美联社
唐纳德·特朗普总统在一次会议上与当选州长克里斯蒂·诺姆交谈..
南达科塔州州长克里斯蒂·诺姆的选举在立法机构与共和党人的斗争引发了批评她忽视了自己为白宫工作的职责，但这种阻力实际上可能有助于她的国家品牌，而不是玷污它。
这位第一任州长最近几周飞往佛罗里达州，在保守派活动人士的一次大型聚会上发表讲话，在福克斯新闻频道宣布发行自传，并在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰时抨击了美国总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)的能源政策。
在国内，这位试图扭转全国最保守州长标签的政治家面临着来自她自己政党成员的巨大挑战。他们在堕胎、学校祈祷、新冠肺炎疫苗豁免以及学校如何教授种族主义等问题上破坏了她议程的关键部分。
共和党民调专家布伦特·布坎南说唐纳德·特朗普对于一个试图讨好前总统和支持他的选民的政客来说，这种党内争吵不是一种负担，甚至可能是一种资产。
布坎南说:“他们不通过(她的议程)比通过更有利于她。”。“特朗普让共和党领导人开始考虑自己队伍中的不忠行为。”
在最近的一次州议会挫折中，共和党人拒绝了她让K-12教室摆脱“关键种族理论”的计划，这是一个已经演变成右翼政治口号的学术概念。他们后来通过了一项适用于大学的法案，但在此之前，他们控制了它的范围。
诺姆在会议开始时列出了一份议程，相当于社会保守派的愿望清单。但她不得不面对一个分裂的立法机构，保守派推动该州在社会问题上采取强硬立场，而共和党则更有可能专注于面包和黄油问题。立法者否决了州长在会议开始时的国情咨文中强调的大约一半的建议。
Noem长期以来一直表现出与立法机构争吵的意愿，但今年冬天双方的唇枪舌剑愈演愈烈。共和党众议院议长斯潘塞·戈什指责州长追逐头条新闻和电视露面，而不是做基础性工作，为她的提案在国内建立立法支持。
诺姆展示了在特朗普的共和党内无价的政治戏剧的诀窍，并在上个月赢得了前总统对她的连任竞选的支持。她的社交媒体上充斥着她在斯特吉斯摩托车拉力赛上骑摩托车、在马背上举着美国国旗、炫耀喷火器和猎杀野鸡的照片。
但去年，她在共和党白宫候选人名单上的举动遭遇了重大挫折，当时她放弃了签署一项法案的承诺，该法案将禁止变性女孩和大学年龄的女性参加与其性别身份相符的学校体育比赛。
为了安抚愤怒的保守派，诺姆今年在立法机构推动了一项跨性别运动员禁令，在福克斯新闻频道的电视广告中宣传她的提议，声称她在这个问题上“从未退缩”。
至少，在国家党的支持下，这种做法似乎奏效了。
保守的美国原则项目的主席特里·席林说:“我确实认为这确实修复了她的形象。”。“看到她在上面签名，我肯定会更加支持她。”
但是两党中的一些人认为该法案和其他法案主要是针对Noem的国家野心。
“你有一个试图让她出名的州长，可悲的是，这就是很多这些法案的内容——它们被用于选举材料，而不是影响任何真正的政策变化，”民主党州参议员特洛伊·海纳特说。"在我看来，我们正试图超越疯狂的德克萨斯和佛罗里达."
当特朗普的一些共和党同事做了她不喜欢的事情时，诺姆在推特上采纳了他们的一些夸夸其谈、骂人的话。但这种方式在政府小镇皮埃尔有时会适得其反，在这里，立法者以礼仪为荣，在辩论中经常互称“朋友”或“好代表”。
她抱怨说，去年两位共和党议员提出禁止疫苗授权时，表现得像“披着羊皮的狼”。随着本周与共和党同僚关于州预算的谈判破裂，她在YouTube上指责他们与州司法部长举行闭门预算简报会是“腐败”。
“不管我说什么，我都完蛋了，”诺姆谈到她与戈什的关系特别紧张，戈什指责她在一起致命的交通事故中干预了对总检察长的弹劾调查。“这可能是我经历过的最大的挣扎之一，因为我知道他在找理由把一切都归咎于我。”
“很多桥梁都被烧毁了，”北方州立大学政治学教授乔恩·沙夫说。"共和党中还有一部分人不同意克里斯蒂·诺姆的观点。"
即使是曾经是州长盟友的立法者也表示，在敢于违抗她之后，他们经常被排除在外。
共和党众议员朗达·米尔斯特德(Rhonda Milstead)说，“崩溃只是没有与人们保持联系，没有沟通。”米尔斯特德被诺厄姆任命为立法机构成员，但在诺厄姆有效地扼杀了跨性别运动员法案后，他成为了直言不讳的批评者。
如果诺姆追求更高的职位，家里的戏剧可能无关紧要。十年前，明尼苏达州的美国众议员米歇尔·巴赫曼(Michele Bachmann)因支持极右翼社会问题而不是立法而闻名，她在2012年共和党总统竞选中凭借自己的极化形象引起了早期的轰动，后来逐渐消失。
现在，诺姆说她专注于今年晚些时候赢得连任。她在2018年赢得了她的第一个任期，仅比民主党州议员比利·萨顿(Billie Sutton)高出3分，后者有一个令人信服的个人故事，作为一名前职业竞技牛仔，他克服了瘫痪，在政治上开创了第二个职业生涯。
今年的比赛可能会大不相同。诺姆已经筹集了创纪录的1180万美元，在红州被称为在疫情期间保持企业营业的州长。
她的一些支持者已经把目光投向了11月以后——以及南达科他州以外。
亲特朗普的美国第一政策研究所(America First Policy Institute)联合主席肯·布莱克威尔(Ken Blackwell)说，“会有很多人举起她的旗帜，无论是作为特朗普总统的竞选伙伴(如果他决定参与)，还是作为共和党提名的真正竞争者。”。
How Noem's struggles at home may enhance White House chances
PIERRE, S.D. -- South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem'selection-year fight with fellow Republicans in the Legislature has spurred criticism she is neglecting her job to angle for the White House, but the resistance could actually be helping her national brand rather than tarnishing it.
The first-term governor in recent weeks jetted to Florida to speak at a major gathering of conservative activists, announced on Fox News the release of an autobiography and blasted President Joe Biden's energy policy as Russia invaded Ukraine.
Back home, the politician trying to corner the label as the nation's most conservative governor has faced considerable defiance from members of her own party. They have derailed key parts of her agenda on issues including abortion, school prayer, COVID-19 vaccine exemptions and how racism is taught in schools.
Republican pollster Brent Buchanan says that inDonald Trump's GOP, such intraparty squabbles aren't a liability and may even be an asset for a politician trying to curry favor with the former president and the voters who support him.
“It helps her if they don’t pass (her agenda) more so than if they did,” Buchanan said. “Trump has primed Republican leaders to think about the unfaithful within their own ranks."
In a recent Statehouse setback for Noem, Republicans rejected her plan to keep K-12 classrooms free of "critical race theory” — an academic concept that has morphed into a political rallying cry on the right. They later passed a bill applying to universities, but not before reining in its scope.
Noem began this session by laying out an agenda that amounted to a wish list for social conservatives. But she has had to navigate a Legislature divided between conservatives pushing the state to take hard-line stands on social issues and a GOP establishment more likely to focus on bread and butter issues. Lawmakers rejected roughly half the proposals the governor highlighted in her State of the State speech at the start of the session.
Noem has long displayed a willingness to spar with the Legislature, but acrimony boiled over this winter. Republican House Speaker Spencer Gosch accused the governor of chasing headlines and TV appearances rather than doing the foundational work to build legislative support for her proposals at home.
Noem has shown a knack for the political theatrics invaluable in Trump's Republican Party and last month won the former president's endorsement for her reelection campaign. Her social media feeds are filled with images of her riding a motorcycle at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, on horseback carrying an American flag, showing off a flamethrower and hunting pheasants.
But her move onto the list of Republican White House aspirants suffered a major stumble last year when she backed away from a pledge to sign a bill that would have banned transgender girls and college-age women from competing in school sports that match their gender identity.
In an effort to placate angry conservatives, Noem pushed a transgender athlete ban through the Legislature this year, promoting her proposal with a barrage of TV ads on Fox News that claimed she “never backed down” on the issue.
With that element of the national party, at least, it appears to have worked.
“I do think this has really repaired her image," said Terry Schilling, president of the conservative American Principles Project. “It’s definitely made me much more supportive of her to see her sign this.”
But some people in both parties see that bill, and others, as aimed largely at Noem's national ambitions.
“You have a governor who is trying to get her name out and sadly that’s what a lot of these bills are — it’s to be used for election material, not to affect any real policy change,” said Democratic state Sen. Troy Heinert. “It looks to me like we’re trying to out-crazy Texas and Florida.”
Noem has adopted some of Trump’s bombast, name-calling fellow Republicans on Twitter when they do something she doesn't like. But it's an approach that has backfired at times in the small government town of Pierre, where lawmakers pride themselves on decorum and often refer to one another as “friend” or “good representative” during debates.
She griped that two Republican lawmakers were acting like “wolves in sheep's clothing” when they floated a ban on vaccine mandates last year. As talks with fellow Republicans over the state budget broke down this week, she took to YouTube to accuse them of “corruption” for holding a closed-door budget briefing with the state's attorney general.
“I'm screwed either way, no matter what I say,” Noem said of her particularly tense relationship with Gosch, who has accused her of meddling in an impeachment investigation of the attorney general in a fatal traffic crash. “It’s probably been one of the biggest struggles I’ve had just because I know he’s looking for a reason to blame me for everything.”
“A lot of bridges have been burned,” said Jon Schaff, a political science professor at Northern State University. "There is a rump portion of the Republican Party that is just not on board with Kristi Noem.”
Even lawmakers who were once allies of the governor said they have often been left on the outside after daring to defy her.
The “breakdown is just not staying in touch with people, it’s not communicating," said Republican Rep. Rhonda Milstead, who was appointed to the Legislature by Noem but became an outspoken critic after Noem effectively killed the trans athlete bill.
The drama at home may not matter if Noem pursues higher office. A decade ago, Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann — known more for championing far-right social issues than for lawmaking — rode her polarizing image to an early splash in the GOP race for president in 2012 before fizzling out.
For now, Noem says she's focused on winning reelection later this year. She won her first term in 2018 by just 3 points over a Democratic state lawmaker, Billie Sutton, who had a compelling personal story as a former professional rodeo cowboy who had overcome paralysis to forge a second career in politics.
The race is likely to be far different this year. Noem has raised a record $11.8 million and is known in the red state as the governor who kept businesses open during the pandemic.
Some of her backers are already looking beyond November — and beyond South Dakota.
“There will be plenty of people raising her flag, whether it is to be President Trump’s running mate, should he decide to engage, or as a bona fide contender for the Republican nomination herself," said Ken Blackwell, co-chairman of the pro-Trump America First Policy Institute.
