South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem recently changed her mind about signing a bill protecting girls’ sport. The decision caused an uproar and led to a clash between her and Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
According to The Daily Caller:
“So here you have this bill, which I think all polling shows is popular in your state, I think would be popular nationally, you said you’re excited to sign it,” Carlson said. “Big business intercedes, NCAA, Chamber of Commerce, and Amazon and tell you not to sign it. And you change your mind. I think a lot of our viewers are wondering your thinking on this and how exactly this happened.”
“Well, that’s not true, Tucker, and thank you for inviting me to be on the show tonight,” Noem responded. “I could sign the bill the way that it is today. And then also, but it wouldn’t solve the problem. And that’s the real issue. As I looked at the bill and examined it, and have been discussing with legal scholars for many months on how to protect women’s sports, this bill would only allow the NCAA to bully South Dakota, and it would actually prevent women from being able to participate in collegiate sports. So what I’ve done is I’ve asked the legislature through a style and reform — is ask them to change the bill —”
Noem said that that the bill would “allow the NCAA to take punitive action against our state” and that “legal scholars that I have been consulting with for many, many months say that I would very likely lose those litigation efforts…”
“Oh, so you’re saying, so hold on, just to be clear, it’s not the bill … so, you’re saying the NCAA threatened you and you don’t think you can win that fight?” Carlson fired back. “They said if you sign this, we won’t allow girls in South Dakota to play and you don’t think you can win in court, even though the publicly overwhelmingly supports you nationally. And so you’re caving to the NCAA? I think that’s what you’re saying.”
Noem then finished Tucker off with this, “in fact, you’re wrong, completely. I’ve been working on this issue for years.”
WATCH:
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