Noem Calls Biden a Tyrant, Trump a Savior—For the Same Thing

Summary

Bulwark Takes — Noem Calls Biden a Tyrant, Trump a Savior—For the Same Thing

Host: Sam Stein | Date: August 31, 2025

---

Episode Overview

In this Labor Day weekend episode, Sam Stein dives into what he describes as the “ridiculous and hilarious” duality of Kristi Noem’s appearances on Sunday political shows. Stein dissects Noem’s dramatic and contradictory statements about the use of federal power—praising Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles, while decrying similar actions by President Biden as tyranny. The episode sharpens its focus on the rhetorical manipulation by politicians and the cynicism underlying law-and-order narratives.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Kristi Noem on Trump’s “Saving” of Los Angeles

• Context: Noem appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation, addressing Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to LA during recent immigration-related protests.

• Noem’s Claim: She asserted LA “would not have been left standing” if Trump hadn’t intervened.

• Sam Stein’s Take: Stein ridicules the absurdity of the claim, highlighting the reality that the protest was minor, covering just “a three or four block radius.”

  “If not for President Trump sending in the Guard, the entire city of Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the country, I think it’s like 500 square miles...It would not have been left standing.” (01:32)

  • Stein double-checked LA’s size: “503 square miles...All of it would have been gone.” (02:10) He dismisses the assertion as “bullshit,” attributing such exaggerations to the effort to “scare people who don’t step foot in these cities.”

2. Exaggeration for Political Effect

• Insight: Stein notes that politicians intentionally stoke fears by painting cities as “dystopian hell holes,” disconnected from reality for people who actually live there.

  “It’s because people who don’t step foot in these cities have a perception...that they are dystopian hell holes that you can’t even walk without being mugged.” (03:04)

3. The Chicago Comparison: Accusing Pritzker of Ego

• Noem’s Argument: She criticized Governor J.B. Pritzker for resisting the use of federal forces in Chicago.

  “If he has one murder in the city of Chicago, he should be calling President Trump and saying, what’s your ideas?” (05:13)

  • Noem claims local officials oppose federal intervention out of ego, not public safety concern.
  • She frames non-cooperation with immigration detainers and resistance to the National Guard as attacks on law and order.

4. Contradictions: Noem’s States’ Rights Flip-Flop

• Stein’s Fact-Checking:
  • Noem, as South Dakota governor, had opposed Biden’s attempts to utilize the National Guard at the border, framing it as a violation of states’ rights.
  • Stein points out the inconsistency: When murder rates increased in South Dakota (18 to 31 homicides, 2023–2024), Noem didn’t “call up Joe Biden” for help as she claims Pritzker should have with Trump.
  • Quote from Noem’s past stance:

    “They were encouraging President Biden to activate our National Guard soldiers so that they would stand down…Recognizing the real threat that was to states rights…made me show up in Texas the next day…” (07:40)

  • Stein summarizes:

    “Noem was vehemently opposed to the idea of President Joe Biden helping out by sending in the National Guard to anything. She called it an affront to states rights.” (07:00)

  • The host highlights the “double standard” of calling Biden a tyrant for similar actions she praises Trump for taking.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On LA’s fate:

  “The city of Los Angeles would have been razed to the ground, just, you know, a heap of ashes…Obviously, this is bullshit.” — Sam Stein (02:10)

• On the nature of urban fearmongering:

  “People who don’t step foot in these cities have a perception…that they are dystopian hell holes.” — Sam Stein (03:04)

• On Noem’s double standard:

  “She called it an affront to states rights. Now she believes that the National Guard should be deputized to go into the cities.” — Sam Stein (08:30)

---

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Description | | ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 00:00 | Sam introduces the Noem comments and sets the context (Labor Day, Sunday shows) | | 01:32 | Stein paraphrases Noem’s claim that Trump “saved LA”—incredulity and fact-check | | 02:10 | Stein calls out the absurdity of Noem’s assertion on LA’s supposed destruction | | 03:04 | Discussion of fearmongering and the myth of dangerous cities | | 05:13 | Noem’s CBS comments on Chicago, attacking Pritzker’s “ego” and calling for federal intervention | | 07:00 | Stein unpacks Noem’s conflicting positions as governor and federal official | | 07:40 | Audio clip: Noem arguing National Guard orders under Biden would “take away our state’s rights” | | 08:30 | Stein sums up Noem’s double standard and highlights critiques |

---

Takeaways

• The episode dissects the hypocrisy and rhetorical gamesmanship of Kristi Noem and, by extension, similar political actors.
• Stein emphasizes how public fear is manipulated for partisan ends, especially relating to law enforcement in urban areas.
• The episode underscores a continuing national discussion about federal versus local authority, states’ rights, and public safety.

---

Tone:
Sam Stein’s tone remains incredulous, lightly sarcastic, and deeply skeptical, but also direct and fact-driven. He weaves in pointed humor to undercut political absurdities, and centers his critique on the importance of factual reality over partisan narrative.

---

For further reflection:
Episodes like this reveal how fast-moving narratives can obscure basic consistencies and principles in politics. Moments like these are essential listening for readers trying to parse the line between policy and performative outrage.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, guys, it's me, Sam Stein, here with the Bulwark. It is Labor Day weekend. Happy Labor Day. Not Labor Day yet, but it's Sunday and everyone's chilling, except for me because I was watching the Sunday shows and something so absurd happened with Kristi Noem that I felt the need to jump on YouTube and talk about it because it was pretty ridiculous and hilarious. So Christine Ohm was on Face the Nation CBS show. She's there to talk about the whole, you know, spectrum of Trump immigration, deportation, related news. And in the course of being asked about all this stuff, Ed o', Keefe, the host, presses her on the decision to deploy National Guard to Los Angeles. Now, if you remember, this was like the first case test for the administration where there was protestations or protests over the ICE operations in la, primarily because they were targeting Home Depots and things like that. And so there's some scattered protests, but it was like kind of confined to a few blocks. And folks who were in LA at the Times basically were like this. It's, it's so overblown. It's like a three or four block radius where there's some trouble. The administration's making a big deal out of it. They're sending in all these troops. It makes no sense. And, yeah, we kind of forgot about it because we moved on to a million other things. But anyways, here's Kristi Noem on CBS this Morning saying with a totally straight face, I can't believe it, that if not for President Trump sending in the Guard, the entire city of Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the country, I think it's like 500 square miles. I have to double check that.

[B]

That.

[A]

It would not have been left standing if not for President Trump. Just, I'm not even, I don't think I'm being hyperbolic or exaggerating. Just listen to what she has to say. Part of what distinguished the Los Angeles operations, however, is that National Guard troops were there, in essence protecting or backing up those federal agents as they conducted operations. Is that what we should expect to see in Chicago?

[C]

You know, that always is a prerogative of President Trump and his decision. I won't speak to the specifics of the operations that are planned in other cities, but I do know that L. A wouldn't be standing today if President Trump hadn't taken action. Then that city would have burned down if left to the devices of the mayor and the governor of that state.

[A]

All right. So there you have it. Thank God for President. I can't even thank God for President Trump, because if not, the city of Los Angeles would have been razed to the ground, just, you know, a heap of ashes. I did double check this during the, during that time that we played the video. It is 503 square miles, which is 469 square miles of land, 34 square miles of water. So all of it would have been gone, would have been devastating. Obviously, this is bullshit. I was thinking about this a little bit because why do people say things that are so absurd like this? I mean, you can make the case that in that confined space there was some lawlessness and disorder there. Certainly protests were targeting law enforcement officials. You can make the case and keep it that. But why, why go to the absurd lengths that no one to. I mean, obviously because they want to scare people. But like, it's because people who don't step foot in these cities have a perception of these cities, that they are dystopian hell holes that you can't even walk without being mugged. And I see it all the time online because I'm here in D.C. and when I'm defending the city as being actually not a bad place to live, people are like, oh yeah, if you like getting carjacked every day. And I, I mean, thank goodness I haven't been, I mean, d its problems. But that's really not the prevailing image of D.C. as someone who lives here. And anyone who's in LA will tell you that this is absurd. The idea that the city would have been lost if not for President Trump. Let's go to the second clip because this was like a kind of a, a real double whammy from Nome this morning. The idea here is they're basically the administration's building up for more confrontations in which they send both the National Guard and potentially the military into American cities. So far in D.C. we have a number of different agencies who are involved. And if you remember, the military was sent to LA briefly, but they were in sort of an advisory and help role. Trump's been threatening to send the military into Chicago a lot recently. And the governor there, J.B. pritzker, has been defiant, saying, do not do it. Don't, you know, don't, don't call up the state's National Guard to go into Chicago. The, the city's mayor, Brandon Johnson, has basically said, I think he issued an executive order saying, forbidding the police department from cooperating with federal officials. I'll double check that one too. But there's a real defiance from the local and state officials. Towards the possibility of Trump sending in the Guard and potentially the military into Chicago. Noem was asked about this as well, and she had this kind of curious rejoinder to Pritzker that really piqued my interest, because it flies in the face of pretty much how she herself acted when she was governor of South Dakota. But let's take a listen, and then on the flip side, I will give you a few facts.

[C]

This seems like it's more about Governor Pritzker's ego now, rather than actually protecting his people. If he has one murder in the city of Chicago, he should be calling President Trump and saying, what's your ideas? What can we do? They don't even honor our detainers in Chicago. They don't go out there and work with us to make sure we're bringing people to justice. And instead, he goes on TV and he attacks me. When we're doing exactly. What those people need is they need someone to help them get the dangerous criminals off their streets. And if he has 1, 2, 5 or 10, those victims and their families deserve to walk in freedom on those streets and not have to worry about what's going to happen to them on their way to their job.

[A]

So there you have it. She says Pritzker should have called President Trump if there was simply one murder in Chicago, which Chicago has its problems with murders, no doubt. But after one murder, she says J.B. pritzker should have called President Trump to collaborate on how to crack down on the crime problem in Chicago. Okay, well, Christine Ohm was a governor prior to becoming the Homeland Security Secretary. And yes, it was South Dakota, but they had murders. In fact, I pulled up an article, and I'm going to find it for you because I want to read it directly. South Dakota Office of Attorney General has released the overall number of reported criminal offenses statewide for 2024. The agency's office says reported criminal offenses in the state increased 1.21% compared to 2023. The number of homicides jumped from 18 to 31. Again, 18 to 31 is a big increase, but it's South Dakota. And so the actual overall number in the aggregates, pretty small. Chicago, you could get 31, honestly, in, you know, a matter of a couple months, maybe even less. But there was an increase in crime from 2023 to 2024. And this is in a small state. And by Noem's own argument, one murder should have resulted in her calling up Joe Biden to say, hey, how can I get this stuff under control? Help me help my state. Did you do that now. Kristi Noem was vehemently opposed to the idea of President Joe Biden helping out by sending in the National Guard to anything. She called it an affront to states rights. Here she is talking about Biden using the National Guard, deputizing National Guard to deal with the immigration issues during his administration. You can tell the difference just by listening to the words.

[B]

People ask me why. When I heard the news, I immediately the next day was at the border. And it was because of what I heard Democrats encouraging the president to do. They were encouraging President Biden to activate our National Guard soldiers so that they would stand down. He actually was going to take control of our South Dakota National Guard and actually activate them so that they would not protect America. So recognizing the real threat that was to states rights and how that would be the first time in history a president would pay a soldier to not fight, to not protect our country, made me show up in Texas the next day to let Governor Abbott know I'm here, South Dakota is with you. We will defend our Constitution. We will defend our rights. Because the last several years, we've seen the Democrats take away our freedom of religion, our freedom of assembly, our freedom of speech.

[C]

We can't let them take away our.

[B]

State'S rights, too, especially our right to protect ourselves.

[A]

All right, so there you have it. Noam was very much on the record opposing the use of National Guard by the president back in 2024. Now she believes that the National Guard should be deputized to go into the cities. She believes that one murder should necessitate the governor of a state calling up the president to say, hey, help me out. When in fact, the numbers in her state, number of murders, homicides, went from 18 to 31 at a time when they were dropping nationally. But I have no record of her calling up Joe Biden to say help out with the murders in South Dakota. In the end, we should thank her, though, or I guess thank Donald Trump, because we would not have Los Angeles if not for the intervention that took place a couple months ago. So as you walk the streets of Los Angeles, as you admire Hollywood, the signs and the hills, if you enjoy the lovely streets, maybe you're going for a shop on Rodeo Drive. Maybe you're just getting some good food from one of those quality restaurants they have there. Thank Trump because we wouldn't have that if not for him. And thank you for watching because, you know, we got to get through this somehow, so might as well do it together. Appreciate it. Subscribe to the feed. Hope you enjoyed this. Tell your friends and family and we'll talk to you later.