In front of a sea of MAGA hats, bedazzled patriotic gear and “Never Surrender” mugshot t-shirts, former President Donald Trump spent nearly two hours at a South Dakota rally in September bemoaning the current state of America.
“We are a nation that in many ways has become a joke, and we are a nation that is hostile to liberty, freedom and faith. We are a nation whose economy is collapsing into a cesspool of ruin,” Trump said over a melancholy orchestral tune that played for the final 12 minutes of his speech Sept. 8 at the South Dakota Republican Party’s Monumental Leaders Rally in Rapid City, S.D.
Then came a 180-degree vibe shift: R&B duo Sam and Dave’s “Hold On, I'm Comin'” blasting over the speakers to signify the end of the event, prompting a little dance at the podium from Trump before he headed off stage.
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The rowdy, “U-S-A” chant-filled affair held at Rapid City’s The Monument event center would end up costing the city’s taxpayers about $20,000 in public safety-related government expenditures, according to information Raw Story obtained through a South Dakota Sunshine Law request.
Trump’s campaign — in keeping with its standard practice — refused to help offset the costs to taxpayers.
The situation represents an awkward dichotomy for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who Trump could consider as a vice presidential running mate upon winning the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump greets South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem after she introduced him at the Monument Leaders Rally hosted by the South Dakota Republican Party on September 8, 2023, in Rapid City, S.D. Noem endorsed Trump during the event. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
On one hand, there’s Noem the MAGA champion who introduced Trump at the Sept. 8 event, giving him her “full and complete endorsement for President of the United States of America.
“To him, every American is worth fighting for. No one is better than anyone else. No one deserves to be treated differently than anyone else, and he will never forget about us, the little people in the little states that are the backbone of this country,” Noem said at the event.
On the other is Noem the anti-tax warrior, who boasts “keeping taxes low” on her official website.
"Public sentiment has shown that South Dakotans want a permanent tax cut," Noem said earlier this year when signing a bill lowering the state’s sales tax.
Noem did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment about the Trump rally’s cost to taxpayers.
As with other rallies, Trump discussed his own legal troubles during the South Dakota event, which include 91 felony charges spread across four indictments and a separate New York civil trial that threatens to upend his business empire.
“I am being indicted for you. I’m not too thrilled about that, but that's part of the job description. I’m being indicted for you,” Trump said on Sept. 8.
Trump’s campaign did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
The overtime payroll expenses for Rapid City police officers cost $15,550.04 on Sept. 8, according to Justin Williams, assistant city attorney for the City of Rapid City.
By comparison, the overtime payroll expenses were $4,997.21 a week later on Sept. 15, according to Williams, who said the figures show a “correlation between the city’s costs and former President Trump’s visit, but they don’t necessarily mean these costs are directly caused by the visit.”
The Rapid City Fire Department did directly incur $4,424.80 in costs for Trump’s visit for the South Dakota GOP event, Williams said. The costs included “staffing for additional emergency medical service staff for an ambulance on standby and for EMS staff to accompany the motorcade from the airport to the event location and back,” he said.
“It's just a cost that's absorbed by the city,” Williams said in a call with Raw Story on Wednesday. “It was never contemplated that either the Trump campaign or the South Dakota Republican Party would absorb or reimburse those costs.”
The City of Rapid City also shared the space lease agreement for The Monument, which required the South Dakota Republican Party to pay $2,277 to rent the ice arena and $350 for the lobby.
The South Dakota Republican Party did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
Even with neither the Trump campaign nor the South Dakota Republican Party paying for the security costs, Williams said there “hasn't been a lot of concern” in terms of the taxpayer toll of the event, calling the expenses a “relatively small amount.”
While the rally required “an additional security aspect,” Williams said, the city is accustomed to absorbing security costs for other events, such as the Fourth of July parade, he said.
While Trump is not legally required to pay for the security costs incurred for his visits, presidential campaigns — Trump’s primary opponent and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders among them in recent years — have voluntarily paid for such services in response to invoices or to show their support for the law enforcement who protect campaign events. Presidential campaign visits often occur in small towns on short notice, which can adversely affect municipal budgets.
Haley, for one, called on Trump to voluntarily pay law enforcement who protect his presidential campaign events, citing a Raw Story article.
Trump's Aug. 13 visit to Columbia, S.C. was “a whole to-do,” Raw Story reported, entailing detailed operational plans and security detail to prepare to host what the city called “2,500 patriots.”
Since his 2016 campaign, Trump has racked up millions of dollars in security bills. Some cities have tried to recoup the costs such as Erie, Pa.. while others just eat the costs: see, Novi, Mich. and Manchester, N.H.
Despite GOP competition from Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Trump remains the far-and-away frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, polling at 62 percent nationally as of Wednesday, according to FiveThirtyEight.
