federalism. the hoover institute is hosting. >> we invite you to listen and participate in the discussion between our issue experts and our policymakers as they consider to -- solutions to some of our nation's most difficult problems, and we happen to have several right now. we will be talking to south dakota governor kristi noem, it's a great honor to welcome governor noem to hooper. before i begin with a formal introduction, i just want to have our audience realize that we will be taking audience questions. we encourage you to submit yours on the q&a button located at the bottom of your screen. so, with that, i will get started. again, it's an honor to be here talking with one of our nation's leading governors, governor kristi noem of south dakota. governor noem wears many hats, not just a ranchers hat, but she is a wife, a mother, a lifelong rancher, farmer and small business owner. she started her federal government career in 2010 after serving in the south dakota state legislature for several years, as she was elected to serve as the lone member of house of representatives. governor noem also helped pass the tax cuts and jobs act, which puts, at the time, 20 $400 back into the pockets of the average south dakota family -- $2400 back into the pockets of the average south dakota family, her constituents. running on the platform of protecting south dakotans, she became south dakota's first female governor. she has respected the rights of her people by trusting them with their actions to exercise their own personal responsibility and allow them to make the best decisions for themselves and their families, and intern for their community. we will talk about this in some detail, but this has been in her response to the covid-19 pandemic, in which it is very notable that governor noem did not order any single business or church to close and never issued a statewide shelter-in-place order. i will point out, she is the only governor that never closed any businesses by state order. despite all of her work and her successes in that career, she often says her greatest accomplishment is raising her three children, kassidy, kennedy, and booker with her husband ryan, and they have a very family centered environment in her home that is centered around, in her words, "deep love for their family and for god. " full disclosure, i have known governor noem since last summer and i was very impressed with her own attitude as a governor, one of the few governors who wanted to know the data that is a second level, below the headline level, that brings back the recollection of how the press handles things and how governor noem wanted to know the facts. in response, one was the summer event at mount rushmore, where i have of -- a vivid recollection on how the press was going off on this outdoor event with hundreds of people, and yet governor noem and her staff figured out that there were never any cases really that arose out of that outdoor event, which, as we know, the virus doesn't really spread outdoors well. but they wanted to pay attention to that detail. with that, welcome, governor noem. we are excited for today's conversation. gov. noem: thank you, dr. atlas. i am pleased to be with all of you. it's a great honor for me, and i appreciate so much your wisdom and insight, helping us in south dakota and me in particular make decisions for my people throughout the pandemic. the fear and division i saw in the media and that the liberals perpetuate during this pandemic was unprecedented, and it was so good to be able to access real-time research i could use to make wise decisions for our state. you have been a wonderful connector for me, a place i can get information that is helpful and as leaders, we need more of that honesty and integrity in some of our health care bills these days, that's for sure. dr. atlas: thank you. let's talk a little bit about the pandemic, before we move on to other issues. as we know, the pandemic and the management exposed big issues for the country and about the country and how we are going to move forward. i would like to highlight your philosophy and how it was centered in your management of the pandemic in south dakota. gov. noem: i will just remind everybody that i was raised on a farm and a ranch in south dakota with a family that was not political at all. we did very much value our way of life, though, and we were a religious family that spent a lot of time together, that appreciated our freedoms and our liberties. i was raised knowing that america was special, knowing that our constitution mattered, and all of the laws that came forward that we lived by needed to be based on that document, which was the structure that keeps that country -- this country so amazing. when i got into politics, which was because of a tragedy in our family, i use the common sense upbringing. the general counsel, i asked constitutional attorneys, what is my job? what authority do i have and what authority do i not have? we quickly knew we were going to be in an unprecedented situation. we had not had a pandemic for over 100 years, so there was no model to follow for previous displays of decision-making that we could see and use as precedent, and we needed to find our way doing this and for me, the best guideposts was what protected the country and made sure feel they -- people felt they were able to be successful. that question was unique among governors, may be, what authorities do i have, what do i not have? they're basing our decisions on the facts and the data originally but not consulting what their job was, as a government official, as a leader. in my discussions and hundreds of hours of conversation, i think that was the difference. i knew what people wanted me to do, but i also knew what was not my job. i was raised to know that if you ask government to do everything for you, that's a government that's big enough to take everything away. i don't believe that a government is always the best solution to people's problems. dr. atlas: i do want to point out that you really were the only governor who didn't close any businesses. i read your comments about that, which is every business is essential to those who are dependent on the business. i think that really, it sounds very simple, but this was something that was not understood by the people making these kinds of decisions. you know, we are in the air and now -- era now towards getting protection for those who are most vulnerable, and that is needing the vaccines for people who are at risk. although there is this message that somehow americans are not highly vaccinated and nationally, over 90% of americans who are 55 and over, which is the high risk group, have received the vaccine, you were very out front on making sure the elderly got vaccinated and even today, i checked today, and south dakota is at 95% of people over 65 who have been vaccinated. maybe you can comment on how you got that accomplished? gov. noem: we can see from the very beginning that the vulnerable -- to the vulnerable pop -- we could see from the very beginning who the vulnerable population was going to be. we are one of the states that has more people in that age group than many others, and we also knew that we had people that had health conditions that would make them a greater risk. we started early on educating them about the virus, long before there was even a vaped -- a vaccine, that they could make decisions to stay home, wash their hands to stay healthy, take vitamins to build their immunity. as the vaccine came out, we started giving them information on what we knew could help protect their health and keep them from getting very ill, that would end up in a hospitalization or even death. that proactive approach to the education piece, we did not use the bully pulpit or go out there and mandate it. we worked with them and wanted them to feel comfortable with the information they were getting, and make that decision for themselves. and -- dr. atlas: ok, i have lost governor noem. i don't know if that's my own feed or hers. yes, we have lost governor noem temporarily. hopefully she will get back on -- gov. noem: oh, how's that? dr. atlas: we got her. gov. noem: i am not sure where we cut off on that, but how we got those individuals to be vaccinated, we worked with our hospital systems and health care systems, but also partnered with them as a state and the national guard with those resources to make sure we weren't creating a whole new deployment, but were partnering with them to get it out quicker when people were ready to be vaccinated. dr. atlas: this is a segue to what is happening now, which is a lot of pressure on people to get vaccinated, questions about vaccine mandates and vaccine passports. maybe you could tell our listeners what your thoughts are on these types of things, particularly passports issued by businesses, etc. gov. noem: that's what's so tragic about what the biden administration is doing. by demonizing the american people and talking about how frustrated he is with them, that he has lost his patience, he's causing people to be more uncertain about the vaccine and what their decision-making process might be. first of all, the language coming out of the federal government is unfortunate and doing harm. here in south dakota, i have an executive order that has banned vaccine passports, i have told the state that we will not be mandating any vaccines, and i have told the president if he comes forward on any guidelines that businesses have to vaccinate employees, that we will take them to court. these issues are delegated to state and local governments and are not the authority of the federal government. if he does try, south dakota will lead the challenge and fighting off that federal government intrusion on our people. dr. atlas: speaking on that, what is the feeling from you on schools and requiring children to be either vaccinated, tested, or wearing masks in schools? what's your policy on that? gov. noem: we don't have a policy on any of those. i have not said that children need to be vaccinated or need to wear masks, or even be home. i have encouraged all of our children to be in school, and they have been in school full-time throughout the pandemic. there are some parents that might choose something different, and we have built out high-speed broadband internet access across our state so parents have access to do that when they want to, or show their children be sick, but our local school boards are making individual decisions overwhelmingly with my encouragement. they are not wearing masks, they are learning and recognizing the value of that in this day and age. a lot of folks across our state saw the damage that happened when kids in certain areas were not in classrooms, and even when they were impaired by their ability to learn, because of the different requirements that were placed on them. overwhelmingly, south dakota is recognizing the value of normal life, normal learning for our children, and we saw the detrimental effects on their mental health and emotional stability when huge, dramatic changes were made in many states. dr. atlas, what's interesting is how many people moved to south dakota. cows and the people have moved to this state for their kids to be in classrooms and have a normal life. they just want a chance for there -- they are kids to get annette -- their kids to get an education again. dr. atlas: we want to hear some details about how, by avoiding that lockdown, you have encouraged economic freedom rebounding in your state. gov. noem: i never once closed a single business and was very clear about that. you mentioned that earlier, that i did not even define what an essential business was. i did not believe i had the ability to tell people that their business was not essential. if you look at the guidelines of the country, if i were to close a business, that would be a taking of their business, and i could open up the taxpayers of the state to liability for the ramifications of doing something like that. i never issued a shelter-in-place or mandated masks. i told my people i would trust them. i gave them all the information and the data i had, and i left them personal responsibility to make the best decisions for their health and well-being and make decisions for their families. they responded to that end appreciated that, and we partnered on deploying needed resources. we partnered with them on getting them information and works very well with our hospital systems as well. what that did in turn was put a spotlight on south dakota, because we were the only state to make those decisions. the rest of the country started to notice, and frankly, they started to notice because a lot of people on the left, like rachel maddow and elizabeth warren, started to attack me every single night on the national news, calling me reckless and irresponsible and doing great damage to my people. but it started to resonate with folks, how different it was and the benefits of that. our economy continued on, people got up every day and went to work. we never offered elevated unemployment benefits in our state. we were the only state to not accept those. i told the president at the time, thank you for the flexibility, but our people want to work. we kept food on the table and a roof over our heads and did very well. we now have the fastest growing economy in the country, and our gdp rate is around 9.9%. we have one of the lowest unemployment rates. i have around 1000 people in the entire state of south dakota that are on unemployment today. i have 27,000 open jobs, so i have a lot of growth and a lot of businesses that have relocated here for the certainty we provide. everybody is working, obviously, but we also are recruiting people to fill those jobs that we have a need for, and it points to the fact that if you give people freedom and personal choice, that they really do want to be there and they do thrive. dr. atlas: yeah, that's quite impressive. let's move on to some of the other issues that i would call hot button issues. one is the controversies about curriculum in schools. we are talking about schools in lockdowns or closures, but now there is a big debate in the community all across the country about the curriculum being taught in schools and what has happened with public schools versus how parents are reacting and what they are doing. i would like to hear what's going on in south dakota there. gov. noem: sure. when i ran for governor in 2018, i talked about the fact that i wanted to put more history and civics into our k-12 system. i believe kids need to learn more about our background, where we came from, the importance of our history so we can learn from it and make better decisions in the future. i proposed a bill that first legislative session in january 2019, and it was defeated. it was defeated by republicans. even at that time, republicans did not want to put a burden on our schools, did not feel like we should be telling them what to teach. two years later, overwhelmingly now, republicans have passed the bill that i brought to them two years ago. they realized what was going on in our school systems and recognized that we need to have a true and honest history taught to our children so they can really celebrate this amazing accomplishment the country has been and our leaders, and also learn from them. and to strive to do better. i was the first candidate for office this year that signed on to the 1776 pledge, which was the pledge that said that we would teach a patriotic, true, honest history of this country. if you have someone running for national office, state office, local office or school counsel, i would say to sign that pledge, that we will push back against critical race theory and the 1619 pledge, and we are working every day to keep this history in our classroom so kids learn the honest history of the united states of america. really proud of the fact that i worked with newt gingrich and dr. ben carson to develop that pledge and push it out across the country so that when people vote for individuals, they are voting for someone who loves this country, our history, and our future moving forward. dr. atlas: before we get off on schools, i want to give you a chance to talk about an issue that you have been in the news cycle -- at least a while ago, the news cycle moves pretty quickly. the issue of the ncaa, the law that was supposedly going to ban biological males from competing in female sports. you got a little heat, particularly from the conservative side of the world, on not stopping, or not signing that law. maybe you could explain that for the viewers. gov. noem: absolutely. i would appreciate the opportunity to do that. we had a discussion in our legislative session about girl'' sports. for years, i have worked to protect and make sure that girls only play girls sports in south dakota. in the sport of rodeo, we had to eliminate girls months and boys of -- girls events and boys events, there was no longer the ability to have separate events. i was the only person in congress, and in my state of south dakota that fought the federal government on that and said no, we are going to protect women's events, girls events, and men's events in the sport of rodeo and got the federal government to back off. no one wanted to pick this fight because they felt it was too political and i couldn't get any help, so i am pretty far out there and where i stand on making sure girls have the opportunity to play girls sports and boys can play boys sports. when this was proposed in our legislative session, it had some significant drafting flaws. they were so bad, as soon as i got the bill i recognized that it would be challenged in court immediately. i issued a style and form revision and sent it back to my legislature, and asked them to accept the fix so it could be put into law and stand any court challenge, and i would have the ability to enforce it. the legislature did not do that and the bill died. the press and conservatives covered it as i had been -- vetoed the bill, which was an absolute lie. i asked for changes and the legislature did not accept them. only girls should play in -- i issued an executive order that only grows should play in girls sports k-12, and what i learned throughout the whole experience, i had for years been bullied by liberals and the left. it was the first time i had been bullied by my friends, and i realized how competitive people can be, worried about the future , potentially thinking i might want to do something beyond being governor someday and were interested in doing me political damage early on. but i want everyone to know the truth. i love being governor of south dakota, i love protecting people, and i will be smart enough to make sure that i am signing bills that i am able to enforce and keep in place and will not be thrown out in court, instead of a precedent that does great damage to the movement. that's my job and i will continue to do that. i have always been out there, very clearly stating that i only believe girls should play girls sports and boys should play boys sports. gov. noem: it was -- dr. atlas: it was shocking to hear that the press did not report it accurately. so stunning. gov. noem: that what was stunning to me, i signed the executive orders that protected girls sports and nobody covered that. even today when they write articles about it, they don't say, governor noem signed these executive orders and has drafted legislation that will be proposed as soon as we go into session and will be passed, codify those executive orders into statutes and the state of south dakota. if it fits someone's political narrative -- i understand that. it's politics. but i did not want to sign bad bills that would end up in court and i would not be able to enforce anything as long as they were tied up in litigation. dr. atlas: that make sense. i am hoover senior fellow scott atlas, here with south dakota governor kristi noem. if you have any questions, we will be taking those soon. please submit them in the box at the bottom of your screen. i think we all realized, the pandemic exposed a lot of things about the country, about the way the governance is undertaken here, some of which was quite surprising to me and i am sure was to others. what's your thought on the movement of government or centralization from what was supposed to be a federalist system towards a federal government? we see a lot more executive orders not just at the top, but by state governors, etc. i would like to hear your thoughts philosophically and on what you would do as governor to stop that centralization. gov. noem: to see the federal government consistently overstep its powers and put into place actions that it has no authority to do -- we have seen executive orders used by both political parties over the years. many times, it has been effective for short-term, but we need to remember when that leader is gone, those executive orders go away as well. this is not a long-term solution. we have a qualifier in my office, we don't do an executive order unless we are willing to codify it into our statutes. it's a long-lasting change and will not be changed unless the legislature weighs in on that process in the future. but i went from the lasted no straight and -- the last administration in the white house to being on the offense and looking for solutions and creating a smaller government for people, too, as soon as the biden administration came in, we were on defense. they are overstepping their authority and i need to be challenging that to protect my folks. giving orders to businesses that they shouldn't be doing, orders to our national guard, discussions on how our way of life will be. so now, much of my time is caught up in litigation, in court challenges, just making sure i am doing what i promised the people of south dakota what i would do, and that protects their way of life and prevent federal government intrusion. i am hopeful that we can see change in that. i think the way this country was structured is unique and special and is what has kept america free for hundreds of years, and my job as governor is to stand for that foundation, otherwise the entire country falls apart. dr. atlas: i want to ask a quick question, although i am pretty sure i know where you stand on this, and that's on one of the many issues of contention, which is gun control. if anybody knows you at all, they saw your tweet that went viral, that showed you shooting -- i think it was skeet shooting . the caption was, you turned to the camera and said "that's how we do social distancing in south dakota." how did the citizenry of south dakota react to this discussion and what is your perception of the government control of guns? gov. noem: the first executive order i signed was constitutional carry, and that bill had been rejected several years before i came into office. i was a big change for south dakota, having someone he willing to embrace the right of individuals to bear arms and protect the second amendment in our state. people in the state overwhelmingly feel alarmed by the actions they see against an individual's right to possess and bear arms. people recognize it's a part of our history, our culture, our way of life. we live off the land here. we are one of the top hunting and outdoors states in the nation. it's how we spend time with our families, have vacations, we love our wildlife and habitat and take care of it so it can thrive, and recognize our ties to the land and appreciations of those animals. that engagement is very important to us, but we also recognize the need to protect ourselves and our families. this was a fundamental discussion when we were fighting for freedom and liberty back during the revolutionary war, and was a specific debate at the time that our founders were discussing, what should this new country look like and what rights should the citizens have? that's a belief we are well educated on, that we believe we will stand for, and when you take away from one's right to bear arms, that's when your liberties are gone. we will have to continue to be smart and strategic on how we push back against the administration's desire to take away those rights. it's one of the top rights we believe insurance protects that document, that bill of rights that we value so much. dr. atlas: let's move onto some of the questions i'm getting from the audience here. this one is from bob. there seems to be a strong move at all levels of government to rely on executive order rather than legislation. why is that happening? gov. noem: there are several different reasons. it can have an immediate impact. in south dakota, we have a 40 day session in our state. we go into session in january, the first week of january, and are done by the first week of march. the rest of that year, there is not really an opportunity to put anything into law. we wait about 10 to 12 months to put it back in session. so i know what can stand in place until i have a statute on the books. we do not bring executive orders for long-term purposes. they are there to secure and bring stability until the whole statute can be placed. in other instances, i have seen executive orders be used out of laziness. because it is easier than having to educate people about the need for this policy and is instant gratification. to be honest, we live in a country that lives on gratification and lack of discipline to today. if someone wants to write an executive order to get a headline for a week or two and not recognize the impact that can have in the long run, we need to recognize the stability of having something in law. i would encourage every leader to put that in, because of the debates, the committee hearings, it's incredibly important to learn more and educate all members about why that is necessary enough to put it in statute. when you go to executive order, unit it all of those benefits. but at times it is necessary to keep a protection in place until we can get into the legislative session and put it into law. dr. atlas: david says, i liked your passionate defense of business freedom. but that includes the right to tell potential customers and workers that they must get vaccinated. what do you think about that? gov. noem: well, in south dakota, i did not dictate to businesses how to handle this issue. it's been controversial, but i believe if i tell businesses that they can't mandate vaccines, if they can dan day -- mandate vaccines, it's no different then the hobby lobby case, where the government was telling them they had to provide contraception. it's no different than telling bakers they have to bake cakes for individuals that they don't choose to or would want to make a different decision. that's how i make my decisions, when we look at the president and what my job is as a governor or leader, it's not setting up a situation where we are critical and this is something the government should step in and do. -- it is not an authority that i believe on private property rights, the government should be coming in and dictating those types of decisions to those owners. that's not my job and i think people should be very careful what problems they ask the government to solve for them. the government will solve all of your problems will also take away everything. many, many times, the individual freedoms we have also require us to take action by ourselves and have the ability to take those actions as well that we deem our best dr. atlas: let's move on to another controversial issue, abortion. blue asks, what is your opinion on a woman's right to choose. do you view it as their own right, as in sports? and how do you feel about the texas abortion law? gov. noem: my team is looking at the texas abortion law to see if that something that we could put in in south dakota, so i thought that was a victory for life when we had that decision come out of the supreme court. when it comes to pro-life ledge -- pro-life legislation, issues, this is an individual that has no opportunity to speak for itself and we should speak for that life to have the ability to come to fruition. we watched a lot of these different issues come forward and i recently brought forward some proposals and an executive order that we will have during the legislative session that deals with telemedicine and the ability to get an abortion by telemedicine. for years, we have listened to those that want to woman to have a choice, and have it be between her and her doctor, they are now saying that a woman should be able to get an abortion from any stranger over the internet and over the phone. biden administration is pushing down a regulation that says a woman can utilize telemedicine to get a chemical that allows them to have an abortion from anybody they would be able to get to write a prescription from somewhere in the country were in the world. -- or in the world. that's not right for me. chemical abortions are four times more dangerous and it completely exposes that individual to more harm, but also makes it so much more easy to end that innocent life. i have never been in a gray area here. i believe these lives need to be protected. they deserve the right to live. science is overwhelmingly continuing to prove to us that this is a life from the moment of conception. it's not theoretical anymore. the science and facts have stacked up more and more, the more we have learned, and this is an issue where we should stand on the side of what is right. dr. atlas: sarah says, what would you say that critical race theory is teaching what happened in a larger scope across the united states? gov. noem: i would firmly disagree with that. critical race theory is racism in itself and pushes division based on culture, the color of their skin, and not on character. i passionately disagree and american history has proven over and over again that yes, we made steaks. our leaders have made mistakes. we should continue to learn from them, but our country was founded on freedom and our leaders fought for freedom of individuals to have the right to go out and provide for their families and make a living in a way that respects each of them, not based on their skin color, but based on who they are and the fact that they are a human being. what we see is an agenda that is being perpetuated to further divide this country and we need to stand firmly on the side of truth and continue to unite americans. our greatest strength is that we are people who believe in each other and wrecking eyes that -- and recognize that we should be serving each other and optimistic and happy. we get up every morning and seem to forget how blessed we are. dr. atlas: ok. i would like to hear your thoughts on the issue of the southern border. i know that south dakota is not near the southern border, but these issues affect the entire country and, as you know, governor abbott -- some governors have looked to the texas border at the enforcement for immigration law. gov. noem: it's been a huge concern of mine all along. when the texas and arizona governors asked for assistance, south dakota responded. i sent my national guard down there to partner with the texas national guard, and they just returned from a deployment helping to secure that border. i looked at the situation they were going to be in down there. our guard is specifically trained for war, to go in and cooperate with other teams, agencies and departments and to filling the gaps and face the types of situations we are seeing down there at the border. i wanted to be a part of the solution not just for national security issues, but because so many issues we deal with in south dakota are coming across that border. a vast majority of the drugs that come into the midwest are floating through my native american reservations that come across the southern border. human trafficking is in this country is prevalent, and much of that is coming across the border. we are having an impact on people in south dakota, our communities, and our guard needed to be there to help secure that border because of all of those reasons. because of the national security threats we face, because of the drugs and human trafficking that's happening, and we were grateful to be part of that mission. they are home for a short period of time, but they have been asked to return. i will be sending another redeployment in october to help with that situation. dr. atlas: ok. let's talk a little bit about ensuring fair elections. this is an issue. we just had the recall election in california and, of course, everyone in california got sent a ballot, whether they request it or not. what are your thoughts and how does that work in south dakota, and what do you do specifically to maintain and ensure fair and legitimate elections? gov. noem: yes, the mail-in ballots are concerning. because of the accountability that we see that has happened from state to state, through the last election cycle, what just happened in california, and there is a real lack of ability to track and make sure those are all valid voters. in south dakota, you have to have an id in order to vote. a drivers license or birth certificate. you can vote on or before election day. if you want to vote, you will half to rick -- if you are not there and want to vote, you will have to request an absentee ballot. largely, most of our counties, the vast majority of our populations vote on paper and we have the ability to go back then and make sure that there is an accurate accounting for every single individual that did cast their votes, and made sure that was a person who lived in our state, was a valid voter, and could be counted properly. we have avoided many of the issues are other states have, and i think it's because even though there was a pandemic going on, we did not change how we vote. we want to trust those results and know that the right people are in positions of power. dr. atlas: ok. i have a question here from the audience. any messages that you have to the veterans and what are your thoughts in the wake of the biden administration's performance in afghanistan? gov. noem: it's horrific, what we see going on in afghanistan. i think we all understand the failure of this administration and how unprecedented it is and the damage it has done to not just our country, but our national security and individuals that step up and serve in our military each and every day. but what shocked me was the amount to veterans who served in the war on terror and served in afghanistan or iraq and said to me over the last several weeks now, i don't know if it was worth it. i don't know if my service mattered. i have spent a vast majority of my time letting me -- letting them know, they are service mattered. we did not have a conflict or event in our homeland, that children slept safely in their bids because they were there serving. because they were there, afghan women and children know there is a different way of life. they know there is an opportunity for education and freedom and can continue to passionately fight for that and we will stand by them. what happened in afghanistan is hard to explain. i firmly believe, scott, that it was on purpose. i think a lot of people think it was a mistake. i think these decisions were made were so different then the protocols and requirements that happen in the department of defense, how could they have possibly been carried out the way they were without it being a literal decision from the commander-in-chief? that's the reality i believe we need to be aware of and we need to start making our decisions as a people hold these leaders accountable for the decisions that they have made to expose us to a failure in afghanistan like we've never seen in this country before. dr. atlas: ok, i am going to finish off with a final question from several people here. looking at the 2024 presidential election, the questions are, would you support president trump if he runs again? and, would you consider running in the future? gov. noem: yes, i would support president trump again in the future. i campaigned for him in 17 different states because i knew what would happen if president biden had the opportunity to take over the white house and how fundamentally this co untry would change. i did not know he would wreck the country this bad, but president trump -- i loved working with him because he was one of the very few people that i worked with in public office that actually did what he said he was going to do. he followed through on things. he was a problem solver. and we need fighters. i would support him, and we need a leadership change in this country. i am solely focused on being the governor of south dakota. i ran for governor because i love this state and i wanted to be here with my people. i just want to be able to go to bed every night thinking that i did my job protecting this country and did all that i could to give my kids and my grandkids an opportunity to grow up like i did. i do not want to end my life thinking that i got selfish and didn't do my part. that's what i am focused on each and every day, and i think we would be incredibly blessed to have leaders in the white house again that felt the same way about the united dates of america. -- united states of america. dr. atlas: i think we will end on that note. governor noem, thank you for your time and it's great to see you again. for the audience, you can learn more about this series at hoover.org/ capitolconversations. . i have written a book, if you want to be shocked about what happened in the white house and learn about big issues that came out of it, you might want to take a look. it will be out in november. thank you for joining us today. we hope you will tune back in >> now live to london for british prime minister's questionim

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