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South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem proudly displayed the new flamethrower her staff gave her for Christmas as she demonstrated its effectiveness by setting a stack of cardboard boxes on fire while enjoying 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 pile of boxes burned. until it becomes a potato chip.
In one of the videos, she is seen posing next to her husband, Byron Noem, while holding the handheld 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 took office in January 2019, and has been seen as a rising star and a possible future presidential candidate.
The Republican official was endorsed by then-President Donald Trump when she ran for office in 2018.
Noem was dressed in an army fatigue ensemble (pants with matching jacket) with hat as she was outside on her property on Christmas Day enjoying her new Christmas toy.
He proves his effectiveness when he sets a stack of cardboard boxes on fire and enthusiastically says, “Perfect.”
Noem grew up 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, his father died in a farm machinery accident. The devastated Noem said The Washington Examiner that she found a tape recorder in his truck that gave him the answers he needed, and at the age of 22 he took over the operation of the family business.
A few months after his father’s passing, he worked up the courage to clean out his truck.
‘If you have a farmer or rancher in your life, you know that they often make a living out of their trucks. Everything important can be found in the taxi,” Noem said in a March 2021 tweet when he spoke about the tragedy.
The discovery of the first tape spawned nearly a dozen.
“My eyes began to fill with tears,” she wrote. ‘One by one, I put them on the recorder and listened to Dad talk about crop decisions, soil types, cows, weather, markets and what to do if we ever find ourselves in a difficult financial situation.’
Noem, who described her father as ‘the hardest worker I ever knew’, said hearing his voice on the tapes ‘changed everything’ and was the reason she ran for office.
“He led by example, by action,” he wrote, in part. “I made the decision that day to be like my dad: a person of word and action, because both things matter.”
‘I am committed to always serving the people of this great state with words and deeds. I’ll do what I say, and I’ll always tell you what I’m doing.’
He eventually added a the hunting lodge and restaurant to family ownership, and his brothers returned to help expand the business.
A 1990 graduate of Hamlin High School, she was named the Snow Queen of South Dakota. From 1990 to 1994, she attended Northern State University, but dropped out to help run the family farm after her father died.
He 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 re-elected.
He served for four years, from 2007 to 2010, and was Assistant Majority Leader during his second term.
During her tenure, Noem was the primary 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 Agricultural Land Assessment Advisory Task Force. Senator Larry Rhoden chaired the task force and later served as its lieutenant governor.
In 2012, he completed his political science degree at SDSU while serving in Congress.
Governor Kristi Noem pictured with her husband Byron Noem and their new flamethrower
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem delivers her Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Address Tuesday, December 6, 2022 at the State Capitol House in Pierre, SD
Kristi Noem tweeted on June 29, 2022: ‘In South Dakota, we never back down from a challenge and refuse to let fear steal our freedom. So saddle up because here, freedom runs FREE.’ The tweet got more than 68K views.
In June, Noem published the book ‘Not My First Rodeo: Lessons Learned from the Heart’.
In the book, she writes about growing up on a farm in rural America, her days in Congress and leadership during a global pandemic, and the influence her father had on her. She wrote a comment that her father often told her: ‘We don’t complain about things, Kristi. We fix them.
Flamethrowers come in all shapes and sizes with prices from $50 to thousands.