Just before taking the stage for his rally at Temple University, Donald Trump told an NBC News reporter that he had picked his running mate and that they would attend CNN’s presidential debate this Thursday. For months now, the speculation about Mr. Trump’s pick has been churning in the background, and for good reason. Given that, in the event of his victory, which The Economist projects a 2/3 chance of, he will be term-limited to just four years. Thus, it seems increasingly apparent that whoever Mr. Trump’s pick is will serve as his designated successor and the heir apparent to his MAGA movement—and the Republican Party itself, almost certainly becoming the nominee for 2028.
But who would be picked? Mr. Trump jested that the earlier Republican primary debates, which he skipped, were auditions to be his vice president, and the way many of his former competitors acted did nothing to dissuade that notion. Ron DeSantis refused to hit Mr. Trump on anything of substance, Nikki Haley didn’t burn the boats until the end, and Vivek Ramaswamy, I suspect, was encouraged to run by Mr. Trump to serve as his stand-in (his fawning and adoration for Mr. Trump did nothing to dissuade my suspicion). Mrs. Haley, who I voted for, ended up finishing runner-up in the national primary, and even after all their disagreements, they ended up mending the fence (somewhat). Mrs. Haley finally, though it was by no means an endorsement, admitted she was voting for Mr. Trump purely in contrast to the alternative, and in response, Mr. Trump said, “I think she's going to be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts.”
But, much to the chagrin of the establishment donors, Mrs. Haley was not destined to be Mr. Trump’s VP. I would like to see Mrs. Haley tapped for the position; Mr. Trump's chances of winning are maximized by making himself more palatable to voters who detest President Biden yet are equally skeptical or loathing of Trump himself. It would’ve been a good show of maturity and unity, like how in 1980, the conservative outsider Ronald Reagan, after a fierce primary battle against runner-up George H.W. Bush, opted to pick his rival for VP and, in doing so, wed the Southern and Western conservative faithful with Park Avenue Episcopalians into a marriage that won 41 and then 49 states. Yet, Mrs. Haley has her own ambitions, and the fact that she mounted a presidential bid after telling Mr. Trump she wouldn’t isn’t likely to meet Mr. Trump’s baseline criteria for ‘loyalty.’
But I have found Mr. Trump’s vice presidential pick.
If one visits “TrumpBurgum.com,” they’ll find that the domain has recently been purchased and set up as a redirect to Mr. Trump’s campaign website, the same way “TrumpPence.com” was back in 2016. If one types in “TrumpHaley,” “TrumpRubio,” “TrumpVance,” or “TrumpScott,” no such luck.
Doug Burgum, the Governor of North Dakota, is, like Mike Pence prior, a name unfamiliar to most across the country—this is a good thing in the eyes of Mr. Trump. He's no Churchillian orator and lacks the well-rehearsed one-liners of the typical retail politician, nor does he have the ideological fervor of Goldwater or McGovern. However, his track record in the private sector and as governor is noteworthy and commendable.
Mr. Burgum is a tech entrepreneur (no doubt appealing to Mr. Trump's newfound friends in Silicon Valley), a background that will also prove invaluable in this era of artificial intelligence. A Stanford graduate who, per the New York Times, has a penchant for discussing sports and is well known and liked in his state, Mr. Burgum's rise to success in building his Great Plains Software, which later he sold to Microsoft for $1.1 billion, is noteworthy. He later served as a vice president at Microsoft's Business Solutions group before departing in 2007. Having helped found Arthur Ventures, a venture capital company, and the Kilbourne Group, a North Dakota real estate company, his real estate experience is definitely something near and dear to Mr. Trump's heart—someone who, until recently, he'd been relatively distant from.
In 2016, backed by his considerable personal fortune, he was elected Governor of North Dakota, defeating his Democratic opponent with 76 percent of the vote. Under Mr. Burgum’s governorship, North Dakota has become one of the most business-friendly states in the country. Businessman Kevin O'Leary, known as Mr. Wonderful, stated, "My first connection with North Dakota came almost 10 years ago with my investment in PRx Performance...That really opened me up to the possibilities in Fargo, Bismarck, and everywhere else in North Dakota. It’s really about policy...I would never do a fund like this in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, or California. Those states are uninvestable...I’m not having a hard time bringing capital into North Dakota. Who deserves the credit for that? That’s Governor Burgum, the senators, and the people themselves who are voting for policy that’s very pro-business—that’s the bottom line.” Mr. Burgum's repeal of 400 regulations and other red tape, coupled with a commitment to cutting taxes, has resulted in North Dakota being declared by Forbes the best state to start a business for two years in a row, a result of what Mr. O'Leary calls a "golden period" for business growth and investment in the region.
Mr. Burgum is also, like Mr. Trump, no stranger to departing from typical Republican orthodoxy. Mr. Burgum announced in 2021 that North Dakota would, by 2030, become “carbon neutral” by emphasizing and implementing the development of carbon capture technology, like Project Tundra, which is set to be one of the most extensive CCUS facilities in the world, injecting captured CO2 into oilfields, allowing for oil production while keeping CO2 contained underground and cultivating natural gas. Wouldn’t it be prudent for Mr. Trump, whose campaign seems keenly focused on energy and achieving ‘energy dominance,’ to have the assistance of the governor of the nation’s third-largest oil producer?
I felt that Mr. Burgum was the most skilled debater of the eight candidates during the primaries and that, of Mr. Trump's shortlist, he is the one with the fewest faults. Mr. Burgum is calm and steady, always bringing out the facts; his pragmatic, common-sense approach and tested leadership appeal to conservatives and independents alike. He's in sync with Mr. Trump on most issues, is firm on foreign policy, understands the dangers posed by the despots in Beijing and Tehran, and would likely alleviate the fears of voters concerned about Mr. Trump's erraticism. Mr. Burgum would bolster Mr. Trump's campaign and set a solid foundation for the Republican Party in 2028 by offering leadership that balances dynamism with reliability.