MSNBC's Joy Reid calls border crisis 'nonexistent,' slams Noem, DeSantis for sending National Guard

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Media top headlines July 1

Reaction to Bill Cosby's sudden release from prison, Nikole Hannah-Jones getting tenure granted by the UNC board, and liberals rejoicing over Donald Rumsfeld's death round out today's top media headlines

MSNBC host Joy Reid scolded Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for sending the National Guard to Texas to aid what she insisted is a "nonexistent crisis" at the southern border.

Noem announced on Tuesday that she, among other governors, was having the National Guard deployed to the Lone Star State amid the lack of urgency from the Biden administration to quell the surge of migrants from Central America. 

Reid took shots at "The Roaming Noem" on Thursday's installment of "The ReidOut."

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"It would appear that our inaugural Absolute Worst is jealous of all the attention that our two record-holders, Republican Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Florida's Ron DeSantis and so she's sending South Dakota's National Guard troops roaming, deploying them to the southern border of Texas, joining MAGA sycophant DeSantis and the governors of Iowa and Nebraska in sending ‘help’ to the border," Reid said. "50 National Guard troops are being deployed in response to Greg Abbott's plea for more border security for a nonexistent crisis."

Reid accused Noem's announcement of being a "word salad" of "GOP talking points," mocking her statement when the governor said, "My message to Texas is this: help is on the way."

"Actually Kristi, your message is ‘I’m running for president in 2024. This is how I pander to the MAGA crowd and check the box on immigration fearmongering to compete with Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis. Yay!'" Reid mocked the South Dakota governor. 

The liberal host then drew attention to how Noem's deployment of the National Guard was going to be funded by a "private" donor, who turned out to be billionaire GOP donor Willis Johnson. 

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"So there you have it! This is where we've come to, America!" Reid exclaimed. "A super-wealthy political donor is paying for American soldiers to deploy on a military mission with political undertones… It's certainly not in the best interest of South Dakotans. It's totally political theater."  

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She continued, "So Kristi Noem, for offering up South Dakota's National Guard as mercenaries for a wealthy donor to stoke nativist fears and curry favor for your own political aspirations, you, my dear, are tonight’s Absolute Worst."

When reached for comment, a spokesman for Gov. Noem pointed to remarks she made about the need to send the National Guard to the southern border on Thursday morning's "Fox & Friends."

"Typically, securing the border would be the responsibility of the federal government, but our federal government is not doing their job and we know that we have dangerous people crossing the border," she told Lawrence Jones. 

"We have a lot of drugs coming into our country. We have a lot of human trafficking going on. The governors of Texas and Arizona have asked us for help. And this is a mission that National Guard is trained and equipped and does with excellence. So when they made the request to me, I started running the protocols asking if we had volunteers in my National Guard that would want to do this mission and had more than I could possibly anticipate."

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, has joined with Republicans in the state to push the Biden administration on the issue, calling the situation a "humanitarian crisis."