Governor Pimps Out the National Guard to RNP Megadonor

[MM_Dandy]

In a remarkably transparent political maneuver, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is deploying up to 50 National Guardsmen to Texas in order to help alleviate the crisis on the Mexican border. But do not fear, financial conservatives, the deployment was privately funded! Tennessee millionaire and frequent contributor to the GOP, Willis Johnson, "donated" an undisclosed amount of money to have the guardsmen deployed.

Despite the dubious ethical nature and the very obvious and serious ramifications of such a transaction, the event was barely a blip on the local radar. Some national news outlets and social media users were upset for a few minutes, but that's about it. So, I guess it's totally fine if you'd like to crowdfund a sizeable amount of money to rent out South Dakota Guardsmen for whatever purpose you divine. Or, here's a thought: you could hire some other state's guardsmen to come to South Dakota to...I don't know, ensure the integrity of the next election, perhaps?

AP Article

[Мастер]

So I guess this would be a good time for North Dakota to invade.

Or maybe even Nebraska.

[Lianachan]

I’d like to think that this sort of thing is illegal, but I guess not. Mind you, things being illegal doesn’t seem obstructive if you’re rich enough.

[Richard A]

It is remarkably concerning. To hire out the state's National Guard as, essentially, mercenaries should be beyond the pale. The RNP will argue that it was simply supporting US law enforcement, within the US's borders, but still. One would hope the Federal Government would say something about this, but it sounds like they haven't, at least not yet.

[Arneb]

I read that, as a weird anomaly even for the thicket of U.S. State laws, it is legal in SD to have government actions privately funded. And, never ashamed to prove nothing is ever beyond the pale, the Govermor didn't let the opportunity pass.

[Мастер]

Mind you, things being illegal doesn’t seem obstructive if you’re rich enough.

Quite possibly, but I find people don't get rich by throwing money around on incredibly foolish things.

Without looking up this particular individual, my two guesses are (1) he is planning to run for office, or (2) he is expecting some quid pro quo from someone involved.

Am I right?

[Enzo]

The governor is a she, and is often discussed as a potential presidential candidate.

[g-one]

Eff'n sellswords.
I guess the 'rise of the moors' were busy?

[Мастер]

The governor is a she, and is often discussed as a potential presidential candidate.

I meant the donor.

Why is the donor funding this?

[MM_Dandy]

As far as I know, the donor has no presidential ambitions, while Governor Noem does. His official reasoning is that he just wants to help out, but I have no idea what the real reason is. Maybe he wants to sit on Noem's cabinet or perhaps call in some other favor when she's president. Maybe he owns a hunting lodge and a few acres in South Dakota and wants his property taxes reduced or forgiven. Maybe he just wants to "own the libs" and figured Noem was the best way to get that done.

EDIT: To my knowledge, no one is even considering a law suit to test the legality. This whole thing is entirely above board. The group of fifty will be selected from among volunteers (of which there will sadly be no shortage), so there's not even a conscription issue. It massively stinks.

[MM_Dandy]

So I guess this would be a good time for North Dakota to invade.

Or maybe even Nebraska.

Of our six neighbors, I'd be least offended by Minnesota taking over. Ironically, there's a handful of counties in western and south-western Minnesota that want to defect to the Dakotas.

[Richard A]

I think the last of MM Dandy's theories is as plausible as the others. There are many conservatives who really, really believe that the Democrats are Marxists and liberals are at best naive idiots who have been duped into helping them seize power and at worst Marxists themselves. (I've seen social media posts that even described Joe Biden as a Marxist.) Not for the first time do I comment that for someone like me or Arneb, who have seen a Communist state close-up, calling even AOC, let alone Biden, a Marxist is bizarre, but they believe it. In many cases because they have been lured into believing whatever the right-wing propaganda machine spews out (those who marched to the US Capitol in protest at the election of Biden were good, decent, patriotic Americans, but those who then broke in and tried to hold up Congress were Antifa). So maybe, for this donor, it really was a mixture of "Biden isn't doing anything to finish the wall, so it's down to me to step up and do it" and "those of us who love our country need to take control of military units so that we can use them to remove the liberals". It may or may not be related that a social media meme circulated over the weekend, "You're celebrating today because regular citizens had military grade weapons."

But I think there's also another strand, that goes right to the heart of US conservative thinking: the government should do as little as possible and responsible citizens should do as much as possible (which is why they think that things like state-funded education and state-funded healthcare are Communist). So a private citizen paying for a military unit to be deployed to another part of the country fits with that.