Governor of South Dakota. Kristi Noem and now banned from entering nearly 20% of her state after two more tribes banned her this week over comments she made earlier this year about tribal leaders benefiting from drug cartels.
The latest developments in ongoing tribal dispute came on the heels of the backlash Noem faced for writing about killing a hunting dog who misbehaved in his last book. It’s unclear how these controversies will affect his chances of becoming Donald Trump’s running mate because it is difficult to predict what the former president will do.
The Yankton Sioux Tribe voted Friday to ban Noem from their land in southeastern South Dakota, just days after the Sisseton-Wahpeton Ovate Tribe took the same attitude. The Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes had already taken steps to keep it off their reservations. Three other tribes have not yet banned it.
Noem reinforced divisions between the tribes and the rest of the state in March when she said publicly that tribal leaders catered to drug cartels on their reservations while neglecting the needs of children and the poor.
“We have some tribal leaders who I believe are personally benefiting from the presence of the cartels, which is why they attack me every day,” Noem said at a forum. “But I will fight for the people who actually live in these situations, who call and text me every day and say, ‘Please, dear governor, please come help us in Pine Ridge. We are scared. ”
Noem’s spokesperson did not respond Saturday to emailed questions about the bans. But she previously said she believes many people who live on reservations still support her, even though she clearly doesn’t get along with tribal leaders.
Noem addressed the issue in a post on X on Thursday, along with posting a link to a YouTube channel about authorities’ video about drugs on reservations.
“Tribal leaders should take action to banish cartels from their lands and accept my offer to help them restore law and order to their communities while protecting their sovereignty,” Noem said. “We can only do this through partnerships because the Biden administration is not doing its job.”
Tribes have clashed with Noem in the past, including during the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests in Standing Rock and during the COVID-19 pandemic when they established coronavirus checkpoints at reserve borders to keep out unnecessary visitors. She was temporarily banned from the Oglala Sioux reservation in 2019 following the protest dispute.
And there is a long history of difficult relations between Native Americans in the state and the government dating back to 1890, when soldiers shot and killed hundreds of Lakota men, women and children in the Wounded Knee massacre as part of a campaign to stop an attack religious. practice known as Ghost Dance.
Political observer Cal Jillson, who works at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said this tribal dispute looks a little different because Noem appears to be “actively fueling it, which suggests she sees a political benefit.”
“I’m sure Governor Noem doesn’t mind focusing on tensions with Native Americans in South Dakota, because if we’re not talking about that, we’re talking about her shooting the dog,” Jillson said.
Noem appears to be tired of answering questions about her decision to kill Cricket after the dog attacked a family’s chickens during a stop on the way home from a hunting trip and then tried to bite the governor. Noem also received criticism for including an anecdote that she asked her editor to remove from the book she described “looking down” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a private meeting that experts considered implausible.
Following these controversies, she canceled several interviews planned as part of her book tour. With all the questions about “There’s No Going Back: The Truth About What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward,” no one is asking about Noem’s decision to appear in an infomercial-style video praising a team of cosmetic dentists in Texas who gave him veneers.
Jillson said all of this likely hurts her chances with Trump, who has been testing a long list of potential vice presidential candidates.
“I think the chaos Trump revels in is the chaos he creates. Chaos created by someone else simply takes attention away from yourself,” Jillson said.
University of South Dakota political science professor Michael Card said that short of the vice presidential position, it’s unclear what will happen in Noem’s political future because she is barred from running for another term as governor. Noem is in her second term as governor.
She could go after Sen. Mike Rounds’ seat or try to return to the House of Representatives, Card said.
