South Dakota governor Kristi Noem proudly showed off the new flamethrower her staff gifted her for Christmas as she demonstrated its effectiveness by setting ablaze a pile of cardboard boxes as she enjoyed her new holiday toy.
Noem was dressed for the elements in an army-fatigue ensemble – pants with matching jacket – and hat as she stood outside on what appeared to be her property on a snowy Christmas day saying ‘Perfect’ as the heap of boxes burned to a crisp.
In one of the video clips she is seen posing next to her husband, Byron Noem, as she is holding the hand-held device.
The 51-year-old married mother of three is the 33rd Governor of South Dakota. She is the state’s first female governor since she assumed the role in January 2019, and has been seen as a rising star and a potential future presidential candidate.
The Republican official was endorsed by then-president Donald Trump when she was running for office in 2018
Noem was dressed in an army-fatigue ensemble – pants with matching jacket – with hat as she stood outside on her property on Christmas day enjoying her new holiday toy
She demonstrates its effectiveness as she sets ablaze a pile of cardboard boxes and says enthusiastically, ‘Perfect’
Noem was raised with her siblings in Watertown, South Dakota on the family ranch and farm in Hamlin County, a population of approximately 6,614 as of the 2020 census.
In 1994, her father was killed in a farm machinery accident. The devastated Noem told The Washington Examiner that she found a tape recorder in his truck that gave her the answers she needed and at age 22 took over the operation of the family business.
A few months after her dad’s passing, she summoned the courage to clean out his pickup truck.
‘If you have a farmer or rancher in your life, you know that they often live out of their pickups. Everything important can be found in the cab,’ Noem said in a March 2021 tweet when she spoke about the tragedy.
The discovery of the first tape led to nearly a dozen.
‘My eyes started to fill up with tears,’ she wrote. ‘One by one, I put them in the tape recorder and listened to dad talk about crop decisions, soil types, cows, weather, markets, and what to do if we were ever in a tough financial situation.’
Noem who described her father as ‘the hardest worker I knew,’ said that listening to his voice on the tapes ‘changed everything,’ and was the reason that prompted her to run for office.
‘He led by example, by action,’ she wrote, in part. ‘I made a decision that day to be like my dad: a person of words and of action, because both matter.’
‘I am committed to always serving the people of this great state with both words and action. I will do what I say, and I will always tell you what I’m doing.’
She eventually added a hunting lodge and restaurant to the family property, and her siblings moved back to help expand the businesses.
A graduate of Hamlin High School in 1990 she was named the South Dakota Snow Queen. From 1990 to 1994, she attended Northern State University but, had left college to help to run the family farm after her father’s death.
She took classes at the Watertown campus of Mount Marty College and at South Dakota State University. She also took online classes from the University of South Dakota.
In 2006, Noem won a seat as a Republican in the South Dakota House of Representatives, representing the 6th district and in 2008, she was reelected.
She served for four years, from 2007 to 2010 and was an assistant majority leader during her second term.
During her tenure, Noem was the prime sponsor of eleven bills that became law, including several property tax reforms and two bills to increase gun rights in South Dakota.
In 2009, she served as vice chair of the Agriculture Land Assessment Advisory Task Force. Senator Larry Rhoden chaired the task force and later served as her lieutenant governor.
In 2012, she completed her degree in political science at SDSU while serving in Congress.
Governor Kristi Noem pictured with her husband Byron Noem and her new flamethrower
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem delivers her budget address for the fiscal year 2024 on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022, in the House Chambers at the State Capitol in Pierre, S.D.
Kristi Noem tweeted on June 29, 2022: ‘In South Dakota, we never back down from a challenge and we refuse to let fear steal our freedom. So saddle up because here, freedom runs FREE.’ The tweet garnered more than 68K views
In June, Noem published the book, ‘Not My First Rodeo: Lessons Learned From the Heartland.’
In the book, she writes about her childhood growing up on a farm in rural America, her days in Congress, and leading during a global pandemic, and the influence her dad had on her. She wrote a comment her dad would often say to her: ‘We don’t complain about things, Kristi. We fix them.’
Flamethrowers come in all shapes and sizes with prices starting at $50 well into the thousands.
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