There was a lot of mockery of Kristi Noem for not knowing what "habeas corpus" means. But I was struck by how little she seemed to give a shit.
That's because Noem is part of a tradition that really emerged with Sarah Palin: The proud MAGA bimbo.
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/23/kristi-noems-proud-maga-bimbo-act-builds-on-the-legacy-of-sarah-palin/
That's because Noem is part of a tradition that really emerged with Sarah Palin: The proud MAGA bimbo.
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/23/kristi-noems-proud-maga-bimbo-act-builds-on-the-legacy-of-sarah-palin/
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"Playing a role" is the right description. They serve a (dumb white male) audience, and only care about attention and status.
Palin was tossed away when her looks faded. Just sayin'
Though Margret Thatcher, however celebrated in American right-wing circles, would never have risen to public power in the US.
She’s the one who mocked the question.
When is our media going to get that?
“Historically, animal cruelty has been considered an isolated issue, but recent research shows a well-documented link that it is a predictive or co-occurring crime with violence against humans”
https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/the-link-between-animal-cruelty-and-human-violence
Dumb is one thing
Cruel is quite another.
It was clearly a trick. That he wasn't all that naturally bright helped him, but he played it up.
Noams smug arrogance in her shield of stupidity is despicable.
Connecting it to TV "mean girl" or just "mean human" behavior really brings it home.
Its not just Noam.. it's pervasive.
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/trump-jr-dodged-charges-because-he-was-too-dumb-to-prosecute/
I think she's made herself over to look like Melania Trump, and it's been quite effective.
All her shit was monopolised towards the orange one.
Can a US version of the "little red book" be far behind?
But reading is passe with MAGAs. They bear more resemblance to the peasants used by Mao to achieve power.
The limits of historical analogy; MAGA is not all that much like the CPC.
We here in the US are annihilating truth much as China did in the 60s with women willing to promote whatever truth dear Leader is spewing in the forefront.
This is not to compare Noem to Jiang Qing.
It just seems oblique. At first glance.
Interpretive energy is scarce on all social media.
But not tough.. quite weak. Cowardly.
Protective. Distracting.
To me that stuff is hideous. Negative appeal.
it reflects what he thinks of women/what he values
most of these guys have no female friends
arrested development
So why play dumb? The history of Palin (who is truly dumb) and reality TV shows inform this analysis.
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/23/kristi-noems-proud-maga-bimbo-act-builds-on-the-legacy-of-sarah-palin/
But they want to call a woman dumb.
"She's contemptuous of people who actually know what they're talking about, especially if those facts-laden human beings are fellow women."
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/23/kristi-noems-proud-maga-bimbo-act-builds-on-the-legacy-of-sarah-palin/
"Especially if said man is himself dumber than a box of rocks."
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/23/kristi-noems-proud-maga-bimbo-act-builds-on-the-legacy-of-sarah-palin/
"The innovation of the MAGA movement, however, is to make the bimbo a nasty figure, as cruel as she is dumb."
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/23/kristi-noems-proud-maga-bimbo-act-builds-on-the-legacy-of-sarah-palin/
It feels like the origin story of just being brazenly wrong.
"It works like a shield, deflecting serious questions about her sociopathic behavior into a discussion about her IQ."
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/23/kristi-noems-proud-maga-bimbo-act-builds-on-the-legacy-of-sarah-palin/