#Gov. Kristi Noem likens Trump’s challenges to Lincoln’s at RNC

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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem
2020 Republican National Convention/Handout via REUTERS

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Wednesday likened President Trump’s challenges managing racial unrest in the US to clashes over slavery before the Civil War in urging voters to re-elect Trump.

“The choice for Americans is between a man who values these ideals and all that can be built because of them and a man who isn’t guided by these ideals and coincidentally, has built nothing,” she said on the third night of a mostly virtual Republican National Convention, bashing Democrat Joe Biden.

Noem, 48, invoked an 1838 speech by Abraham Lincoln, saying Trump faces similar challenges during national unrest following the Minnesota police killing in May of George Floyd.

“At times, our country has struggled to live up to our founding principles. Another great American, Abraham Lincoln, knew that struggle better than anybody,” Noem said.

“When he was just 28 years old, Honest Abe saw wild and furious passions, ‘worse than savage mobs,’ he said, taking the place of reasoned judgment. He was alarmed by the increasing disregard for the rule of law throughout the country.”

Noem said that Lincoln, witnessing the struggle over slavery, was concerned about people who had “their property destroyed, their families attacked, and their lives threatened or even taken away. These good people were becoming tired of, and disgusted with, a government that offered them no protection.”

“Sound familiar?” she added.

“It took 244 years to build this great nation — flaws and all — but we stand to lose it in a tiny fraction of that time if we continue down the path taken by the Democrats and their radical supporters,” said Noem.

“From Seattle and Portland to Washington and New York, Democrat-run cities across this country are being overrun by violent mobs. The violence is rampant. There’s looting, chaos, destruction and murder. People that can afford to flee have fled. But the people that can’t — good, hard-working Americans — are left to fend for themselves.”

Noem said “the Republican Party’s commitment to individual rights and self-government is as necessary today as it was in 1860 when we won our first presidential election.”

The South Dakota Republican previously likened Trump to another ex-president, Teddy Roosevelt, during a speech as she hosted him for a July 3 fireworks display at Mount Rushmore.

Noem reportedly presented Trump with a four-foot replica of Mount Rushmore with Trump’s face added to the mountainside, fueling suspicion that she was angling to knock Vice President Mike Pence off the 2020 Republican ticket. She reportedly visited DC recently to assure Pence that she wasn’t angling for his job.