As the coronavirus spreads to the United States, most governors have been quick to accept whatever the media’s demands are, forcing a government shutdown in most states. The hospitals are nowhere near close to being overwhelmed as the “numbers predicted” and, in fact, many hospital systems are even furloughing doctors and nurses right now.
With the hospital demands being dramatically opposite of what the media preached it would be, the goal has now shifted violently to keeping the shutdown going to “flatten the curve” of exponential growth so that hospitals won’t get overcrowded. No matter how terrible the consequences, it can’t be much worse than what it is right now for millions. Long-term economic damage, serious harm to the food supply, death from other causes, etc.
While the media is busy praising left-wing politicians such as Andrew Cuomo who kept unsanitary subways running and demanded tens of thousands of ventilators that were never used, politicians such as South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem are being condemned and criticized for wanting their people back at work as soon as possible. Kristi Noem has strongly encouraged social distancing but did not use government force to shove it in people’s faces.
All those who reject the long-term, government-forced shutdown model are facing much more scrutiny in the public eye than others. The media is not very keen on those who condemn the “recommended policies.” These platforms are telling elected officials they are killing their residents…simply for wanting people to get back to work and get food on the table for their families.
Another, for example, is Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp who has become one of the media’s enemies for encouraging a phased re-opening of his state. Colorado, on the other hand, has Democratic Gov. Jared Polis who is following the same approach but not getting the same level of hatred from the media.
Kristi Noem has been scrutinized real bad by MSNBC’s histrionic Rachel Maddow. She dedicated an entire week of programming condemning the South Dakota governor for resisting stay-at-home-orders to her people. The Washington Post also wrote lengthy articles that, because of that, South Dakota has become “one of the nation’s largest coronavirus hot spots”, an article that cannot be validated by any numbers or figures. Modelers also predicted South Dakota would need 10,000 beds if no government order were put in place and nothing was done to stop the spread of coronavirus. The latest prediction from Noem has been that by June 20 the state would need a peak total of 127 beds. A number much further from 10,000. She argues that her state’s population is practicing social distancing and she is encouraging all citizens to make good decisions.
The latest media attack comes from The Associated Press. It is a piece that argues her policy goals are driven not by her leadership but by her emotion and naked ambition. It is a strange analysis, definitely not a political piece, but I would love to see what qualifies this as a theory about her political path. Noem has been following Trump’s lead on mandatory shutdowns and nothing else is required of her.
“As governor, I did not dictate to the people of South Dakota, tell people which activities are officially approved or not, or begin arresting, ticketing, or fining people for exercising their rights. Nor am I doing that today. I will, however, continue to lead and help South Dakota navigate a path forward in this uniquely difficult and challenging time. The people of South Dakota are the source of the power and legitimacy of our government – not the media, not politicians and not political parties. That’s a healthy perspective for any elected official to keep in mind.” Noem said.
