How about (North Dakota governor) Doug Burgum for Donald Trump’s running mate?
You’re forgiven if you reacted to the question with a puzzled look and replied with a “Who?”, since, of all the names being floated for possible Trump administration 2.0 vice presidents recently, Burgum just might be the least household name-worthy of the group. Burgum did run for president this year as a fairly anonymous member of the not-Trump Republican gaggle, but didn’t get far in his quest to be the next overseer of the Oval Office.
None of that matters now, as the innocuous mid-westerner is apparently being earnestly considered for a prominent job in Trump’s future plans anyway.
In an article titled “Burgum Blasted Trump in 2016. Now He Is Auditioning for VP”, the always useful for a good scoop Philip Wegmann reported at Real Clear Politics last week:
“Burgum has leaned into [the policy guru] role as Trump vets him for VP, telling Fox News last week that as a governor ‘’I’m on the front line of all the bad policies that Joe Biden is pushing on the American people.’ At a Trump rally in Minnesota … Burgum told a crowd that rather than focusing ‘on driving our state in the country forward, all we do now is fight back and sue the federal government.’ By his count, North Dakota is fighting the Biden administration on no less than 30 different rulemaking efforts.
“Both North Dakota senators have been working behind the scenes to find a place for Burgum in a future Trump administration. ‘I’ve talked with President Trump about [Burgum], and I know that he likes him a lot and certainly I think he’s going to be a part of this administration. Now what role? We don’t know yet. But I think it will be an important role, and I think he’ll be a real asset to the Trump administration,’ Sen. John Hoeven told the Washington Post...
“The money, the looks, and loyalty haven’t won over everyone in Trump’s orbit. A source familiar with the former president’s thinking cautioned that eight years isn’t that long ago. ‘Lots of elected officials want us to forget they didn’t support Trump in 2016,’ the source said before adding that some VP contenders are only flocking to the GOP nominee ‘out of self-motivation.’”
It’s hardly surprising that the Trump camp is wary – of practically everyone. There are very few Republicans who could be counted as Trump fans from the beginning. A number of reputable conservatives, including Senator Mike Lee, for example, called for Trump to resign as Republican presidential nominee when the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape surfaced a month or so before the 2016 election.
Yet Lee and nearly all conservatives eventually came around to Trump’s value as a politician and president. Good policy has a way of doing that for you. And winning doesn’t hurt, either, nor does having a friendly partisan presence signing bills and executive orders.
Bygones should be bygones, at least in politics.
The fact that Burgum is not well-known could be a very attractive selling point for Trump. What people don’t know about Burgum – which is apparently, a lot – can easily be filled in by the presidential candidate and his team of message crafters. Add the reality that Burgum is from North Dakota, which, no insult intended here, is probably one of three or four states that most people don’t have a clue about, and the governor is virtually political tabula rasa for 2024.
Does the scenario remind anyone of 2016, when Trump opted to ask then-not-well-nationally-known but practically non-descript Mike Pence to run the gauntlet with him? It does to me, for sure.
It goes without saying that branding is extremely important in politics, and Burgum’s “brand” has immense room to grow. From reports I’ve read, Burgum’s done a stellar job in North Dakota, was (like Trump) independently successful prior to entering politics and is well-versed in several issue areas where his input would be invaluable to Trump starting in 2025.
Besides, how would the Democrats pin a negative label on Burgum? The man is like Sarah Palin was in 2008 but older and plain-er and the former Alaska governor was a young, attractive and sharp-tongued newcomer with a penchant for poking the establishment.
There are a number of advantages for a Trump campaign that hopes to depict Burgum as a “normal” type guy who ruptured his Achilles tendon a few days before the first “official” RNC candidates debate last August, yet still limped his way across stage to take part.
As I recall, Burgum “performed” quite well in the forum, taking advantage of the few opportunities he had to say something, the Fox News moderators (Brett Baier and Martha MacCallum) tossing most of their meat towards the more ratings-generating competitors in the middle of the stage (Trump would’ve been center, but he opted not to show and promoted his interview with Tucker Carlson instead, remember?), those being Governor Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott and former Trump VP, Mike Pence. Burgum was on one of the ends.
Asa Hutchinson was at the other end. The latter is now an outspoken Never Trumper… and not under consideration for Trump’s running mate.
As would be expected, Burgum spoke about China’s threat and energy production, a topic in the center of his proverbial wheel house, from which he came across as knowledgeable, steady and likeable. I thought his eyebrows made him look like Burt from Sesame Street, but his folksy midwestern accent and approachable appearance didn’t totally detract from his presentation.
After the debate, I wrote: “It took a while for Burgum to get a chance to talk, but he mostly took advantage of his opportunities, being the candidate who was most forceful about the dangers posed by China, electric car batteries, etc. Doug clearly leans on his Midwestern roots, having mentioned that he came from a ‘town of 300 people’ at least a half dozen times (or so it seemed), which would help him relate to the little guy (I guess).
“Burgum’s probably going to get more than his share of memes due to his thick eyebrows, which make him look like Burt of Sesame Street fame. He was a pleasant surprise in his introduction to the national audience, yet was not quite up to the stature of some of the others.”
How could we have figured about nine months later that Trump would be seriously thinking of naming Burgum to be his righthand-man in MAGA 2.0?
The fact that Burgum is so “normal” also might work heavily in his favor. Non-controversial and attention deflecting – towards Trump – might just be what the top of the ticket is searching for. The Democrats will provide all the contrast the Trump ticket desires, right?
I doubt Trump would value a self-centered ego man to be on his ticket. There’s a big enough ham already residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
With the start of “Pride Month” just a couple days away, people (myself) wonder if the senile Joe Biden campaign will be as over-the-top in promoting the freak elements of the LGBTQIA+++ “community” as openly as they did last year. You may recall – and how could you not – that the purveyors of woke nonsense otherwise known as the Democrat party went out of their way to demonstrate how tolerant and accommodating they are by inviting a number of recently surgically altered transgenders (persons?) to the event, where, again, if you remember, the White House occupant and wife Dr. Jill had a rainbow flag hanging alongside Old Glory on the south lawn of the executive mansion.
I didn’t pay much attention to it at that moment, but here’s guessing members of the mainstream establishment media did a double-take at the offensive scene, then commanded their photographers and video cameramen to ensure that they had usable imagery to employ in their stories and TV news reports.
Oh, how wonderful! The gayer and weirder that you are, the more likely you were to make headlines, as one particularly jubilant freak bore his “new” female breasts for the world to see. I believe he (with his shirt on, thankfully) also had a photo taken with ol’ broken-down, deviant-loving senile Joe Biden. Only in joe Biden-land could such a hedonistic anti-tradition scenario take place. To the easily offended, let them eat cake!
With Biden’s polls in the tank the way they are and the Democrats doing everything possible to reverse the tide, do you think liberals will be as willing to potentially inflame more than half the country by repeating their outside-the-box gestures this year? Uh-uh. Democrats will do whatever they need to portray Joe Biden as a stars n’ stripes lovin’ real American male between now and November, figuring that patriotism could make gullible people temporarily forget what senile Joe and his clique are really all about.
Expect a plethora of Democrat media ads featuring senile Joe walking beside and talking with an ethnic rainbow sprinkling of “average” Americans, but the rainbow flag won’t be anywhere near them. Woke is toxic in 2024 thanks in part to the extremism of the left but also because Donald Trump, who is mostly anti-woke, has gotten a bad rap from the people who couldn’t keep their hands off the indictment papers in courtrooms up and down the east coast.
This is where someone like Doug Burgum could come in handy. North Dakota may not be in danger in this year’s quadrennial election, but the midwestern man could assist the ticket in carrying Minnesota and also play well in Wisconsin and Michigan. These are important considerations, as well as Burgum’s policy expertise would help make the public relations sale once the election is decided.
There are a lot of reasons to say “yes” to Burgum and only a handful of “no” arguments. The day of decision may be close at hand. What will Donald Trump do?
Joe Biden economy
inflation
Biden cognitive decline
gas prices,
Nancy Pelosi
Biden senile
January 6 Committee
Liz Cheney
Build Back Better
Joe Manchin
RINOs
Marjorie Taylor Green
Kevin McCarthy
Mitch McConnell
2022 elections
Donald Trump
2024 presidential election
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