Trump’s potential vice president criticizes Republicans who ran against him

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem staked her claim as one of Donald Trump’s potential running mates by riling conservatives and attacking Republicans who ran against the former president at the CPAC conference on Friday.

Noem directly mocked President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, questioned their leadership of the country and touted her own conservative credentials as she thrilled the Washington crowd.

“I’m just going to say it. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris? They suck,” she said, prompting wild applause from the activists in the room. She also indicated that Biden might not even make it to the November election and stormed into the White House for failing to address the border.

“We have to face the facts: Joe Biden is not going to run for president and Kamala is not a backup plan,” she said. Noem praised Trump for his leadership and reminded the audience that she was one of the first politicians to step aside to support Trump in 2024 — even as people suggested she run her own campaign.

“I said no, why would you run for president if you can’t win,” she said. ‘I didn’t say it to be nice. I said it because it was a fact.” She pointedly called out conservatives who ran against Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination, pointing out that they only served as a distraction from the ultimate goal of victory in November.

“It doesn’t strengthen our country and Conservatives aren’t united enough to recognize that we have to win,” she said. ‘We need a fight. We need someone who doesn’t give up, who never gave up on us, so don’t give up on him.’ That separates her from other potential running mates, such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Vivek Ramaswamy who ran for president in the Republican primaries.

Noem celebrated that the Republican Party had come from “the Romneys and the Cheneys” and had only grown thanks to the support of a broad coalition of Americans. She pointedly singled out Republican leaders in Washington, DC, as ineffective. “No one is turning to DC for the solutions, nothing meaningful is being accomplished,” she said. “It’s the governors who have had to lead,” she said.

Noem touted her own record on supporting school choice, low taxes and gun rights, issues of interest to the conservative crowd. She also reminded the crowd that she was one of the first conservative Republican governors to send her state’s National Guard to help secure the southern border. “I offered to bring barbed wire there so Texas would know South Dakota has their back,” she said.

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