Long-shot Republican presidential candidate Doug Burgum gets his shot on Wednesday to get a word in on foreign policy.
The North Dakota governor, who struggled to be heard in the last GOP presidential primary debate, is scheduled to deliver a “major foreign policy and national security speech” at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.
Campaign officials declined to discuss any details of Burgum’s speech with The Star News Network, saying they had provided an exclusive to another media outlet.
It is likely Burgum will note the escalating Israel-Hamas war following the brutal terrorist attack on one of the United States’ closest allies. Like his rivals for the Republican Party presidential nomination, Burgum has blamed President Joe Biden for what the candidates assert is the Democrat’s coddling of Iran and the jihadist terrorist groups like Hamas it sponsors.
“This is pure evil. Evil made possible by Iran, which just got $6 billion from the Biden Administration,” Burgum wrote Tuesday in a response to a Townhall story detailing the depravity of Hamas.
This is pure evil. Evil made possible by Iran, which just got $6 billion from the Biden Administration. https://t.co/8TjBjCPYye
— Doug Burgum (@DougBurgum) October 10, 2023
The small state governor who became a billionaire in the software industry launched his campaign in early June — a campaign built on “small town values.” But his focus on economic, energy, and national security has generated comparatively little support in a race dominated by former President Donald Trump.
As of Tuesday, Burgum was running at less than a percentage point nationally (0.8 percent), in eighth place just ahead of former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (0.5 percent), according to the latest RealClearPolitics latest average of national GOP presidential primary polls. He’s also running in eighth place in the first caucus state, Iowa, but polling better by the numbers at 2.2 percent. Burgum is at 1.8 percent in New Hampshire, which will host the first primary in the 2024 presidential nomination process.
After tearing his Achilles tendon in a pickup basketball game before the Republican National Committee’s first primary debate in August, Burgum made it into last month’s second debate by the skin of his teeth. He has complained about the RNC’s “clubhouse rules” in keeping “fresh faces” off the debate stage. The billionaire had to give out $20 gift cards in exchange for a minimum $1 donation to meet the individual donor threshold for the first debate and bombed the airwaves and voter smartphones with ads to get his polling numbers up just enough to make the cut for the second debate.
The governor was rarely called on in that candidate face-off, speaking a total of about 7 minutes and 40 seconds, dead least among the seven candidates. It wasn’t for lack of trying. Burgum interrupted his fellow candidates and the moderators several times, at one point facing the threat of having his microphone turned off.
But he did score some points with viewers and pundits, particularly in addressing the death knell of electric vehicles chiming to striking United Auto Workers assembly line employees. EVs are a big part of Big Labor ally Biden’s sweeping climate change agenda, and they are anticipated to cost a lot of automaker jobs.
With each debate comes increased polling requirements, and unless Burgum catches fire in the coming weeks, it’s likely his lackluster poll numbers will shut him out of next month’s debate.
But Burgum insists he’s in it to win it, at least through the New Hampshire primary.
His foreign policy and national security speech on Wednesday afternoon before the renowned Hudson Institute will provide the long-shot candidate ample time to lay out his vision of America’s future on the world stage.
Burgum’s speech follows fellow GOP presidential nominee contender and U.S. Senator Tim Scott’s address before the Hudson Institute on Tuesday.
Scott talked about standing with Israel, Biden being complicit in the attacks, and Hamas needing to be wiped off the face of the earth.
The conservative think tank has made it clear where it stands on the United States’ latest geopolitical challenge in the Middle East.
“Hudson Institute will always stand on the side of Israel,” the organization underscored in a statement this week.
“What we have seen in Israel over the last 48 hours was not just an act of war, it was an act of barbarity and depravity. Israel’s immediate priority will be the defeat of Hamas and its partners. The United States should provide any assistance and support necessary in that effort, for as long as it takes,” the institute stated.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Doug Burgum” by Doug Burgum.
