Kristi Noem, potential 2024 contender, says Biden’s leadership style has emboldened Putin

Addressing a crowd at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California — where she was asked to outline a vision for the future of the Republican Party as part of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute’s Time for Choosing Speaker Series — Noem issued a point-by-point critique of Biden’s foreign and domestic policy agenda. She warned that Democrats “are about control” as they veer toward “socialist policies” and argued that the GOP must reaffirm its image as the party of freedom.

As she condemned Putin’s ruthless invasion of Ukraine, Noem said the world is “watching daily assaults on democracy, and they are a reminder to us all of President Reagan’s famous words: ‘Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.'”

She argued that Biden’s energy policies — including his decision to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline — have further weakened America’s standing in the world by making the US even more dependent on rogue nations for oil and gas.

In her speech Wednesday, she called Putin “an evil man, who like other dictators throughout history despises freedom and he hates those who seek it.” She praised Zelensky, stating he has “demonstrated his bravery to the world by his willingness to speak truth and fight for freedom for the Ukrainian people.”

She has often couched that approach as an effort to preserve the rights and freedoms of her constituents — noting on Wednesday, “We didn’t mandate anything.” She charged in her speech that other public officials “grabbed unconstitutional power over American families, workers, and students when a global pandemic gave them an excuse to do so.”

“Look from state to state and compare the difference between Republican and Democrat leaders. In Democrat states, families are devasted financially from mandates and closures,” Noem said. “Having lost precious time in the classroom, kids have fallen behind; economies have been crippled by regulations and restrictions.”

She signed a bill in mid-March that would require pregnant women to make at least three trips to a clinic to procure abortion medication, though the requirement won’t take effect until a pending federal court case is resolved.

On Wednesday night, she called it “the strongest bill in the nation to protect girls sports,” saying, “It is about fairness — about giving young women an opportunity to succeed.”

Critical race theory is generally not included in grade school curriculum, but last month Noem signed a bill barring the state’s public universities from requiring students or faculty members to adopt or adhere to what the legislation defined as seven “divisive concepts.”

Though critics of the recent legislation back home have argued that it would limit free speech and the ability to teach a wide array of theories, Noem said Wednesday that it was the left that “wants to criminalize dissent when someone raises legitimate questions” about teachings like critical race theory.”