A Tennessee-based billionaire who made his fortune from auto scraps has financed a military mission that involves South Dakota National Guardsmen traveling to the southern border to prevent an inflow of migrants.
Yes, that’s a head-spinning sentence. But, according to The Washington Post, the donation from Republican mega-donor Willis Johnson is likely legal.
Still, it’s unusual…and depressing.
‘This kind of floors me, when you’re talking about a private donor sending the Guard, that doesn’t even make sense to me,’ South Dakota historian Duke Doering told The Military Times.
‘You certainly don’t want our national security priorities up to the highest bidder,’ added Mandy Smithberger, a defense accountability expert at the Project on Government Oversight, in comments to The Washington Post.
But Johnson, a Vietnam veteran, feels like he’s doing his patriotic duty. “America gave a lot of money to get that border wall done,” Johnson said. “It takes private individuals now.”
In an interview with Talking Points Memo, Johnson added, “I feel sorry for the Mexicans, but they need to come through the right channels. I love ’em, I just think they oughta follow the rules.”
“God gave America to us and God can take it away,” Johnson continued. “If our people don’t protect it, then I don’t know what’s gonna happen.”
Johnson may think he’s contributing to a worthy cause, but what difference will 50 additional troops from the Upper Midwest really make? Customs and Border Protection, after all, has 60,000 employees.
In reality, Johnson is likely just bolstering the red-meat resume of South Dakota’s politically ambitious governor, Kristi Noem. Noem’s infuriatingly predictable agenda seems tailor made for Fox News producers in search of yet another flimsy segment on the culture wars. She’s said Democrats are socialists, banned transgender girls from sports teams, opposed critical race theory, and…well, I’m sure you can guess the rest.
Noem was also at the forefront of the anti-mask movement, even though the CDC said her state hosted a super spreader event. Ironically, Johnson’s desire to see South Dakota Guardsman sent to the border was inspired, in part, by COVID-19 precautions. He told TPM:
Everybody is tied down from COVID-19 but they let them come over with no shots, no nothing, no coverings over their face. They ship them out to all the states, like I’m in Tennessee, they ship them out to Tennessee and they don’t ask the governor. They just spread ’em everywhere and they don’t care about COVID-19.
On a practical level, it’s hard to understand Noem’s hawkish actions on the border. The Rio Grande River is nearly 1,200 miles from South Dakota’s capital and the state is currently experiencing a worker shortage. She might oppose a porous border on ideological grounds, but is that enough to justify sending troops under her command there?
But Noem’s ulterior motive is obvious. She’s considered a 2024 contender for the GOP presidential nomination. What better way to win the hearts and minds of a party enthralled with conspiracy theories than to fear monger and send troops on a specious mission? Talk tough, denounce straw men, pick fights that don’t exist – it’s the Republican way.
In other words, fifty South Dakota National Guardsmen won’t accomplish much – but they’ll give Noem an applause line on the campaign trail. It’s a publicity stunt disguised as policy and the troops are pawns.
Johnson’s donation, meanwhile, shows that a sucker is indeed born every minute – even in the billionaire class.