Prior to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s event in support of President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday night in Sioux City we talked with some of the attendees. Here is what they had to say:
David, from Sioux City, caucused for Trump in 2016, likes Gov. Kristi Noem and appreciates her support of Trump. He said he knew Wednesday night’s event would be a good one because there were a lot of other conservative people in attendance.
He’s moved by three major issues — immigration, the economy and America’s presence on the world stage.
“I had no problem with him last time,” David said. “His tweets didn’t bother me. The policies were what impressed me. I can take the tweets and blow them off. I’m looking for more of the same. I think the people want that.”
He said former Trump voters who are reluctant need to wake up to the reality of the Biden Administration.
“Look at what’s happened in the last three years,” he said. “Trump left office in January of 2021 and we had a secure border, we had energy independence, we were looked at favorably on the world stage — all that stuff has disappeared. We’ve got 10,000 people coming across our border every day. Our economy is terrible — the grocery store tells you that. Nothing is good. That’s what I would tell them. You want four more years of what we’re going through right now? We won’t have a country, especially with all these immigrants. Where are they all going to go? We can’t feed them all. We can’t educate them all. We can’t give them all shelter. You need a secure border or you don’t have a sovereign nation.”
Nate, who is from Colorado and attends the University of South Dakota, is voting in his second presidential election. He said he likes Trump and Noem’s positions on the issues. He too has concerns with immigration and the economy.
However, the adoration for Trump isn’t popular among his peers, he said.
“In my close circle, yes they like Trump. Out of my circle, they’re softer,” he said. “They’ve never had to work for anything in their life yet.”
Abby, who is also a college student, is from Minnesota but attends school in Wisconsin. She said immigration and the economy are big issues, as is the abortion issue.
“I’d say we’re more pro-life than a lot of other people, so that excites me about this event,” Abby said. “I think a lot of people around my age, especially a lot of the students in Wisconsin, they’re more pro-choice but I think that’s a lot of their brains not being developed yet just kind of soaking in everything they hear from the media, which is bashing Trump and saying it’s good to be pro-choice.”
Why is she pro-life?
“Just the way I was brought up,” she said.
Don and Carole attended the event from Corning, Iowa. Both have participated in the last handful of presidential cycles.
Don called Trump the “only man who will be able to straighten this mess out.”
“The border and the accountability, there are a bunch of them that need to be in jail,” he said of elected representatives. “Elected people need to be in jail. They’ve taken advantage of their position. Our foreign policy — I mean, Trump had the Chinese right where he wanted them and then they let them go. These open borders are killing us. And the other thing is, I think he’s the only one that’s going to be able to have a mass deportation. I don’t think the rest of them have got guts enough to do it.”
Don said he’s seen some of the other candidates, but he doesn’t think they’re ready for the White House.
“I don’t think DeSantis is ready,” he said. “He’s never been President so he doesn’t even know what he can do because he doesn’t know what he’s stepping into. Trump knows what he’s stepping into because he’s been there. That’s why I support him because I think that he’s going to go in there, and from day one he’s going to know what he wants to do, when he wants to do it and how he wants to do it. I think over the last four years he has found out who he can trust and who he can’t trust.”
Carole said she is “frightened” about what is happening at the border.
“It just scares the hell out of me to think that these people are coming across and you don’t know what they’re even here for,” she said. “I just think they’re here for big trouble and to cause a war or something. There’s something going on. I just don’t know what it is. yet.”
As for Republicans who aren’t as excited about Trump in 2024 as they might have been in 2016 or 2020, Carole said Trump learned a lot in his first four years and she believes he can straighten things out.
“It blows me away, all of these charges and stuff they have against him,” she said. “I don’t necessarily believe them to be true. I think a lot of them are made up and there are people behind (the charges) that, you know, it’s like, why are they doing this? There’s got to be something bigger than that.”
Carole said there is a reason those people don’t want Trump back in the White House, but she isn’t sure why.
“I’d love to find out,” she said.
Don added the indoctrination happening in schools has to stop as well.
“We’ve got grandkids that just don’t want to listen to it,” he said. “They don’t want to participate to start with. They’ve got their views, and it’s way off in outer space. But they’re not going to vote.”
“Which is a good thing,” Carole quipped.
Carole said they have one grandson who is now in private school due to what was happening in public schools.
“He is 1,000 times happier than he was and he was only in kindergarten,” she said.
Carole is scared that other states will keep Trump off the ballot. Don said he doesn’t expect Republicans to fight those efforts and isn’t sure what will happen in those situations. He doesn’t believe writing Trump in on ballots in that state will work.
“You know, I don’t know what the course will be,” he said. “I could tell you this, I’ve been a Republican all my life. I’ve never voted for a Democrat for anything, but I don’t think the Republicans got guts enough to do anything about it either. They’re just going to let them get away with it. And until they start throwing them in jail and making them accountable for the laws that they pass and the shenanigans they pull, they’re just going to keep right on doing it.”
Diane, who lives in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota, was excited to hear from her governor and show support for Trump.
“The biggest thing is the border wall,” she said. “I don’t want illegal immigrants taking over jobs that our middle class could do.”
She’s also worried about safety, noting illegal immigrants are “coming from all over.”
A registered Independent, Diane said she changed registration because of Bush.
“I believe he was in the Deep State,” she said. “Trump doesn’t alienate Independents. He is for the people, by the people. whatever the people want, I think that’s what he does. I mean, what he said he was going to do, that’s what he did. And the election was stolen last time. It was proven. They won’t report it, but it was stolen. So, there’s that. This is why so many people are turning out in droves all over the country. They’re not going to allow this to happen.”
But she added she doesn’t have trust in the upcoming election. Diane said she is sure people are working on it behind the scenes, however.
While representatives in D.C. are “all about” who is paying them, Diane said the bottom line with Trump is “he listens to the people.”
“That’s why you see all these blue-collar workers coming together for Trump,” she said. “I grew up with not a lot of money and we worked hard and, yeah, I’m very passionate about Trump. I love him.”
She predicted the “Deep State” will do everything it can to get Trump out of office. And if states keep Trump off the ballot, she predicted a “revolutionary war.”
“Here’s the thing, the Independents and the conservatives carry guns,” she said. “Right? So what do you think is going to happen? You tell me.”
January 6 was a “bs joke,” Diane said. Authorities ushered people into the Capitol and then called it an insurrection.
“It’s a joke. A total joke,” she said.
