Gov. Noem: "We Need to be Optimistic" on Ingraham Angle

But joining me now is a governor who refused to give in to the left demands and lockdown requests, Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota. Governor, it's great to have you on tonight. You have been lambasted in the press for not stripping your residents of their basic freedoms and their right to work and go to school. But here we are about now six months into this pandemic, and South Dakota still has a death rate 11 times lower than New York's per 100,000 people. Amazing. Yeah, we're doing very well, Laura. And that's really the story that needs to be told, is that I trusted my people. They trusted me. They took personal responsibility for dealing with this virus. And we're doing very well. Not only do we have one of the lowest death rates, we've had got about 40 people that are in the hospital today statewide. Our infection rates are low. Our job losses are low. Our economy is doing better than virtually any other state. And I think it's a real testimony to what could have been possible in many of these other states where the governor's just made the wrong decisions. Well, despite this overwhelming evidence, Governor Noem, including, as you just said, from your state, the left is still urging national lockdown. Watch. Lockdowns work. Quarantine works. Isolation works. Wearing masks work. Contact tracing works. These things work, and we're not doing them. If we were to lock down hard for a month or six weeks, we could get the case count down so that our testing and our contact tracing was actually enough to control it. Governor, your state proves this is just not the case, and we don't need to strip the people of their freedom to fight the virus. You know, what works is watching your hands, making good decisions. I think what we're seeing there is encouraging leaders to make decisions where they will overstep their authorities in a time of crisis. And that's how we lose this country, Laura. That is exactly what's happening, is that we are allowing them to take control of our country in a way that we haven't seen before. So we need a few people to stand up, read our history, talk about the importance of our Constitution, and the fact that these governors need to recognize that they need to uphold those freedoms that we hold so dear, and allow these people to take care of their families and make the right decisions, and deal with this virus much like we do every other challenge that comes our way, and Americans tackle it together. What I'm frustrated by is just the... Go ahead. Sorry, what would have happened to your state's economy had we listened to this Dr. Hazeltine or any of these other officials, Neil Kashkari at the Fed? I don't know why he's supposedly an expert at this, but what would have happened to your economy and your people? Well, they would have been devastated. We would have lost businesses, families would have lost their homes. We would have seen so many more people still continue to get sick, still be hospitalized, but they'd be doing it with less resources to take care of each other, and less of an ability to really go forward and provide for their families. So that's the challenge here, is that our state is so diverse. We have very urban areas, but we also have very rural areas, and a blanket approach doesn't make sense for the entire state of South Dakota. It doesn't make sense for this entire country, and that's why we need local leaders to trust people in their communities to make the decisions that work best for them. And we also need them to be optimistic, Laura. I mean, this negativity that we hear from leaders and doctors about how terrible the situation is in our country, we're in a good spot. We are driving down our death rates. The virus is moving across the country, but we're taking care of people. They're getting the resources. The administration has helped governors respond to their people. I worry about these kids that turn on the news and hear their parents talking about being scared, and hear news anchors talking about being worried, and doctors. We wonder why our kids are struggling with anxiety. Let's be optimistic. There's concern about this big motorcycle rally that's happening this weekend in South Dakota, and we don't have to play the soundbites. Oh my god, on television, all the cable news. How dare you? It's going to become a super spreader event, Governor, a big super spreader event. Look at all those people. Look at how they gather. Well, we've had several big events in South Dakota already. We had the first spectator-attended professional sport. The professional bull riding was held in South Dakota. We had the July 3rd event and saw no increase in cases because of that crowd that gathered to celebrate our country's freedom and independence. People have been gathering. We've been back to normal for over three months here in South Dakota, so we know we can have these events, give people information, let them protect their health, but still enjoy their way of life and enjoy events like the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. We hope people come. Our economy benefits when people come and visit us. Well, lucky residents and citizens of the great state of South Dakota, because we're stuck in the D.C. metropolitan area with horrible leadership, and Governor, we just wish you the best of luck this weekend and going forward, and check back with us soon. Well, thank you, Laura. Appreciate it.