North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) is gunning hard to be Donald Trump’s vice president—or, at least, he’s hitting all the right talking points for the job.
On Fox News’ The Story Wednesday, Burgum responded to a montage of pundits worried about what a Trump presidency could do to American democracy by saying that under Joe Biden, “We’re actually living under a dictatorship today.”
“The Democrats seem to have two strategies,” Burgum said in a clip shared by Mediaite. “One is, ‘Be afraid,’ and the second strategy is, ‘Be even more afraid.’”
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As far as Burgum is concerned, worries about a collapse of democracy under a second Trump term are all hogwash. But Trump opponents’ concerns didn’t spring from nowhere; for months, the former president has ramped up his violent authoritarian rhetoric. At a public event last December in Iowa, he declined to confirm to his buddy Sean Hannity that he would not abuse his power if elected to seek retribution against his political enemies. Instead, he resorted to one of his favorite tactics—trolling.
“Except for day one,” Trump said at the time. “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.” He then repeated himself for emphasis: “We love this guy,” he said of Hannity. “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.’”
On Fox, Burgum persisted, seemingly breezing over the not-so-great things Trump did as president: “President Trump served as our president for four years, and during that time, we had peace and prosperity.”
According to Burgum, Biden’s list of sins is long.
“He’s bypassing Congress on immigration policy. He’s bypassing Congress on protecting our border. He’s bypassing Congress on student loan forgiveness, and he’s defying the Supreme Court,” Burgum said. “I mean, those are things that authoritarians and dictators do.”
