Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota—the so-called "Freedom Governor" who seems to think the answer to every question is "bigger, better, more guns and glory." It's almost as if she's taking a page straight from the old Cold War playbook, gleaming with the brilliance of an atomic bomb and the quiet dread of mushroom clouds on the horizon. For Noem, security isn't just a part of the story; it's the headline, the bold, underlined, ALL-CAPS message to her base.

To her, the world outside South Dakota's borders must look like a storm of enemies, each one waiting to pounce on the precious sanctum of America. China, Iran, Russia—she probably sees them all in her dreams, scheming and wringing their hands like cartoon villains. And the only answer to these shadowy figures? The good old U.S. military, jacked up and ready to strike fear into the hearts of tyrants, all at the low, low price of endless taxpayer dollars.

Why? Well, Noem's a child of the Reagan Revolution—a disciple of the gospel that said peace through strength and strength through overwhelming, borderline lunatic militarism. She doesn't see those towering defense budgets as bloat; she sees them as America's divine right. Diplomacy is a four-letter word for her—a chump's game. Real leadership, she thinks, comes with a call for "strength" in every other sentence, like a barely disguised war cry.

And it's more than just money and rhetoric. Noem's criticisms of Biden's foreign policy are loud and often, each one a thinly veiled suggestion that America should double down on power—never mind if it means sending someone else's kids to a desert half a world away. The fact that these policies might drag America into even more endless, dusty conflicts? Details. Background noise. As far as she's concerned, the only unacceptable answer is looking weak.

So, is she a warmonger? Well, she walks like one, talks like one, and postures like one. You could call her a "patriot," but a patriot who treats foreign policy like a high-stakes poker game, betting with other people's lives and taxpayer money, sounds a whole lot like the caricature of a warmonger to me. Or maybe she's just another politician who's willing to push the boundaries to play to her base.

The real question is: when the dust settles, will she know when to stop pushing?