Dem
51
GOP
49
Campaigning for president is straightforward, if not always easy. You raise money, buy TV ads, and hold rallies. Campaigning for the #2 slot is different because there is only one voter, the #1. Elise Stefanik, who has a doctorate in Opportunism, tried it last November by filing an ethics complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron, and this before he hit Donald Trump with a fine of $355 million plus interest. Then, earlier this month, she stated that had she been vice president on Jan. 6, 2021, she wouldn't have certified all the electoral votes. Three days later, she filed an ethics complaint against NY AG Letitia James because James is not nice to Donald Trump. Stefanik's a regular black belt in sucking up.
Meanwhile, back in South Dakota, Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) is nervous about Stefanik upstaging her. So, in desperation, she needed to do something. She figured that filing an ethics complaint is something weaklings do and Trump hates weaklings. Thus, she is proposing to do something tough. Trump respects tough. She is planning to send the South Dakota National Guard to the Mexican border to protect South Dakota from an invasion. After all, the nearest point in South Dakota to the Mexican border is only 900 miles, and an immigrant would merely have to get through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska before hitting her state. It is a clear and present danger, so she issued a press release noting her availability as veep... oh no, sorry, noting that she plans to deploy SD National Guard troops to the border in late spring. Observe that she is not doing anything now (because that would probably get her into trouble, as states have no authority to police the border, not even border states), but merely announcing her plans. Her goal is to get Trump's attention as a sidekick who is prepared to attack Joe Biden on the border. Take that, Elise!
Noem is very unlikely to actually send the Guard. In an address to the state legislature last month, she said that the last time she tried this stunt, she was "hampered by federal restrictions." In other words, she knows it is illegal for states to try to play border patrol cops. That is why she is merely "planning" to do it this time, not really sending them. She knows very well that when Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) actually tried to do something to stop migrants, he got sued in federal court and lost the first round in the Supreme Court. But remember, Trump doesn't care about results. He cares about people showing loyalty to him and his plans, and on that basis, Noem will score some points with him. (V)