North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who will be on the debate stage Wednesday as a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, said Sunday that he is not yet another "pundit" who will be discussing former President Donald Trump's actions and his indictments as related to the 2020 election.
"There will be segment after segment this morning and all of the pundits lined up, and I'm not running for pundit," Burgum told NBC "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd. "I'm running for president."
Burgum also told Todd, after the host asked him if he believes Trump wanted to overturn the 2020 election results, that he believes there is an "entire cable news industry" built around answering that question.
"We're excited to be on the debate stage as the least known candidate on there," he said. "Any organization I've been involved with, it starts with a leader that you can trust, that's got the character and the integrity and 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."
Further, he said that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and there are "lots of accusations that are being tossed around" not only about Trump but about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
"January is when the first caucuses and primary are, that's when the voters do decide," said Burgum. "I do trust the voters.
"I trust 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."
But, he added, if he becomes "just one more pundit" criticizing all that happened in 2020, "no one's going to see that there's leadership there. "
"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," said Burgum. "This country's got to move forward not backward."
He also refused to answer if he'd pardon Trump, as such questions are "hypothetical" as there have been no trials.
He added that his poll numbers are going up as Americans start to understand his campaign has a "great message" about tackling the "inflation that's choking every American family, how we can start selling energy to our friends and allies and stop buying it from our adversaries, and how we can win the cold war with China … we are working to create an alternative and an option for American voters to understand who can lead this country forward."
Todd also pressed Burgum on whether he would want to see Trump drop out of the race, considering the number of criminal charges he faces, but the governor told him that it is up to the voters who they want to elect.
"If we're going to live in a democracy at some point we've got to trust the voters," Burgum said, adding that if he had "100% name recognition" things might be different with him about criticizing Trump.
"I know from the private sector when we were launching our little company that we built over a period of time [to] over $1 billion, you don't start out by attacking the market share leader," he said. "You start by telling people what you have to offer."
As for Wednesday's debate, Burgum said he believes he'll be successful if he gets the chance to explain who he is and that he's running "to bring out the best of America, and we're going to do that by focusing on the economy, energy, and national security, and these are things that matter to every American."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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