South Dakota Gov. Noem blasts Fauci, contrasts her COVID measures with Cuomo

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Noem rails against Fauci, Cuomo in COVID-centric CPAC speech

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem says she's been vindicated from critics

ORLANDO, Fla. – South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican who notably never shut down her state's economy or aspects of her citizens' social lives, ripped New York Gov. Cuomo as an ironic media darling and Dr. Anthony Fauci as being chronically proven wrong in his prescriptions and predictions -- during Saturday's final speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Noem recalled being routinely lambasted by the press and some Democrats as "ill-informed, reckless and even a 'denier'.

"Some even claimed that South Dakota is 'as bad as it gets anywhere in the world' when it comes to COVID-19—that is a lie," she said.

"The media did all of this while simultaneously praising governors who issued lockdowns, mandated masks, and shut down businesses—applauding them as having taken the "'right' steps to mitigate the spread of the virus."

Noem then recalled a November 2020 appearance on ABC News' "This Week", where host George Stephanopoulos asked preceding guest Cuomo to offer advice for Noem, who had taken the reverse tact on lockdowns than governors like the New York Democrat and others who have enacted strict enforcement mechanisms.

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"[Stephanopoulos] asked Cuomo to give me advice on how to deal with COVID.  Now seems like a good time to remind everyone of what Governor Cuomo was doing in New York," she remarked, summarily diving into the specifics of the nursing home scandal now swirling in Albany.

She noted how in March, New York State ordered COVID patients into nursing homes before pushing legislation prohibiting nursing home lawsuits over COVID deaths.

"Six days after that, he prohibited nursing homes from sending COVID patients to the nearby Naval hospital ship or the field hospital -- Both of which were essentially empty."

President Trump had ordered the "Comfort" into Upper New York Harbor and Rev. Franklin Graham set up a field hospital in Central Park in order to help Cuomo and New York's burgeoning crisis at the time.

"Eight days after that, the first deaths began to show up," Noem said.

Going on to slam Fauci, who served on both Trump's and President Joe Biden's coronavirus task force, and currently leads the latters' efforts, Noem said the NIH physician routinely offered flawed guidance and predictions.

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"In South Dakota, I provided all of the information that we had to our people, and then I trusted to make the best decisions for themselves [on how to prevent the spread of the virus] for their families and in turn their communities," she said.

"We never focused on the case numbers. Instead, we kept our eye on hospital capacity. Now, Dr. Fauci, he told me that on my worst day I'd have ten thousand patients in the hospital on our worst day, we had a little over six hundred."

"I don't I don't if you agree with me, but Dr. Fauci is wrong a lot."

Seen as a rising star in the Trump era GOP, Noem remarked during her address that though disappointed with the 2020 election outcome, she recognizes the GOP has been through worse losses and bounced back.

She pointed to the 1964 presidential election, where conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., suffered a landslide loss to incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson -- who earned 486 electoral votes.

Goldwater came out of that race winning only his home state and most of the Deep South excluding Florida.

She said the conservative movement, which many see as having been first headlined by Goldwater, later saw "incredible innovation" following the 1964 landslide loss.

"It took the creation of many institutions, including the American Conservative Union, the National Right to Life, the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, Concerned Women for America, the Federalist Society, Family Research Council, and among others, took many to change hearts and to change minds," she said.

"It is institutions like these that helped bring about the Reagan Revolution and bring American exceptionalism back. Their work is more important today than ever before."