As part of his latest presidential campaign, Donald Trump has been unsubtle in his praise of Jan. 6 rioters, including vowing to pardon those who attacked the U.S. Capitol in his name. On “Meet the Press,” NBC News’ Peter Alexander asked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem whether the former president’s campaign promise sends the right message.

The Republican governor repeatedly dodged the question, saying, “I think each of those situations needs to be looked at separately” over and over again. In other words, as Noem sees it, perhaps some violent insurrectionists who attacked police officers should be let out of prison, perhaps not. She didn’t want to say either way.

But as part of the same response, Noem also took a moment to summarize her perspective on the larger issue:

I watched these comments a few times, trying to make heads or tails of the argument. It didn’t go well.

Noem began by saying that no one wants to see another Jan. 6 attack, which was reasonable, though it was a sentiment at odds with Trump’s perspective. In fact, the former president hasn’t just defended the violence perpetrated in his name as justifiable, it was just a few weeks ago when the presumptive GOP nominee also described Jan. 6 criminals as “victims.”

But I was also intrigued by the idea that the best way to prevent the next Jan. 6 attack is to elect the politician who instigated the Jan. 6 attack. Why? Because Kristi Noem says so.

The South Dakotan added that during a Trump second term, “we’ll have law and order back in our streets,” which is certainly a nice idea, though it’s a difficult claim to take seriously — in part because Trump himself was recently convicted of several felonies, in part because crime rates have fallen sharply lately after spiking at the end of Trump’s term, and in part because Trump is running on a platform of letting politically aligned violent felons back onto American streets.

There’s been plenty of incoherent political arguments of late. Noem’s pitch on “Meet the Press” was among the strangest.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com