As part of his latest presidential campaign, Donald Trump has not been subtle in his praise for the January 6 rioters, including promising to pardon those who attacked the US Capitol in his name. On “Meet the Press,” NBC News’ Peter Alexander asked South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem if the former president’s campaign promise sends the right message.
The Republican governor repeatedly dodged the question, saying, “I think each of these situations needs to be looked at individually,” over and over again. In other words, as Noem sees it, some violent insurgents who attacked police officers may or may not have to be released from prison. She didn’t want to say it anyway.
But as part of the same response, Noem also took a moment to summarize her views on the larger issue:
I’ve looked at these comments a few times and tried to figure out the head or tail of the argument. It didn’t go well.
WATCH: As former President Donald Trump vows to pardon convicted January 6 rioters, @GovKristiNoem (RS.D.) says: “each of these situations must be considered individually.”
“You can’t put a blanket approach on it,” Noem adds. pic.twitter.com/erKMJH4ixL
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 23, 2024
Noem started by saying that no one wants to see another January 6 attack, which was fair, although it was a sentiment that conflicted with Trump’s perspective. In fact, the former president has not only defended the violence committed in his name as justified; it was just a few weeks ago when the presumptive GOP nominee also described the Jan. 6 criminals as “victims.”
But I was also intrigued by the idea that the best way to prevent the next January 6 attack is to elect the politician who instigated the January 6 attack. Why? Because Kristi Noem says so.
The South Dakotan added that during a second Trump term, “we will have peace and order in our streets again,” which is certainly a nice idea, though it’s a tough claim to take seriously — in part because Trump himself has recently convicted of various crimes, partly because crime rates have fallen sharply recently after a spike at the end of Trump’s term, and partly because Trump is using a platform to return politically aligned violent criminals to American streets.
There have been a lot of incoherent political arguments lately. Noem’s pitch on “Meet the Press” was one of the strangest.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
