The Trail of Governors originally planned to add John Lopez’z sculpture of Kristi Noem to Pierre’s histobiographical path on June 12, but on May 18, the trail foundation board postponed the unveiling to Friday, August 7, “to accommodate Noem’s schedule in her role as U.S. Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.”
If the Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas has anything on her official schedule, she certainly hasn’t been sharing much of it with the public. Noem hasn’t mentioned her job carrying Secretary Rubio’s messages to this spotty right-wing Western Hemisphere coalition once amidst the happy-granny pix on her Facebook page. The State Department’s website says Envoy Noem got to accompany Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau to the inauguaration of Costa Rica’s new president on May 6, but I can’t find any mention of her since. The State Department has posted three joint statements “by Members of the Shield of the Americas” (concern about protests in Bolivia and doubts cast on the integrity of the recent presidential election in Colombia won by a Trump ally), but none of thsoe press releases bore Kristi branding. The State Department doesn’t even appear to have a webpage dedicated to the coalition or Noem’s office, wherever that may be.
The only news Envoy Noem made around June 12, the original trail statute-unveiling date, included her inability to distinguish Central America and South America, her appointment to the advisory board of British Columbia (that’s North America, Kristi) mining company NovaRed, and her effort to jump back into the media with wild anti-China rhetoric that lies outside of her Shield of Americas portfolio.
Throughout June and through this month, there’s little evidence Noem has been envoying anything to or from America’s right-wing Shield pals. It seems more likely Noem has just been working with her side of the family to shield herself and place all blame on her husband for her upcoming divorce.
But hey, let’s hope some big South American cataclysm requiring Noem’s shielding—or her transmission of messages from whoever is doing the actual shielding—doesn’t come up in the next couple weeks. Noem won’t want to miss coming to Pierre to see herself and a horse memorialized in bronze on East Church Street and Governors Drive, where her steely gaze can welcome people to the Department of Social Services in the Kneip Building.