When President Trump arrived at Mount Rushmore for his Fourth of July extravaganza, he was greeted by South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem with a gift for him:  a miniature version of the mountainside sculpture with a fifth face added.

This four-foot tall version included Trump’s face alongside those of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt.

Noem has long ingratiated herself to Trump to increase her political power and brighten her job prospects.  Her wooing of Trump has led to speculation that she wanted to take Vice President Mike Pence’s spot on the 2020 ticket. 

Three weeks after the Independence Day gift, Noem quietly traveled to Washington, DC to meet with Pence to smooth over any suspicions, but that doesn’t mean she’s any less ambitious.

With Trump down by 6 to 9 points in poll aggregators and trailing in all traditional swing states, pundits continue to wonder what Trump can do to enliven his campaign.  While Pence is not generally seen as a liability to the ticket, he’s not exactly Mr. Excitement.

Like many in the republican Party, people are already eying what will happen in 2024, after Trump is out of office either from a 2020 loss or, less likely at this point, term-limited.

Can the governor of the fifth least-populous state, where there are four times as many cows than people, capture a national office?

In Trump’s America, Noem is trying to secure the support of Trump’s base by dismissing concerns about the coronavirus and allowing the Sturgis motorcycle rally to go on unabated.  She’s set up a television studio in the governor’s office so she can be on air for Fox “News” at short notice.

But Noem has yet to win approval even in her own state, where she’s underwater by a net -2 percentage points in recent surveys.