Image: Republican National Committee (Getty Images)
What’s a governor to do when two out of every five of their residents contract covid-19 thanks to a lack of lockdowns, virtually non-existent mask mandates, and $5 million federal relief funds allocated toward boosting tourism? Host a potential superspreader event and tweet the evidence, of course. That’s how South Dakota Governor and burgeoning GOP darling Kristi Noem does it, at least.
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On Tuesday, Noem tweeted a photo featuring herself, her husband, and close to two dozen legislative pages huddled together on a staircase like a cursed sorority house photo.
“Love having our legislative pages over for dinner!” Noem wrote. “We could not get through the session without their help.”
33ft/iStockBy BILL HUTCHINSON, ABC News (TAMPA, Fla.) Thousands of football fans in Tampa, Florida, many seen without masks and partying shoulder-to-shoulder
South Dakota’s covid-19 numbers have been terrible, but the governor says that’s the wrong metric Glenn Kessler (Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee/AP)
“We knew the science told us we couldn’t stop the virus. We could slow it down and protect people who might be vulnerable and make sure we had enough hospital capacity to take care of those who would need it. But that we were going to do it together and allow people to be flexible to take care of their families and still put food on the table. So that was a unique approach that for our people really worked well. We did have tragedies and we did have losses, but we also got through it better than virtually every other state.”