North Dakota endorsed former President Donald Trump in the Republican primary, a last minute endorsement before the Iowa caucuses. Burgum suspended his own presidential campaign in early December.
What took him so long to endorse Trump and why did he do it the day before the caucuses? Is he an opportunist or looking for a position in a possible Trump administration? Either or neither could be true. However, he didn’t just announce his endorsement of Trump in a press release, as some are doing, or in a post on X (formerly Twitter). No, he called a press conference in Iowa and Trump stood next to him. Burgum was the first candidate from the primary race to endorse Trump.
The reason I question his motive here is because during the campaign, Burgum told Chuck Todd in an interview on Meet the Press that he would not do business with Trump. That was in July 2023. Burgum said a person is judged by the company they keep. Today in a Fox interview, Burgum said he endorsed Trump in 2016 and 2020 so he didn’t think it was unusual to do so again this year. According to Burgum, Trump makes the right decisions for the country on things that matter. (No mention of how Trump handled the pandemic, though.) He said that Trump works 20 hours a day. Then he mentioned what I think is the real reason – he said voters want Trump.
Hmm. Did he endorse Trump because he looks like the inevitable nominee? I think it makes it all the more likely that he was currying favor with Trump with an eye on a spot in the Trump administration. When Burgum was asked if he wanted to be vice president or a member of Trump’s cabinet, he noted that he likes his job a governor and can run for a third term. He dodged the question.
I thought Burgum was a pretty good candidate and was a sane sounding Republican, although Beege wrote about him in August and her post raised some questions. Maybe he isn’t who he purports to be.
This is why normal people don’t like politicians.
He endorsed Trump, as I said, in Iowa.
“Four years ago, I was speaking on behalf of President Trump at the Iowa caucuses in Sioux City, and today, I’m here to do something that none of the other presidential primary candidates have done,” Burgum said. “And that’s endorse Donald J. Trump for the president of the United States of America.”
During the primary race, he voiced some sour grapes about the RNC debate process that places requirement on candidates in order to participate.
“The RNC’s clubhouse debate requirements are nationalizing the primary process and taking the power of democracy away from the engaged, thoughtful citizens of Iowa and New Hampshire,” Burgum said in ending his candidacy.
I say sour grapes because he couldn’t meet the requirements as they became more intense. Look, Burgum knew the score when he launched his presidential campaign. He’s a smart business, now a politician. He knew the RNC has rules and a process. He wasn’t opining on the process as long as he qualified to be on the debate stage.
Trump claims to like him.
A day after he dropped out, Trump praised Burgum’s business background during an interview with a local North Dakota radio show and raised the possibility of a cabinet position Burghum in his administration, if he wins. Asked about a future job for him, Trump replied, “We have a thing called a Cabinet and there are a lot of great positions in that Cabinet. Bigger than anything that you have in the private sector.”
“When you look at the size of some of the agencies and places that get run in this country, and you multiply it out, they’re big and they’re important and they have to be well run. And I would,” he said. “I’ve always had a lot of respect for Doug.”
Who knows?
Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson have suspended their campaigns. Both were anti-Trump candidates. Neither has endorsed anyone in the primary.
On caucus night, Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his campaign after coming in fourth and endorsed Trump. I’m not alone in thinking he was a Trump surrogate in the primary race. He’s campaigning with Trump now. There is no doubt in my mind that Trump will offer him a position.