Photo Illustration by Luis G .Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty
On Friday, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem provided the umpteenth example of how dark and strange today’s Republican politicians have gotten, when she told the crowd at an NRA event about how her granddaughter (who is under the age of two) already has two guns.
“Little Miss Addie, who is almost two, and Branch who’s just a few months old, they have brought us so much joy. They’ve brought us purpose,” Noem said, adding: “Now Addie, who you know—soon will need them, I wanna reassure you, she already has a shotgun, and she already has a rifle and she’s got a little pony named Sparkles too,” Noem continued. “So the girl is set up.”
When she says the child “has” guns, it’s not clear to me what that means. One supposes (hopes!) this simply means that her parents have earmarked guns for when she is an appropriate age (i.e., when she “needs them”), the way some sports nut dad might buy a baseball glove for his newborn. Regardless, because we have been left to figure this out for ourselves, let’s call this what it is: bizarre. It’s weird. It’s…crazy.