Late in August, Gov. Larry Rhoden called out the South Dakota National Guard to serve for 30 days as crime-stoppers in Washington, D.C. It’s hard not to wonder why he did that.

By calling up the 129th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, maybe Rhoden is showing his belief that the pen is mightier than the sword.

Maybe he reasoned that the 12-member unit from Rapid City could make the mean streets of D.C. safer — one news release at a time.

With a Republican primary for governor coming up next June, perhaps Rhoden saw the Guard deployment as a way to curry favor with President Donald Trump and get his endorsement.

If any of those is the reason, it’s not good enough.

Rhoden called out the Guard unit at the request of the president. Since there really was no “crime emergency” in Washin

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