South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has a reputation for being a fiery advocate for freedom and self-reliance, sentiments that seem to prevail in the northern parts of the Midwestern region of America.
The daughter of a rancher and farmer, Noem knows a thing or two about getting her hands dirty having left college early to come back home and help run the family business after her father was killed in 1994 in a farm machinery accident. All of this makes it only fitting that she got a flame thrower for Christmas.
The Republican governor’s staff gifted her a flame thrower and she was only too happy to show it off in a video clip where she goes up against a pile of cardboard boxes that didn’t stand a chance.
Scoop: Gov. @KristiNoem now owns her own flamethrower, a Christmas gift from her staff. pic.twitter.com/sYV1u9arrM
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) December 25, 2022
In what he characterized as a “scoop,” Real Clear News White House reporter Philip Melanchthon Wegmann shared the footage along with the photos seen above.
The reporter added a little context in the following tweet:
Two years ago, @KristiNoem fired off a flamethrower, joking is it “too late to add something to my Christmas list?”
Her staff pulled together and bought her one this year. https://t.co/8dRhpTttMu
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) December 25, 2022
Set against a snowy backdrop, it’s definitely winter in South Dakota and Noem was dressed the part in camouflage gear as she appears with her husband Byron Noem.
“Perfect!” she declares, after laying waste to the boxes.
Noem, who is seen as a rising star in the Republican Party, shared a moving testimonial to her father in a series of tweets last year.
“My dad was a cowboy. He was the toughest person that I’ve ever known,” she wrote. “Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to grow up and be like him. When he died, I was just 22 years old, and I had to take over as general manager of the family business.”
The thread continued:
I got to his pickup and began pulling items out of the center console and putting them in a box. I found a set of pliers, a Baby Ruth candy bar (that was his favorite), notebooks, pens, tools.
Then I found a tiny tape recorder, like the kind that a doctor dictates into. (5/)
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) March 10, 2021
I looked down into the console and saw several more tapes, almost a dozen in all. One by one, I put them in the tape recorder and listened to dad talk about crop decisions, soil types, cows, weather, markets, and what to do if we were ever in a tough financial situation. (7/)
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) March 10, 2021
I realized that here in my hands were all the answers that I needed. Straight from him. In his voice. (8/)
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) March 10, 2021
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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