Trump/Burgum 2024?

I’ve written in the past that during the early GOP presidential campaign debates, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum came across as the adult in the room. Burgum proved himself to be articulate, authentic and funny. He spoke atop a platform of vast experience and came across as presidential. And yet most Americans don’t know his name. Why?

Well, unfortunately for Burgum, most of the media — including much of the conservative media — unfairly relegated him to second-tier status in a class of candidates that included Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and even entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. On top of that, the debate moderators for those first two debates failed to give Burgum his deserved amount of time and number of questions.

Burgum could have easily channeled the late, great comedian Rodney Dangerfield by declaring, “I tell ya, I get no respect!”

How interesting — in a poetic justice kind of way — would it be if Burgum ends up having the last laugh when it comes to that undeserved disrespect. Last Sunday, Burgum not only endorsed former President Trump for president, but became the first former Republican primary candidate for president to do so.

Trump is not going to forget that. Nor will he forget that Burgum also endorsed him back in 2016. 

As he stood next to Trump in Iowa right before Trump’s overwhelming victory in that state, Burgum declared, in part: “Under President Trump, America was safe and prosperous, and tomorrow when you caucus, you have an opportunity to send a message to the nation and send a message to the world that Donald J. Trump will make America great again.”

Boilerplate, but effective. Timing is often everything in politics. As are shared experiences and mutual respect for rising to the top of one’s chosen profession.

In some real and lasting ways, Trump and Burgum are cut from the same cloth. Like Trump, Burgum is a highly successful businessman who made himself a multimillionaire. Like Trump, Burgum got a graduate business degree from an elite college — Wharton in Trump’s case, Stanford for Burgum.

Also like Trump, Burgum was not a professional politician before running for governor of North Dakota. He brought decades’ worth of real-world experience to the table. As a former CEO, he not only created and led a company with thousands of employees — Great Plains Software in Fargo, N.D. — but knows what it means to meet payrolls, understands complicated tax issues, defends the environment and gets the needs of working-class Americans.

So what does all of that mean?

Well, the conventional wisdom is that after Trump secures the Republican nomination, he will select a woman as his running mate. Maybe, but, as he has proven time and again, Trump is anything but conventional or predictable.

In former Vice President Mike Pence, Trump had what passed for a professional politician as his running mate. One whom many believe was more wedded to the entrenched Republican establishment than being loyal to the man who selected him as vice president.

While there are a number of strong candidates Trump will surely consider, I suspect he will shy away from those — male or female — who have become creatures of the D.C. establishment and the special interests seeking to pull their strings. During his administration, Trump, as a New York City businessman, was blindsided by the number of Republicans in our nation’s capital who either did not have his best interests at heart or who were actively working against him behind the scenes. One could safely assume Trump will not make that mistake again. 

Will Burgum get serious consideration as Trump’s running mate? Again, shared experiences, commonsense, timing and a track record of loyalty suggest he will. There is also the real possibility that Burgum on the ticket would help Trump reverse his 2020 losses in Minnesota — which borders North Dakota — Wisconsin and Colorado.

If not the vice presidency, Burgum should most definitely receive a senior-level Cabinet position, if he’s open to the appointment.

To be sure, as a successful two-term governor and highly successful businessman, Burgum deserved dramatically higher recognition, respect and time in the spotlight during the first two GOP debates.

But even without that recognition, Burgum may still emerge the ultimate winner of those debates. To do so, he needs to win but one vote.

Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.