MSNBC host Joy Reid claimed on Thursday that the border crisis is “nonexistent” as she launched an attack on Republican Governors Kristi Noem and Ron DeSantis for sending National Guard troops to Texas to help out with what’s happening there.

“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 began, according to Fox News. “50 National Guard troops are being deployed in response to Greg Abbott’s plea for more border security for a nonexistent crisis.”

Close

Reid went on to accuse Noem’s announcement of being a “word salad” of “GOP talking points,” mocking the Republican governor for saying, “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 said mockingly.

Not stopping there, Reid then talked about 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.

“So there you have it! This is where we’ve come to, America!” the MSNBC host 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.”

“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,” Reid concluded.

Despite this, Noem has stood by her decision to send troops to the border.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

“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 said.

“We have a lot of drugs coming into our country,” Noem added. “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.”