THE SUPERHUMAN EFFORT IT TOOK TO CATCH UP:

At first, the angel of death skipped over South Dakota. This pleased the Snow Queen.

It was Fourth of July weekend, and Gov. Kristi Noem was hosting Donald Trump for fireworks at Mount Rushmore. Covid-19 had already killed 122,000 Americans. Still, Noem cleaved closer to Trump's failed policies than any other governor. In public, she recited Trump's talking points: Covid was a Democratic plot to take over the country, masks were optional, and we're open for business. Superficially, the statements seemed less crazy when delivered in the calm voice of a rancher's daughter instead of that of an outdated tangerine con man. She even had South Dakota host a clinical trial for hydroxychloroquine, the president's preferred snake oil.

Noem made the bet that the novel coronavirus would miss her rural state, and so far she had been mostly right. As the holiday approached, South Dakota had lost only 97 people. Of course, those 97 died horrifically. Early in the crisis, ICU nurse Adam Drake monitored a Covid-positive young man at Rapid City's Monument Health Hospital. The man was intubated and allowed no visitors, per Covid protocol. He was heavily sedated and remained unresponsive until the 27-year-old Drake held up an iPad with the man's family on the other side of a video call. Then tears ran down the man's face. He died a few days later.

But those were isolated cases; some of the early casualties were immigrant meat-plant workers and Native Americans, not Noem's base. South Dakota was doing so well that Noem was the only governor to turn down federal unemployment assistance. Meanwhile, she spent $5 million on "South Dakota is open for adventure" travel ads that, coincidentally, starred Noem and appeared during the Republican National Convention and Tucker Carlson's show.

Noem likes to play up her ranch roots, often appearing in public clad in a trucker cap and jeans, but she wore a sleeveless red dress at Rushmore. That day, she privately presented the president with a bust of Mount Rushmore, with Trump's face added to it. He loved it. Noem and the president became so chummy that she flew to Washington, D.C., that night on Air Force One with Trump and his entourage, including Corey Lewandowski, a new friend. Rumors spread she might replace Mike Pence on the 2020 ticket. (Noem later made another trip to D.C. to smooth over things with Pence.)

Sure, she approved the call up of the National Guard on the Lakota Indian protest of Trump's visit that resulted in an activist being charged with four felonies for writing "Land Back" on a police shield. For Noem, that was fake news. The next week, she rode maskless into an indoor Sioux Falls rodeo show on a horse, an American flag in her hand. "I choose to rely on science and data and facts," said Noem, despite disregarding the actual science and data.

Then she pushed in all her chips. In August, she urged Americans to ride into Sturgis for the annual motorcycle rally. "We hope people come," Noem told Fox's Laura Ingraham. She lambasted the left's negativity. "We're in a good spot." So the Harleys came and their riders drank beer and shot pool in crowded bars, totaling 366,000. They stood shoulder to shoulder as Smash Mouth's singer screamed, "[****} that Covid [****]!"

And then the wave hit.

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