Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and recently convicted felon, has reportedly narrowed his VP picks to three men: Florida Senator Marco Rubio (who once called Trump a “con artist”); Senator JD Vance (a former Never Trumper before running for Senate); and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (who, in October, said he would not run as Trump’s VP).
On Monday, Burgum amplified an article published by the conservative Washington Times titled ‘Doug Burgum Calls Economy ‘Big Stick’ US Can Carry Around the World.’
Burgum wrote: “President Trump understands like Teddy Roosevelt did, walk softly and carry a big stick, and U.S. economy is the big stick we can carry around the world.”
President Trump understands like Teddy Roosevelt did, walk softly and carry a big stick, and U.S. economy is the big stick we can carry around the world. https://t.co/Fr3koesncO
— Doug Burgum (@DougBurgum) June 10, 2024
Note: President Roosevelt often used the aphorism “speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far” to describe his approach to foreign policy positions. Perhaps Burgum changed the quote as Trump is not known for speaking softly.
Burgum, if he is chosen, may find himself in the whiplash-inducing position of denigrating the U.S. economy for domestic political purposes, while simultaneously boasting about wielding its unmatched strength to cultivate foreign policy victories.
Burgum is the richest of the purported top VP contenders, with a net worth of approximately $1 billion derived from software entrepreneurship. Burgum’s success as a businessman recommends him as an economics-focused partner for Trump, though business success and political success on the economy don’t always historically align or require the same skill set.
President Herbert Hoover, who presided over the Great Depression and the worst economy in U.S. history, was an internationally famous and wildly successful businessman — an entrepreneur and mining engineer out of, like Burgum, Stanford University — before he became President.