South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem offered praise and support to country music performer Jason Aldean, telling Newsmax on Wednesday that she's incredulous how his song "Try That in a Small Town" has been derided by some — while climbing to the top of the iTunes most-downloaded list.
In the video for the song, surveillance footage from armed robberies, and images ostensibly from the 2020 George Floyd riots, are featured. It contains lyrics such as: "You cross that line, it won't take long/ for you to find out, I recommend you don't."
It has been derided by some outlets and on social media as "racist" and threatening "violence against perceived criminals." CMT has stopped playing the video in response to the criticism.
"It's the exact song that America should be proud of and hold up, and the fact that the woke crowd is attacking Jason for releasing the song and the video today is unbelievable to me that this is happening. And I appreciate them being bold," Noem said on "Eric Bolling The Balance," referring to Aldean and songwriters Kurt Allison, Kelley Lovelace, Neil Thrasher, and Tully Kennedy. "I guess that was mainly the purpose for doing that video ... to encourage Jason and his wife, Brittany, for being conservatives.
"Even in country music, today it's hard to find people who will proudly wrap their arms around conservative values and America and our ideals."
Additionally, Noem was baffled by the song's critics, many of whom have not offered any condemnation of lyrics in music such as so-called "gangsta rap," which is notorious for derogatory language and suggests violence against law enforcement.
"There's so many songs that don't necessarily embrace American ideals, and ... there's some I wouldn't let my family members, my kids listen to. But, you know, this is a song that should be Americana that ... we all should be able to agree on," Noem said. "And what's unfortunate to me is that they've chosen to attack this song and done nothing else with those other songs that are so devastating and destructive and promoting violence in many cases."
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