Meet the Press: Gov. Doug Burgum

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Chuck, great to be with you. And thanks for having us on this morning.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well, Chuck, this is one of these things I think there's an entire cable news industry. There's an entire social media industry built around trying to answer that question. And where we're coming from, we're excited to be on the debate stage, the least-known candidate on there. If you want to fill this gap where you mentioned 83% of Americans don't trust our institutions, the way that starts is leadership at the top. Any organization I've been involved with, it starts with a leader that you can trust, that's got the character and the integrity, the proven track record of being able to do that. And that's what I've done my whole life in every organization I've been. But people don't know that yet. So we absolutely are going to leave that to this whole industry. We've got to focus on telling our story and telling the story of what we've been able to get done in North Dakota.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Yes, and I think part of a stress test, whether it's for Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, everybody's innocent until they're proven guilty in this country. And lots of accusations that are being tossed around. But I think that we're focused on January, is when the first caucuses and primary are.That's when the voters get to decide. I do trust the voters. I trust that if we can show that we're a credible alternative, that we can deliver the things that Americans are looking for, because Americans do want this country to move forward, they want presidential elections to be about the future, a vision for the future, then we have to offer that. If I'm just one more pundit criticizing everything that's gone on in 2020, no one's going to see that there's leadership there. So, again, presidential campaigns are about the future. And we're going to paint that picture of how we can improve the economy, energy, and national security. How that's going to improve every American life. How it's going to bring out the best of America. This country's got to move forward, not backwards.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well, I've been asked this question a bunch. And of course as sitting governor, I have to almost smile. Because, as governors, we've got some limited pardon ability for people in our own states. But if somebody came up and said, 'Hey, this person's been accused. There hasn't been evidence. There hasn't been one day of a trial. In 2025 would you pardon him?' Those kind of hypothetical questions, any governor that understands his role would never speculate on that, because it hasn't played out. It's like trying to jump ahead of the entire court system. And I respect the judicial branch has got their job, and the executive branch, one thing I know about the executive branch is we work for everybody. When there's a blizzard in North Dakota, we're plowing the roads for Republicans, Independents, Democrats, for everybody. That's the job of the executive branch. That's the job I'm running for.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

I don't. Our poll numbers are going up, not down. As people get to know us, they understand we've got a great message, again, about how we can tackle inflation that's choking every American family, how we can start selling energy to our friends and allies, stop buying it from our adversaries and how we can win the cold war with China.These are the important topics the president has to focus on. And when we're talking to people, we're excited. As our name recognition goes up, our poll numbers are going up. And so we're very positive, and we're absolutely working to create an alternative, an option for American voters to understand who can lead this country forward.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well, again, Chuck, the voters get to decide who runs for office in America. And whether it's a local election or whether it's a state or federal, the voters are the ones that ultimately get to decide. And again, if we're going to live in a democracy, at some point we've got to trust the voters.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well, Chuck, again, everybody's at a different place. If I had 100% national name recognition, if I'd run for president before, if I was living in a major media market and everybody in the country knew me, that'd be a different spot. But I know from the private sector, when we were launching our little company that we then built over a period of time into a billion-dollar company, you don't start out by attacking the market share leader. You start by telling people what you've got to offer. You don't have a basis to launch that. And like I said, there'll be segment after segment on every channel this morning, all the pundits lined up. And I'm not running for pundit. I'm running for president.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well, I think one thing, we're adding our name to the very small list of people in our giant country of people that are running for president. Because one thing I know is that if we're going to move back and move away from name calling, and threats, and all those things, that's not leadership.

Leadership is about solving problems. Leadership is about character and integrity. Leadership is about bringing out the best of people. It's about respect for others that have views different than you. That's why we're running. And absolutely, when I'm president we're going to lead with respecting everybody. We work for everybody. That's what we'll do. Again, right now our job is, again, it's not the critic that counts. Theodore Roosevelt said it's the man in the arena. We're in the arena right now, and we're working hard to get to that spot.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well, it will have worked if we get a chance to explain who we are, what we're about, and why we're running. And we're running to improve every American life. We're running to bring out the best of America. And we're going to do that by focusing on economy, energy, and national security. And these are things that matter to every American.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well, you can take my pledge signed seriously. When I say I'm going to do something, I do it. But for me, I'll be voting for a Republican in November of 2024. But we're going to do everything we can every minute of the day to make sure that person is me because I know when I'm President of the United States, we can take this country in a positive direction. We can have an election where people are actually voting for someone as opposed to against the other party.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Thank you, Chuck.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source