‘Weird flex’: South Datoka governor mocked after saying she would protect citizens from being vaccinated

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) is being mocked online after vowing to “take every action available” to “protect” her state in the hypothetical event that President Joe Biden mandates COVID vaccines.

The governor’s tweet vowing to “protect” her state caught people’s attention as it comes as her state sees a massive surge in COVID cases.

“If @joebiden illegally mandates vaccines, I will take every action available under the law to protect South Dakotans from the federal government,” Noem tweeted on Monday evening.

The COVID vaccines have been shown to be effective against catching the virus. While the Biden administration has made vaccination mandatory for some parts of the federal government, the president has not made any mention of making the vaccines mandatory for the public.

This week, Biden urged private businesses to require vaccines for their workers.

Meanwhile, as Newsweek reports, South Dakota has had a 312 percent increase in COVID cases over the past two weeks.

All of this gave people online ample fodder for mocking Noem’s attempt to pick a non-existent fight against Biden.

“Kristi Noem vowing to protect her people from Biden, who just wants to keep them alive is a weird flex,” one Twitter user wrote.

“Are we sure Kristi Noem doesn’t own stock in the funeral home industry?” another person chimed in with.

“I will ‘protect’ my people from the people trying to protect my people. In other words, Kristi Noem vows South Dakotans will be unprotected from Covid, so help her God!” another person tweeted.

They were far from the only ones to weigh in.

The spike in cases in South Dakota comes after the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was held in the state, attracting more than 500,000 people. This is the second time that’s happened under Noem’s watch. The event was also held last year, and a spike in cases and hospitalizations followed then, too.