President Trump called on South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on Friday to challenge the state’s current Republican Senator John Thune for his seat in Congress in 2022.
Trump supported Noem’s Senate candidacy while referring to Thune as a “RINO” or “Republican in name only”. Thune drew Trump’s ire recently after he criticized the president’s proposal to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.
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“I look forward to seeing the great governor of South Dakota, @KristiNoem, compete against RINO @SenJohnThune, in the next Primary of 2022,” wrote Trump on Twitter. “She would do a fantastic job in the US Senate, but if it’s not Kristi, others are already lining up. South Dakota wants strong leadership NOW!”
Noem has been a staunch ally of Trump’s since taking office in 2019. The president has clashed with Thune several times.
In a tweet last month, Trump referred to Thune as “Mitch’s boy” in a reference to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and warned that Thune would be “first in 2022, political career over.”
The president stepped up his attacks on Thune after the senator said that any attempt by Trump or his allies to challenge the Electoral College vote “would fall like a dog’s shot.” Congress is expected to review the results on January 6 in a final step, before President-elect Joe Bide becomes president later this month.
In December, Noem said he had no plans to challenge Thune in 2022.
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“@Johnthune is a friend of mine and I will not challenge him,” she wrote on Twitter. “I am honored to be governor of South Dakota and will ask the people to give me the opportunity to continue serving as governor in 2022.”
As for Thune, he apparently took the attack calmly, saying to a group of Capitol reporters on Friday, “Why did he take so long?”, He asked with a laugh, “Is it okay. That’s how he felt. communicates “.
When asked if he would try to fix things with the president, Thune said, “No, I’m not sure what I did to deserve all of this, but that’s okay. I’m not sure if anything changes his mind once he invents it.”