This selection will be all about Trump. Of all the candidates he could select, Burgum fills the one thing that no one else can. He will not upstage the candidate. Pictured: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. Photo Credit: Doug Burgum/X.
In the last one hundred years Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Gerald Ford have assumed the office of the presidency when the president could no longer fulfill his duties because of death or resignation. In 2024, the two oldest men to ever seek the presidency will re-run the 2020 campaign. If ever scrutiny were going to be applied to the decision of a running mate, this would be the year. President Biden has one and is sticking with her. Former president Donald Trump will not be asking former vice-president Mike Pence to join him. He will select a new running mate sometime in the next few weeks. Constitutionally prevented from selecting himself, it looks like it will be North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, although I suspect Trump would prefer to run as a dream team of one.
Several people are being considered to join the Republican ticket. Trump has indicated up to 50 people have been discussed. The ruminations demand great attention because Trump’s caricature from his television show The Apprentice does not veer far from how he operates as a boss. The staff he oversaw during the first term endured ridicule, belittling, scrutiny, and recrimination for the most part. Most of those in his administration were expected to toe the line. His first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, rose to become CEO of MobilExxon through smart dealmaking and hard work. His description of Trump’s undisciplined antics and constant demands provides insight into why this selection will require lengthy deliberation. Trump fired Tillerson after about a year, citing his inability to execute Trump’s decisions, especially on key staff appointments. Tillerson was informed on social media, not receiving a call from Trump for three hours after the announcement was made.
Another member of Trump’s team, Bill Barr, a veteran officer in Republican administrations has described Trump as a “defiant, 9-year-old kid.” Barr, who advised Trump from his post as Attorney General, warned Trump that the stolen election thesis would not hold up in court because the evidence was flimsy, weak, and based on conjecture. Barr ended up leaving the Trump team before Biden’s inauguration and criticized the former president relentlessly until finally endorsing him once Trump had sewn up the nomination. For his part, Trump could not resist reminding everyone in a Truth Social post that he had called Barr, even after Barr announced he would support the Republican ticket, “Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy” for refusing to investigate voter fraud.
Finally, the man who last served on Trump’s ticket, Mike Pence, can testify to Trump’s erratic decision-making. When Pence refused to ignore his constitutional duty to report the electoral vote results, he became a person of no worth in Trump’s world. His lengthy years of devotion and loyalty were rewarded with insults, character assassination, and false accusations of betrayal. Pence has publicly announced his unwillingness to endorse Trump in 2024, a searing example of how poorly many who join Team Trump are treated.
Reacting to Pence’s announcement, Trump commented, “I couldn’t care less. We need patriots. We need strong people in our country. Our country is going downhill very fast … We need strong people in this country, we don’t need weak people.” Trump has left behind a series of burned bridges that would rival a retreating army fleeing for refuge. Selecting a vice president who can maintain the high-wire act of soothing the inner Trump beast will require a person of incredible humility, incomparable restraint, and unprecedented aloofness. He or she will need the skin of an armadillo and the agility of a gazelle.
The people whom Trump will pick from will be men and women who desire power. All will be officeholders or people who have risen to the top of the business field. Finding someone who has held public office at the highest level and will match the qualities Trump demands and needs seems like a fool’s errand, but this author can recommend only one candidate from that bunch. The governor of North Dakota and former presidential candidate, Doug Burgum, displays the temperament that Trump will require as he prepares for this last campaign. Burgum, like Trump, made his money in the world of business. As reported in the Daily Kos, “Burgum got rich from selling Great Plains Software, a manufacturer of small business accounting tools, to Microsoft just months before the economy dived following the burst of the end-of-millennium dot-com bubble. Burgum left the deal with a stack of Microsoft stock and a position as a senior vice president at the tech giant.”
Burgum’s wealth, connections to other billionaires, and playful personality all appeal to Trump. Better yet, Burgum poses no threat to Trump. He is bland, lacks charisma, and does not seem like someone who looks at this appointment as one that will only serve his career ambitions. Trump’s insecurities will require a running mate who can sublimate his interests, re-order his principles to align with Trump’s priorities and be willing to accept direction while executing his superior’s vision. North Dakota’s electoral votes are not in question, but Donald Trump does not make political decisions like JFK, who picked his rival Lyndon Johnson to win Texas. Nor does he accept political reality like Ronald Reagan, the conservative’s conservative who selected the Eastern establishment’s favourite, George H. W. Bush to unite the party.
This selection will be all about Trump. Of all the candidates he could select, Burgum fills the one thing that no one else can. He will not upstage the candidate. He will quietly and confidently advocate for Trump, suppress his ego, and steadfastly pay homage to the only Star in this Republican constellation. Chances are most people have not heard of Burgum. That is music to Trump’s ears. He would avoid picking an underling if he could. He would prefer to run solo. The Burgum pick will fall lightly keeping the attention on Trump, exactly where he wants it.
Dave Redekop is a retired elementary resource teacher who worked part-time at the St. Catharines Courthouse as a Registrar until being appointed Executive Director at Redeemer Bible Church in October 2023. He has worked on political campaigns since high school and attended university in South Carolina for five years, earning a Master’s in American History with a specialization in Civil Rights. Dave loves reading biographies.
