figure out what really was my job as governor, what authority I had, but then also what authority I didn't have.
00:32:55.760I just believe that when you have a leader overstep that authority in a time of crisis, that's when you break the country.
00:33:02.100And so South Dakota was the only state that never once closed a single business.
00:33:08.200I didn't even define what an essential business was because I don't believe the government has the authority to tell you your business isn't essential.
00:33:17.640I just believed that if I stood up in front of my people and told them I was going to trust them and give them all the information that I had, I would let them use personal responsibility to make the best decisions for their families and their businesses.
00:33:29.940And overwhelmingly, people got it and they did it and they appreciated it.
00:33:34.720We did incredible things in South Dakota that, you know, that still any other state, you know, just didn't seem or trust their people enough to do.
00:33:43.820So even in states that today you hear Republicans and conservatives bragging about in Florida and Texas and how free they are, well, they closed beaches.
00:34:09.280I would just say we made different decisions, very different decisions.
00:34:12.160And and I think that, you know, what we did in South Dakota, you know, I had one governor from a different state and I came to help him in his reelection this year and he did a fundraiser with a couple of hundred people in his home state.
00:34:26.080And he stood up in front of that whole crowd and he said, the reason I asked Christy to come here is because when she was the only one who refused to close her state down, he said it gave all of us as Republican governors cover.
00:34:38.440It gave us cover because she was the crazy one and we all could let up on our mandates that we could all say, oh, well, Christy is doing it.
00:34:46.520Somebody else is doing it so we can do this now, too.
00:34:50.280And that was the most open and honest I'd ever heard another governor say because it's a very lonely job.
00:34:56.860Every governor went through challenges.
00:34:58.520You know, I had fantastic health officials.
00:35:07.000So every governor had a different situation.
00:35:08.800But I appreciated the fact that he was so honest that he just said, when you did that, when you stood there and refused, it gave us cover to start making the same decisions.
00:35:18.140And he said that made all the difference in the world.
00:35:20.840Well, you didn't get drunk on power either.
00:35:22.960Didn't you quickly give up your emergency powers?
00:35:25.660I mean, you weren't reveling in your newfound king or queendom like some of these other governors.
00:35:33.860And when President Trump talked about the virus and having two weeks, you know, everybody does an emergency declaration because that's what you have to do in order to have federal resources come into your state and help if necessary.
00:35:47.380But and if you remember, in every state, they were telling people that they were going to lose hundreds of thousands of people were going to be dead.
00:35:53.720But but it was within, I think, six weeks that we ended ours and just knew that people had to go back to normal and that and we called it our back to business plan.
00:36:05.480And we were we never did shut anything down.
00:36:09.800We gave suggestions to people and helped facilitate different things.
00:36:13.320But even large events like the Sturgis Motorcycle Bike Rally or the celebration we had at Mount Rushmore.
00:36:19.420We just believed that people still needed to make their own decisions on where the bike rally.
00:36:24.020The MSNBC lost its mind over that and, you know, waiting for the massive covid outbreak, which didn't come just like it didn't come after the NFL opened up.
00:36:32.480The huge stadiums and 40,000 people were next to each other, you know, outside and still the left told us this was going to be the next super spreader.
00:36:42.760So I I've never been to South Dakota, but we do go to Montana all the time.
00:36:47.840And so I feel like it's probably similar.
00:36:50.680And one of the things I love about going up to that region of the country is it's so very different from where I've lived my life, New York State and the past 20 plus years, New York City.
00:36:59.820And I wonder whether I don't want to insult my my home state, but I wonder whether like the New York City residents, they were terrified.
00:37:11.320They there are so many of them in particular on the left, I have to be honest, but not all a lot of a lot of lefties kind of crossed over to independence as a result of the hysteria who were like, if they had a governor like you, they would have cried in their soup every night.
00:37:24.940They needed direction. You know, they they didn't feel qualified to handle this without a governor or a government bureaucrat telling them how to do it.
00:37:33.820You got to Montana. It's like I always tell us examples.
00:37:36.460Let's just give it one small thing like New York guns. Oh, my God, no guns.
00:37:40.500And you go to Montana. They're like, would you like to put a bullet on your cowboy hat that you can wear on this horse for a really rough ride that you don't even have to have a real helmet for?
00:37:48.920And no, you don't need to sign a waiver. It's just a different life.
00:37:53.480Yeah, it is. But I would also say that there was a lot of scared people in South Dakota, too.
00:37:58.200And and that's when I talk about, you know, managing other leaders.
00:38:02.040We had I had a lot of mayors that wanted to shut their cities down, a lot of county commissioners that felt and they all wanted me to make that decision.
00:38:09.940So they didn't have to. So, you know, as soon as I would get off a conference call with other governors, I would, you know, get on a call with mayors or then I would have a call with, you know, legislators or.
00:38:23.340And then if I had one mayor that was unsteady, I would say, listen, I hear you want to close your city down.
00:38:30.300Tell me what your cases are. Let's talk through the numbers. OK, what do you anticipate that they'll be in two weeks?
00:38:35.100OK, so it's going to get worse. I get it. So do you how long do you think people can stay locked in their homes?
00:38:41.060And if you let these people, if you lock them in their homes today and it gets worse and there's more cases and you decide to let them out because people don't have the capacity to stay there, I will blow you up.
00:38:52.500I will have a press conference and I will tell the world how irresponsible you were.
00:38:57.000So just know that you and I are going to have a very public fight over what you did.
00:39:01.880And and I said, so let's do this. Let's turn off the TV. I will call you in the morning.
00:39:07.480We'll talk again. And let's just for right now, decide that we're going to wait 12 hours and we'll talk in the morning.
00:39:13.480And that's that's what we did the whole time with different leaders and different people that were feeling incredible pressure they'd never felt before.
00:39:21.100And I think that is the stuff that people just don't know. They don't know that all that was going on or that we as governors were calling each other all the time and talking over, you know, what we were doing, resources, how we get enough masks or different medical supplies that we needed.
00:39:37.920So people, if you give them some, you can still give them instruction and give them direction without mandating it.
00:39:46.380New York Governor Kathy Hochul wasn't on your list after she took over for Cuomo.
00:39:50.320Her little vaccinated necklace. She went a different way.
00:39:55.280And a lot of New Yorkers are still paying the price.
00:39:58.100All right, let me shift gears because I have so many things I want to hit with you.
00:40:01.300Guns, as I mentioned, New York State, not so pro-gun in its politics, but just got dealt a blow by the U.S. Supreme Court in a decision that I think was rightly decided, where two guys from my hometowns, upstate New York people, went in there and said, if this is a right, if I have a Second Amendment right to carry a gun, why do I have to jump through 40,000 hoops and convince some town bureaucrat that I deserve to carry one when I want to go out?
00:40:30.540And, you know, you've created more of a privilege around this, what I believe is a constitutional right.
00:40:36.400And the Supreme Court said, you're 100 percent right.
00:40:38.580And in a six to three decision ruled that you can't in New York cannot do this.
00:40:43.340And about eight other states now are going to have to relax their permitting requirements and not require you to show a special need in order to exercise your right.
00:40:53.600So your thoughts on where we stand now in the wake of Uvalde and the Buffalo shooting and now we have this bipartisan legislation, which, you know, I got to tell you, as somebody who I'm not, I'm not pro Second Amendment, I'm not anti Second Amendment, you know, whatever.
00:41:11.160I'm not really into it the way a lot of people are.
00:41:13.360So it sounds kind of reasonable to me, like, OK, greater background checks for the 18 year olds, that makes sense, more money for mental health, that makes sense.
00:41:23.200Well, I would just say it comes down to your constitutional right.
00:41:28.740And that is I think it's been a great week for the Constitution.
00:41:32.020I think the Supreme Court has made several decisions here that back up, you know, what our founders gave us and what kind of liberty they intended for us to live with.
00:41:42.000So in South Dakota, you know, we constitutional carry was the very first bill I signed into law.
00:41:47.240The previous governor had vetoed it a couple of times.
00:41:49.560And I was very firm in the belief that I did believe it was a constitutional right and that people are offered due process before that right can be taken away.
00:42:00.580That's one of the issues with this bill.
00:42:02.540I also these red flag laws don't offer due process.
00:42:06.520And that is something that that we at the beginning of this country guaranteed every single citizen that lives here.
00:42:12.760So, you know, every time we start talking about guns, we're just not having an honest conversation about what's going on in a lot of these tragedies.
00:42:20.680The honest conversation is what's the one consistent theme in these tragedies that happen?
00:42:25.600And it is children or young individuals that did not have a parent or a family member that was a big part of their lives that was taking care of them.
00:42:35.680There was not help given to them when they were in an addiction issue or a mental health issue.
00:42:43.280And society has chosen instead to allow them to be pushed to the wayside until a tragedy happened, until they took that anger out or that sickness, that addiction really was perpetuated in a way like we've seen in so many of these tragic situations.
00:42:59.600So we just got to start being really honest about it is is is there an effect that our society is having on our young people is is drugs and addiction changing their brain chemistry chemistry and causing instability is the lack of a family and support system affecting our children.
00:43:16.040What does Hollywood and movies do to with the violence that's perpetuated on screen that they surround themselves due to their perception of reality and what's acceptable and what's not these video games?
00:43:26.760You know, how if you if you if you take God completely out of someone's life and replace it with these kinds of graphic images, does that change how they look at other people around them?
00:43:36.940And that's the reality of what I think is changing in our culture.
00:43:41.700It's a lack of value for human life and the inability to go and walk alongside people that are really struggling with with trauma or with a mental issue.
00:43:51.420And we're just not willing to extend ourselves enough to really get to the root of the issue.
00:43:56.300So we can keep talking about guns and passing more gun laws.
00:44:01.660The fact of the matter is, is that the states that have the most gun restrictions in them are often those that have the highest crime rates as well.
00:44:09.520So like New York, how do we how do we think that's going to fix everything?
00:44:12.940I just don't think New York, New York State has a ton of gun laws on the books.
00:44:15.860And that's where the Buffalo shooting happened.
00:44:18.160And I will say the one thing about the new gun law that I liked was the ability, the potential ability to look at a like an 18 year old applying for a permit to look into whatever mental health crisis was on his record.
00:44:30.380Right now, that's been inaccessible unless it crossed over into the criminal arena.
00:44:34.600And if I understand what they're doing, what they're proposing with this, it would allow more access into that before the permits granted that that could potentially help.
00:44:48.480There's there's a profile of the shooters.
00:44:50.460It doesn't always line up, but there's a profile.
00:44:52.900Well, there's a profile, but I would just say we have to go a little bit deeper than than what the surface is and that we need to ensure that a fair and just equitable criminal justice system is still in place in the United States and that we are giving due process to every single person before we take away their constitutional rights.
00:45:10.300Yeah, I mean, the mental health problem.
00:45:13.220And of course, this new bill has money for mental health, but we're not going to solve much until we get really honest about, I think, the need to take away certain people's civil liberties like when it comes to commitment.
00:45:25.360I mean, I think you red flag in a class who's an obvious future school shooter who's making open threats about a mass shooting.
00:45:33.320In my view, that person needs to be mandatorily committed for two weeks until we get a full evaluation.
00:45:39.520And I know that people say on the left in particular, no, no, you know, you can't mandatorily.
00:45:45.200That's that's for my civil liberties and your civil liberties and our children's civil liberties.
00:45:49.560Like people who are an open threat should have to lose their freedoms for short stints until we can figure out whether they are trustworthy as well.
00:45:59.120That's the law in many places of this country is, you know, you're not allowed to just start making threats against people like that.
00:46:05.000So many times, though, we've heard people have made threats many times before and been on the radar of law enforcement and nobody's done anything about it.
00:46:42.400I want to talk about faith, the effect it's had on your life.
00:46:45.540The Supreme Court decision, renewing a commitment to religious liberty in this country, a great opinion by Justice Gorsuch and the background, the fascinating background of Governor Christine Hill.
00:46:57.600One of the things that you learned growing up in South Dakota was the importance of faith.
00:47:05.640And you write that if the church doors were open, your family was there.
00:47:10.180And so you grew up an observant Christian.
00:47:13.160And I understand, you know, continue to have that faith in your life.
00:47:17.340So I'm going to guess that the two religious freedom cases just decided by the U.S. Supreme Court were were welcome.
00:47:23.880In your view, there was one saying that.
00:47:28.020Public funds given to students in Maine who needed to find schooling could be used on schools that provided religious education.
00:47:36.360And then the big one came out on Monday involving Coach Kennedy, who we actually had on this program not long ago, who just wanted to pray at the 50 yard line after the games and didn't say anybody else had to come join him.
00:47:47.120But a lot of the students were faithful as well and went and did it.
00:47:53.540And the Supreme Court in a six to three decision said, no, you violated his free speech rights and you violated his religious freedom rights.
00:48:00.980Saying in part in a decision written by Justice Gorsuch, a Trump appointee, learning how to tolerate speech or prayer of all kinds is part of learning how to live in a pluralistic society.
00:48:12.020A trade of character essential to a tolerant citizenry and went on to say respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and diverse republic.
00:48:29.420I love that opinion that he brought forward just because it's so it's the clarity that we need in this country right now of what was guaranteed by us in the United States of America.
00:48:40.440So I those decisions were very, very important.
00:48:43.280And we have a lot of people that get confused about the role of faith and government and government and faith and schools and how that interaction happens.
00:48:52.040And in fact, even in South Dakota this year, I brought a bill that would have put a moment of silence into a school day.
00:48:59.700It would have been a moment every day where a student had an opportunity to have either a prayer if they wanted to pray to whoever they would like to or a moment of silence or just a quiet time.
00:49:10.440But it was to clearly draw a line in the sand that praying is allowed in our schools, that it is facilitated, that every teacher, every administrator, every person in the state would know that that is something that you have a right to do.
00:49:24.280That bill was killed by Republicans because they did not feel it would be something that the school should have to worry about.
00:49:32.820They didn't want the controversy of it.
00:49:35.060And so this type of decision brings clarity to so many people about the fact that that faith is to be protected from the government.
00:49:44.120It's not to protect our government from our faith and our religion, that this is one thing that people could use some direction from.
00:49:52.840And I'm so thankful for the Supreme Court making a decision that truly sends that message to the country.
00:49:57.460Yes. And I appreciate your effort to do that, because we are in a situation now as mothers, as people who have kids in the school system where our kids have you're not even allowed to mention God or religion unless it's in a way that's disparaging.
00:50:12.560That'll pass. And yet we're supposed we're called bigots if we object to, you know, the LGBTQ pride parade with kink being shoved down in our faces left and right.
00:50:23.780So we don't want our kids to see that. But if we try to mention anything about God, especially in the school setting, even if it's neutral, you know, like like you're doing a moment of silence where you can think about God or just meditative about your life and its meaning.
00:50:36.740That's not allowed. Yeah. Well, it was interesting because many of these Republicans said, well, this isn't a problem in South Dakota yet.
00:50:43.260And I thought, why do we have to constantly it has been an issue now since legislative session got out in a couple of school districts.
00:50:49.600And what's interesting to me is is is as leaders, you should lead, be clear and bring clarity when you can, especially in our school districts, which right now are kind of a war zone for people that have other agendas and other opinions and trying to indoctrinate certain beliefs on our children.
00:51:06.880So it's it's interesting to me that the people that get confused on religion in schools and government, I'm hopeful that we can bring more clarity with decisions like this so that in our schools, our kids feel the freedom that if they want to stop for a minute by their locker and have a quick prayer with a friend, they can do that.
00:51:24.960That's that's what this country is all about.
00:51:26.820Mm hmm. What do you when I hear you talking about taking on your own party and so on?
00:51:32.360I mean, of course, I've got to ask you what everybody wants to know, which is.
00:51:36.540Well, does that mean there could be higher aspirations for you politically?
00:51:39.760Could you potentially do that on the national level, either as a Republican presidential candidate in 2024 or potentially as a running mate to a man we all know very well?
00:51:52.020Mm hmm. He was running a real estate business and he was president from 2016 to 2020.
00:51:59.420You know, I honestly don't know that's you know, people ask it a lot.
00:52:03.560So obviously, I've had to think about it a bit, but it's just not something that's in my plans.
00:52:07.520We I'm running for reelection this year in South Dakota.
00:52:10.500I'm hoping that people will trust me to lead for another four years as governor.
00:52:13.860Beyond that, I think anybody who's making plans just maybe doesn't understand the volatility of this political environment that we're in.
00:52:21.940And I'm always a little leery, Megan, of people who dream of being president of the United States.
00:52:26.580I think these people that grow up and plan it for years and years probably should never be president of the United States.
00:52:32.760They more than likely want to do it for the wrong reasons.
00:52:35.340I I think it's probably time in this country we have a reluctant president again, because those are the ones that truly take the job seriously, recognize the challenges of it.
00:52:45.520And the reality is we start looking at the Republican primary.
00:52:49.300There's probably going to be 48 different people running in that primary.
00:52:53.720You know, there's a lot of people who are saying they want to be president of the United States.
00:52:57.380I'm just not convinced that it has to be me.
00:53:00.200Well, especially if Trump doesn't run.
00:53:01.900If Trump runs, a lot of people will decide not to do it.
00:53:05.140But if he doesn't run, yeah, it's going to be a wide open field.
00:53:08.820And if he does run, it seems pretty clear he's not running with Mike Pence.
00:53:24.900He you know, I I I dearly love the guy.
00:53:28.560He let me do my job as governor and he helped me.
00:53:32.500You know, when I was in Congress with tax reform, he was passionate and truly did some big things in this country.
00:53:39.260So I appreciate his policies and what he did.
00:53:41.800I'd love to have him back, especially compared to who we have in the White House today.
00:53:46.020You know, the fact is right now, I don't think anybody can beat him in a primary.
00:53:48.840So if he does run, you know, he's going to have to figure out how he wins a general election.
00:53:53.280And I think the way to do that, because right now it would be difficult to be a challenge.
00:53:58.260I think he has got to put together a team that gives people confidence in the fact that he's got the right people together that are going to fix the country, put it right the ship.
00:54:08.100You know, he's got to announce who his attorney general would be.
00:54:10.720During that campaign, he'd have to say who his secretary of state would be, who his vice president would be.
00:54:15.100That would be something that would reassure and unite a lot of Republicans.
00:54:18.620I think Republicans really got to get it together and grow up a little bit, too, because they're all just trying to pretend that he's not going to run or hope for it and make no plans.
00:54:29.820We've got to figure out how do we put a strategy together to really win because our country is counting on it more than ever.
00:54:36.500Yeah. And it's it's dicey with Trump, right?
00:54:38.840It's like he's obviously got a huge swath of support in the Republican Party, but he's also such a divisive figure that cuts both ways.
00:54:46.640And I don't you know, for me as a journalist, it's easy because I get to watch and report on it and eat the popcorn while you guys do get out.
00:54:52.780But I know it's for people who are diehard Republicans.
00:54:55.680They worry. And the Democrats and they know we're worried about our country, too.
00:54:59.340I mean, four more years of Biden. I like I'm not sure if it keeps going in this direction.
00:55:31.380So that was 1990 in South Dakota, especially back then.
00:55:36.840And when you were a senior in high school, most of the girls competed in the Snow Queen contest, which really was a local area contest where you gave interviews and speeches.
00:55:48.880And they chose one to go on to the state competition and through that, you got scholarships.
00:55:56.860At that time, they gave a car, other items.
00:56:00.300And then you traveled throughout the Midwest or the country being an ambassador for your state to different festivals and different gatherings or whatever.
00:56:08.320So I did that with all my friends when I was a senior in high school, won the local contest and then went to the state contest with 52 other young women.
00:56:17.680And, yeah, very interesting experience, because I, you know, if you remember, I was a ranch girl, a farm.
00:56:23.960In fact, when I won the state competition, the headline in all the newspapers was farm girl wins snow queen.
00:56:31.000It was like everybody that thought, wow, this is different.
00:57:48.160That's what's the point of having it if you're not going to do that?
00:57:50.460Well, I yeah, I had a dad that was like, you get to where you're going fast and get back here with those parts for that tractor or hurry up and go get this.
00:58:23.800Your dad died in an accident in an accident on your farm when he was 49.
00:58:30.400And you go through it in great detail for the YouTube audience who are putting pictures up of the governor's dad and mom.
00:58:37.520And it was horrifying what happened to him in this corn auger.
00:58:43.020It was like the auger couldn't be turned on to save him after having gotten sucked in because it would have ensured his death.
00:58:50.520And you write in the book something to the effect of I was sitting there in the hospital waiting to hear, you know, if they could have revived him in the same hospital you were supposed to be late that same night for birthing classes for your child with whom you were eight months pregnant.
00:59:05.800And instead, they came in and told you there was there was nothing they could do and that he was gone.
00:59:10.640And you were in you would you were in sort of a fight with him over something silly.
00:59:16.300And Christy, I said the exact same thing happened with me.
00:59:19.920You know, I was only 15, but I lost my dad that night in a sudden heart attack in our case and was in a fight with him over something stupid.
00:59:28.540And it's just one of those things where, you know, they would never want you or me to be walking around feeling guilt or anything other than their love for us thereafter.
00:59:41.180It that's the one thing I wish I could tell people is that you're not ever guaranteed another day.
00:59:46.700You're not guaranteed you're going to see these people again.
00:59:49.320We have enough tragedies in our family and in our country that that that's the reality.
00:59:55.200And and sometimes you watch people just throw people away in their lives that that, you know, is unnecessary.
01:00:02.180So I I talk a little bit in the book about having him be gone and just the fact that I wish I hadn't complained so much when he asked me to do stuff.
01:00:12.220I wish I would have sat down and visited more when I had the chance to.
01:00:16.180He he always hurt his back hurt so bad.
01:00:18.780He was always in pain because he worked so hard and he used to ask us to rub his feet at night.
01:00:23.220And I just remember thinking, I wish that I just, you know, would have not once, you know, tried to sneak upstairs without him seeing me so I didn't have to rub his feet for him so he would feel better.
01:00:33.640You know, that's the kind of stuff that you just don't realize you're missing out on until they're already gone.
01:00:39.460It was very difficult because he was such a larger than life person.
01:00:43.120And I'm sure your dad was like this to you, too.
01:00:45.360You know, your whole life as a young girl revolves kind of around your dad.
01:00:48.280And and when all of a sudden they're gone, you can't even imagine what the next 24 hours is going to look like, much less the rest of your life.
01:00:57.160And you found these tapes where, in addition to talking a lot about corn, he talked about you.
01:01:04.040He talked about you and your siblings and talked about how tough you were, how he could see that you were such a tough kid.
01:01:11.860And I must have been so comforting in a way.
01:01:14.180It's just sort of a way of shoring you up from beyond, I think.
01:01:19.940Well, you know, my dad wasn't a talker.
01:01:23.580And so it was it took me probably five or six months before I could clean out his pickup.
01:01:29.020You know, farmers and ranchers live in their pickup.
01:01:31.000Everything they have, their notes, their pens, their tools.
01:01:34.560You know, even I talk about the fact that he always had a case of warm seven up and old candy bars or whatever in his backseat of his truck.
01:01:42.700And, you know, you just you everything he that was important was in his pickup.
01:01:46.560And it took me a long time to go clean out his pickup after he passed away.
01:01:49.640But when I did, I opened up the council and there was dozens of these little, you know, dictation tapes in there and a little tape recorder that, you know, doctors talked into back then.
01:02:00.340And it was his voice and it was just him talking.
01:02:04.260I had been running the farm then, a very large operation, a lot of people working for me, a lot of men working for me that were middle aged that didn't want to be working for a 22 year old pregnant lady or lady with a brand new baby.
01:02:17.200And getting challenged on every decision I was making and here on these tapes was every answer I could have ever wanted.
01:02:24.720What soil type was the best for what crop, what to do with cattle, what to do if we ever got into financial trouble.
01:02:31.280And then some of these tapes were years and years old.
01:02:34.220In fact, he'd moved them from pickup to pickup.
01:02:36.840And when he'd gotten a new pickup, he just moved them.
01:02:39.760And there was a tape in there almost 10 years old where he talked about us kids, what he thought our strengths were, what our weaknesses were.
01:02:47.620And it was just amazing because this is not something my dad rarely said, you know, I love you, much less talked about us.
01:02:54.400And it was that was when I knew everything was going to be OK.
01:02:57.360I thought if God loves me this much, that he literally gave me all the answers that I needed in his own voice, then we're going to be fine.
01:03:06.220And I think that was the first night that I finally could sleep because I felt the peace that I knew we were going to be OK.
01:03:14.260I can't imagine that find and that feeling.
01:03:18.700I mean, I can remember in my own case.
01:03:21.180This is 1985 when my dad died and just re-listening over and over to his voice on the answering machine tape.
01:03:28.340I remember doing that, just playing the answering machine.
01:03:46.440It makes me so glad you wrote the book and so glad that you decided to lead, you know, notwithstanding the many challenges thrown your way.
01:03:53.900Well, I mean, I appreciate sometimes I think he might become kind of crazy, but I think that, yeah, he was pretty incredible.
01:04:02.100And my mom is probably the only woman in the world that could have been married to him because all he did was work all the time.
01:04:09.720I remember her, you know, as we were going out the door to work all the time, her shoving food in our pockets.
01:04:14.460And here, just eat this on the way to the field and, you know, facilitating everything and taking care of everybody.
01:04:22.920And that's what I think so many families don't make a priority today is that it just wasn't an option not to be with our family.
01:04:29.080And I think that's one of the reasons why we turned out and we ended up with a value system that really does give us this quality of life we get to enjoy.
01:04:37.160So he was pretty special, hard work, faith, family, values, a commitment to the land and to the understanding that, as Ronald Reagan said, government is not the solution to our problems.
01:04:52.320It tends more often to be the source of them.
01:04:55.660It's you read the book and you get to understand a lot about how you handled covid and who you are as a woman, as a wife, as a mother, as a leader.
01:05:03.100And I think this book is going to become very relevant over the next year in the lead up to 2024.
01:05:28.280The madness over the Roe versus Wade decision continues.
01:05:31.860AOC and other liberal politicians have suggested, as I mentioned in our interview with Governor Noem, using federal land to build new abortion clinics in red states.
01:05:46.300Joining me now to discuss is senior political correspondent at National Review and co-host of the Three Martini Lunch podcast, which sounds like a great idea.
01:06:56.740And more and more people think this is a good idea, Jim, that we should just start building abortion clinics in our forests, in our Native American tribe, tribal land and so on.
01:07:07.240I was going to say, Megan, I try to avoid excessive name calling.
01:07:12.260I don't think you can easily dismiss people as being stupid.
01:07:15.720Oftentimes they have knowledge you just don't know about or just don't see.
01:07:19.400But my colleague, Kevin Williamson, is fond of saying every answer looks simple when you don't know the first thing about the subject.
01:07:26.640And if you think that, oh, we'll just open up abortion clinics on federal land in red states.
01:07:31.720And you characterize that, as she said, as the babiest of the babiest of the baby steps.
01:07:36.300By the way, I'm just going to pause for the irony that in a discussion about terminating pregnancies, her preferred metaphor is baby steps.
01:07:44.860There's a whole bunch of legal, financial and logistical challenges to what she envisions here.
01:07:51.120And she didn't go into a lot of specifics.
01:07:52.860Her colleague over in the Senate, Elizabeth Warren, did openly say, why not at national parks?
01:07:58.660So next time you're taking the camper into Yosemite or Grand Tetons or one of these other great national parks in the West,
01:08:05.700wouldn't you love to see an abortion clinic right there by the entrance?
01:08:09.580Somehow I think there are even going to be a bunch of pro-choice folks who are like, no, that's not where I want them.
01:09:13.440Because the idea, this wouldn't just be permitting abortion.
01:09:15.880This would be using taxpayer dollars to build abortion clinics in these states that have already chosen to ban or effectively ban abortion.
01:09:24.360But let's say they can get the votes for both of those.
01:09:27.960Let's assume that they manage to overcome this.
01:09:30.700Let's say they suspend the filibuster.
01:09:32.800Because indeed, there are Democrats who are saying, this is when we need to suspend the filibuster and only require 50 votes to pass legislation.
01:09:40.520Now, you may have noticed the Senate is 50-50.
01:09:42.960Joe Manchin is resolutely opposed to this.
01:09:44.760Let's say they manage to change his mind.
01:10:16.760Let's say, OK, you got the funding, you've got all that stuff.
01:10:19.560Many people have probably noticed that national parks or stretches of land that are controlled by the U.S. Federal Government's Bureau of Land Management, they're kind of out in the middle of nowhere.
01:10:30.940Oh, by the way, I've heard one of the proposals of military bases.
01:10:33.460And if you think the Pentagon is in a bad mood now, imagine the day you tell them, hey, you know all those secure facilities you have out there?
01:10:39.760Now you've got to open up the gates so we can put abortion clinics right by there.
01:10:43.040I guess getting into Area 51 was pretty challenging beforehand.
01:10:48.500But hey, let's decide to go with this.
01:10:51.180The irony is, is that if you do this in these large chunks of federal lands that are out in the middle of nowhere, it's really not a convenient location for all the people who are going to be wanting to go and have abortions.
01:11:01.240They're generally a long drive out in the middle of nowhere.
01:11:03.700So none of this really makes that much, you know, like, again, much sense.
01:11:07.620You cannot characterize this as the babyest of the babyest of the baby steps.
01:11:12.040If I were, I'm, I think of myself as a pretty darn pro-life guy, but if I were doing this, I'd be like, okay, abortion pills will be much tougher to regulate and much tougher to restrict in states like this.
01:11:21.780There's been talk about opening abortion clinics on the state, right by the state lines, within pro-choice states.
01:11:27.700That all seems like a much more plausible scenario than any of this idea of, oh, we're just going to open up abortion clinics on federal lands.
01:11:34.980The notion of like, oh, Yosemite, oh, and abortions too.
01:11:39.140Oh, we'll just, we'll put it all on travel bingo.
01:11:41.940So, yeah, I just kind of, you know, you could just kind of picture somebody, this is one of those proposals that is not going to get out of that first meeting.
01:11:50.100You're just going to, the first time they unveil blueprints and, you know, you have that lovely vista and the welcome to Yosemite sign and abortion, second turn on the left.
01:12:02.620Now, speaking of moronic ideas that are not going anywhere there, and we're still on AOC, but she's not the only one suggesting that these justices need to be impeached.
01:12:12.980In particular, the ones she claims lied in the course of their confirmation hearings or private meetings with senators.
01:12:20.140In particular, there's an allegation that Kavanaugh may have represented something to Susan Collins along the lines of, I will never ever reverse Roe.
01:12:29.900Um, and Gorsuch too, they, they gave assurances that they recognize Roe as a precedent and Casey as a precedent enforcing precedent.
01:12:38.540That's not a promise, but in any event, this is sort of a fun exercise because you impeach a Supreme Court justice by getting a majority vote in the house.
01:12:47.920And then you have to get two thirds of the Senate to actually convict.
01:12:58.480Let's see how that works out for them.
01:13:00.020Let's see if AOC can get her colleagues in the Democrat controlled house to impeach these sitting Supreme Court justices and see how that affects their midterm chances.
01:13:11.520One of the great ironies, by the way, is that I, you know, I think the proposals to expand the size of the Supreme Court, uh, are a terrible idea.
01:13:19.340Um, I guess they're not directly unconstitutional, but certainly they're against the American, uh, political legal tradition.
01:13:25.000Certainly the reaction to FDR indicates that even, uh, lots of folks who are generally aligned with, you know, democratic presidents think this is a bad, I think this is a bad idea, but that would theoretically change the dynamic on the court in the future.
01:13:38.020Um, at this point, you're kind of like, it's kind of like, you know, shutting the barn door after the horse have left.
01:13:42.480If you decide, well, they've made these decisions.
01:13:44.720So now we're going to get rid of them.
01:13:45.980That's how that's that the most that'll show Clarence Thomas, you know, uh, but then the second thing about, you know, could you get the votes again?
01:13:51.800This is not a vote that a lot of Democrats who are in swing districts or swing States are going, going to want to take right before the November elections.
01:13:59.400Uh, as I noted, the, you know, the majority, there are only 50 Democrats in the Senate right now.
01:14:04.620Um, you would not come anywhere near 67.
01:14:06.680And I think that was kind of one of the arguments going around about the past impeachments of President Trump is if you know, it's not going to succeed and you know, you're not going to come collect.
01:14:13.840Like if you had 62, 63, 64, maybe you think that during the trial, you'll be able to change somebody's mind.
01:14:20.560But when you know that not a single Republican center, not, I'd be very surprised to see Collins vote to, uh, to, to impeach Clarence Thomas.
01:14:35.040So maybe you could see Democrats saying, oh, we'll do this right before November.
01:14:38.520This will rally our base or something like that.
01:14:41.060But I, uh, you know, the odds of that succeeding are exceptionally likely because, you know, you probably filled in, filled up your tank recently.
01:15:05.040We're dealing with just the immediate aftermath of the decision.
01:15:08.400I will say the media is going to be very anti this decision and they're going to highlight all the heartstring stories and continue pushing like how these heartless Republicans and state after state.
01:15:18.380But I just don't think that this is an issue that affects that many voters, that it's going to change what we both think is the likely scenario in these midterms, which is the Democrats losing a lot of seats and the Republicans taking back control, certainly in the House and maybe also the Senate.
01:15:33.200But speaking of the Senate, we hear this more and more.
01:15:54.900They have burned whatever legitimacy they may still have had after their gun decision, after their voting decision, after their union decision.
01:16:04.200They just took the last of it and set a torch to it with the Roe versus Wade opinion.
01:16:10.420And I'm taking my ball and I'm going home.
01:16:14.640So what do you make of this crisis of legitimacy that we're hearing?
01:16:19.740I would say it was a friend's thread on Twitter pointed out just how long it's been since Republicans had a victory that Democrats accepted as legitimate.
01:16:30.460When you look, think, you know, I'm old enough.
01:16:38.160But George H.W. Bush winning that election over Mike Dukakis was really the last time you saw Democrats arguing that Republicans had legitimately won the election, that they had not cheated, that the Democrat hadn't really been won, that there was some sort of nefarious tricks or skullduggery that had taken away a legitimate Democratic victory.
01:16:58.0201992, Bill Clinton won, 96, Bill Clinton won.
01:17:01.360And then in 2000, look, I will grant you the 2000 election coming down to Florida and coming down to a 537 vote margin in a state with, I think, like 6 million votes cast.
01:17:11.460That's a really unusual set of circumstances.
01:17:13.840However, you could not do a recount of four Gore-heavy counties and not do the same kind of hand recount in other counties.
01:17:21.500Supreme Court made the decision based on the law that it was.
01:17:23.960And, you know, but then you had four years of selected, not elected.
01:17:27.500George W. Bush gets reelected in 2004.
01:17:30.280And a bunch of us thought, OK, well, at least this one they won't.
01:17:33.260At that point, they had all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories of the Diebold election machines and how people had cast ballots for John Kerry, but the machines had changed them to George Bush.
01:17:44.840Now, this seemed nonsensical at the time.
01:17:47.280Some people then started adopting this.
01:17:49.360This turned into this bizarrely common theory that I voted for this guy.
01:17:52.760But trust me, I saw the machine change my vote for the other.
01:17:55.900It couldn't possibly be that your finger was in the wrong spot on the touchscreen.
01:18:08.700I don't remember many Republicans saying, you know, that massive margin over John McCain, that was all Venezuelan voters.
01:18:16.360That was all Chinese bamboo in the Arizona ballot.
01:18:19.460You know, no, like most Obama kicked McCain's butt.
01:18:21.820It wasn't what Republicans wanted to see, but that was legitimate how it shook out.
01:18:25.700Similarly, against, you know, Mitt Romney, because Mitt Romney kept running around saying these crazy things like Russia being our preeminent geopolitical foe and, you know, that all the spending would get us in trouble someday.
01:18:35.240All kinds of crazy stuff that, you know, the Americans just didn't want to have anything to do with.
01:18:38.820And then you get to, look, 2016, Donald Trump wins.
01:18:45.980He did not win the popular vote, but, you know, that and $2.90 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
01:18:51.720There is nothing in the Constitution that says you get some sort of consolation prize for winning the popular vote or anything like that.
01:18:57.560Trump wins, but then you saw, you know, the violence at his inauguration and just this general sense that Trump had somehow not been legitimately elected.
01:19:05.540And even if people did vote for him, they only did so because they were brainwashed by Russian ads on Facebook.
01:19:11.720You know, there was, there was, there was, oh, by the way, those Facebook ads were run against deliberately targeted demographics that were very conservative.
01:19:19.220Megan, do you know how many people who describe themselves as very conservative, who were eager to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016?
01:19:25.800I would guess they're pretty few and far between.
01:19:27.560So my friend just kind of observed that like every Republican victory of the past 20 some years, maybe going up on 30 years, has been deemed illegitimate by a lot of Democrats on the left.
01:19:40.640And so one, it makes it kind of, you know, if you are right of center, one of the, I was, I was observing someone, I don't say you can't enjoy it, but every victory you achieve comes with these arguments of it's not real.
01:19:53.580It's not, it's not legitimate. It's not, it's only because of this, you know, nefarious Diebold machines or Russian hackers or stuff like this.
01:20:02.820Well, 2020, look, you know, for anybody who's listening, Biden won. Biden won by, you know, fair and square by a large enough margin.
01:20:09.980I did not like Pennsylvania choosing to count ballots that did not have a date on them with their absentee ballots sent in through the mail.
01:20:16.700But the number of ballots that were of that were not a large enough margin to explain Biden's margin in the state of Pennsylvania.
01:20:22.560Oh, by the way, he wouldn't, it wasn't just one, it wasn't like Florida where it came down to one state.
01:20:27.280You'd have to point to like four or five states to flip them back to Trump to say that Trump legitimately won.
01:20:32.660But, you know, for the first time, Republicans adopted this same strategy of you didn't really win.
01:20:37.380Your win's not legitimate. Your win is, you know, you cheated. It's not real.
01:20:41.600My guy really won and he's not taking the oath of office because you guys were so nefarious.
01:20:46.040And I do think that is destructive to our republic.
01:20:49.860I do think that is destructive to our sense of being one nation and agreeing to operate under the principles and laws laid out under the Constitution.
01:20:58.520Alas, so when people say, you know, the, you know, when the Elizabeth Warrens of the world run around saying the Supreme Court is not legitimate,
01:21:07.960it's building upon arguing Donald Trump wasn't legitimate and George W. Bush wasn't legitimate and every other argument is not legitimate.
01:22:43.300So Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by that standard, shouldn't be considered legitimate Supreme Court.
01:22:48.240We can play these dumb games, too, if you want to get if you want to play them.
01:22:51.760They're dumb games. If you get nominated, if you get confirmed by more than 50 votes in the Senate, you're a Supreme Court justice, whether you like it or not.
01:22:58.500And that's, you know, legitimacy has turned into a new synonym for I don't like this.
01:23:04.220They're in a panic because they've never seen a court like this.
01:24:16.820It's kind of the way conservatives are kind of judges, the way most conservatives put it.
01:24:20.560But one of the things that and you're right, I think, you know, folks on the left have gotten used to having every institution from academia to Hollywood to media, big corporations.
01:24:36.420Sooner or later, they can exert enough pressure and push those institutions to the left.
01:24:40.700I think one of my distinguished colleagues, Jay Nordlinger, said every institution that is not explicitly conservative gradually drifts to the left over the course of its existence.
01:24:49.660A whole bunch of nonprofit institutions have ended up becoming more explicitly political and to the left.
01:24:55.160And, you know, even before kind of the woke movement of recent years and decades, I think the very existence of the Supreme Court, the very existence of a role of an institution.
01:25:06.500They can look at what the legislative branch has done or the legislative branch of states and can look at what the executive branch or the executive branch of states have done and say, you know what, I know this was popular.
01:25:21.940But we've looked at this law and we've looked at the Constitution and we have determined this law does not adhere and, in fact, violates the Constitution.
01:25:30.520And then you don't get to have this law.
01:25:35.840And one of the more bizarre moments of last week was seeing New York Governor Kathy Hockel basically sounding like she intended to appeal the Supreme Court decision.
01:25:52.860And then you saw the likes of Keith Olbermann, who I hope, desperately hope gets the help he needs.
01:25:56.740And some friend will say to him, Keith, you really need to put down the phone and stuff, who is basically, you and one army, you will never, you know, I'm sure he declared the Supreme Court justice is the worst people in the world.
01:26:09.300But just, you know, Maxine Waters, too.
01:26:29.160Because the moment you start saying, OK, well, adherence to Supreme Court decisions is optional, you basically destroy the rule of law in this country.
01:26:37.460This turns into, well, we turn into a you can't make me country.
01:26:41.580And I think that is a road that leads down the line to secession and ultimately the end of the United States of America.
01:26:47.560You know, the role of the Supreme Court, you don't have to like every decision, but you have to accept it.
01:27:51.280The founders did not want us changing the Constitution willy nilly.
01:27:54.040And what a whole bunch of folks on the left became accustomed to was this process of not having to change the Constitution, but to actually say, well, the Constitution says we can't ban guns.
01:28:04.700But we in the District of Columbia, I think people shouldn't have them.
01:28:07.220So we're going to do that until the Heller decision comes along.
01:28:12.140Or that's them trying to take away the rights that are in there.
01:28:16.580But on the other side, it's OK, so we can't get a constitutional amendment saying that you have a right to abortion, but it's already in there.
01:28:50.400And so you're looking at it and you're like, are you on LSD?
01:28:53.320Are you having some sort of spirit-walking vision in the process in which you're coming up with this?
01:28:59.500If it's in the Constitution, it's in the Constitution.
01:29:01.780If it's not in the Constitution, it's not in the Constitution.
01:29:04.460And I think probably the strongest argument for the pro-choice crowd is to say the Constitution is quiet on this,
01:29:11.840that there is nothing that says much about states one way or the other.
01:29:15.260I think the definition, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, if you have that right to life, the question is, OK, if murder is a crime, when do you define personhood?
01:29:27.260I mean, the right to life is in there, at least the right to not be deprived of it without due process, which is not afforded to anybody who is unborn.
01:29:35.060That's the policy that they've pursued so far.
01:29:37.240But let me ask you this, because this is turning into a political thing where there's a push by some of the left to make a national law ensuring a right, a federal right to abortion.
01:29:48.180We've seen many on the left say that's what they need to do at the congressional level.
01:29:53.400And then you've got Republicans like Mike Pence out there saying we need a law the other way, outlawing abortion in all 50 states.
01:30:01.020Now, I would say to you as a lawyer, I don't think they have the right to legislate this.
01:30:06.700And but I but as a political analyst, let me ask you, should they?
01:30:10.900Because to your point about how control of Congress switches parties, it doesn't stay in the one like why would the Democrats who I get it?
01:30:26.620Why would they put a, you know, accept that Congress can legislate this when they know that the Republicans will take control of Congress and the White House again at the same time?
01:30:37.500And there could be the will to impose the Mike Pence rule as opposed to the Elizabeth Warren AOC rule.
01:30:44.320Well, the first thing, Megan, is that let's face it, if long term thinking was one of their strengths, they probably wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.
01:30:50.420So seeing around the corner or the ramifications of their actions really has never been their strong suit.
01:30:57.000And so I'm sure some of them are thinking, why start now?
01:31:00.240But as your general sense of is this a good idea?
01:31:02.460Actually, no, I think I think the Supreme Court in this decision knew what they were doing.
01:31:06.720And in fact, the part of it, you know, going back to Roe v. Wade in 1973, there are always parts of the country that were going to say, OK, we do not have a lot of, you know, we are not culturally conservative.
01:31:16.480We are there, you know, this there are not religious institutions preaching that this is an act that is morally equivalent to murder.
01:31:25.020We're fine with this. And there are always parts of the country which, no, no, no, this is this is basically your state has legalized a form of murder.
01:31:31.920I am perfectly comfortable living in a country where different states have different rules for this.
01:31:35.920We have different rules and states have different rules on all kinds of things.
01:31:39.260And my attitude is that this is this is federalism.
01:31:42.000The states are supposed to be the laboratories of democracy.
01:31:44.640And oh, by the way, I think it's entirely possible that some states will enact a sweeping ban of abortion and live with it for two years, four years, six years, some period of time and decide, oh, we don't like this.
01:31:56.440This is leading to some negative outcomes. We are seeing back alley abortions or something like that.
01:32:01.620Or the existence of abortion clinics on state lines have made this moot or something.
01:32:07.280But I think part of the thing is that you are allowed to live with the changes of the laws you enact and then you see what happens and then you're allowed to go back and adjust your laws later on.
01:32:16.560It's possible that certain states that are currently very permissive of abortion, have very little restrictions, may look at the experiences of other states that are enacting these bans, not seeing a disaster and saying, oh, wait, OK, maybe we do want to enact a ban on partial birth abortion.
01:32:30.620Maybe we do want to enact parental notification for minors or some other things like that.
01:32:35.580This is what states are supposed to be allowed to do.
01:32:38.140And oh, by the way, if you think on the idea of, oh, we need federal legislation, having one uniform abortion policy across all 50 states.
01:32:44.960Look, if you think the country is divided now, if you think our political tensions, our social tensions, our ideological and cultural tensions are really bad now.
01:32:53.180Try having a Republican Congress enact an abortion ban in California and New York or try having a Democratic Congress and president enact a requirement of taxpayer funding of abortion throughout the South and Midwest.
01:33:05.860This is basically pouring gasoline on a fire.
01:33:08.100Now, we've been through we've already been through one civil war, civil war in this country.
01:33:12.080Part of being in a constitutional republic made up to 50 states is you have to allow other people in other states enact the laws they want.
01:33:21.040And maybe you think they're terrible laws.
01:33:22.460Maybe you think they're absolutely terrible.