In this episode, we speak with Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Both are important with perspectives on how to restore American prosperity, to gain back voters, and to take back power in November. We cover a lot of strategy, strategy, policy, and solutions, and we ve got a lot to cover in this episode. We re talking about how to win back control of the U.S. Senate, how to get America back on track, and what to do about it all. We re also talking about why you should get registered to vote early and be sure to get their friends to the polls early to make sure they vote for President Donald Trump in the mid-terms. And we re giving you 10% off your first order at 1775 Coffee Coffee. 1775's coffee is a farm-to-cup process that means there s quality, authenticity, and sustainability from start to finish. All the beans are ethically sourced from the finest farms in Bolivia. And you don t want to give your money to some woke coffee chain that hates your guts and is actually taking your hard earned money and funding it against you. That s how we take on the world. And that's how we push back. You can also find more coverage of this show and all of my top stories on my news app, MXM News. You can get that, you know, on the Apple Podcasts app, where you get the message out there! on the things that matter most. You ve got it on the ground. and you ve got the chance to see the message that matters most. - Don Jr., D-O-J-R. Don Jr. Tweet me to let me know what you think of this episode of Trigger Tips! Timestamps: and . Tweet Me! or or DM me to say what you re listening to this episode is your favorite episode of the show! and what you ve been listening to? Timedepotes: or have a question or would you like to respond to it? or what you d like to hear from me on the show? and/or what s your thoughts on what s going to be in the next episode? ;) Timestep Thanks for listening to Trigger Tips? - Timedotes: 0:35 - What s your favorite part?
00:06:19.000Both are really important with perspectives on how to restore American prosperity, to gain back voters, and to take back power in November.
00:06:30.000We'll be speaking with Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
00:06:37.000Two different perspectives, one from the federal level representing the states, the other being
00:06:42.000the CEO of a state with what's going on, people who understand at the highest levels.
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00:09:23.000Incredible Senator from the great state of Tennessee, Senator Marsha Blackburn.
00:09:28.000Senator, there's so much to get into with everything that's going on right now.
00:09:33.000I feel like we're oftentimes living a simulation.
00:09:36.000The discord between Washington and sort of the people that they're elected to represent seems perhaps bigger than we've ever seen it before.
00:09:44.000But I want to start by getting your big picture view On the trajectory of the country as a whole under Joe Biden, how confident are you that we can actually get this country back on track, given how far we've gone off the rails?
00:10:37.000And of course, my instruction to them is to, first of all, get registered to vote if they're not.
00:10:44.000Be sure all their families registered to vote.
00:10:47.000Get their friends to the polls to vote early and be sure that they vote for President Donald Trump.
00:10:55.000And that is a way that we're going to get this country back on track.
00:10:59.000And thank goodness that people are paying attention.
00:11:03.000Yeah, and I think, you know, obviously the president's a big one.
00:11:05.000You've seen sort of what sort of the stroke of the pen on some of these insane executive orders from Joe Biden can be.
00:11:11.000But I think it's important for people to also get involved all the way down the line.
00:11:15.000I mean, I think we've given up so much as a country by, you know, not being involved in, let's call it, you know, the school board races.
00:11:21.000I mean, at this point, I think we have to get involved in the dog catcher races because, candidly, the left will and they'll figure out a weapon, a way to weaponize all that.
00:12:03.000I guess these days, there's been a lot of pushback from the America First base on this recent foreign aid package.
00:12:09.000Obviously, we're talking about $60 billion more for Ukraine, more for Taiwan, more for Israel.
00:12:17.000And you're one of the few people that pushed back on this in the United States Senate.
00:12:22.000One of the few Republicans, actually, that pushed back.
00:12:24.000It would put you in the minority there a lot.
00:12:27.000Do you see the misplaced priorities in Washington?
00:12:30.000I think many Americans feel like Washington's just literally putting foreign borders above our own and it's sort of hard to disagree with them at this point.
00:13:38.000But we have to have a strong America in order to make sure they don't win.
00:13:45.000When you have terrorists, when you have people that are from countries of interest coming into our border, you know you have to make certain we tend to our border first so that we never have another 9-11.
00:14:02.000Yeah, I mean, there's no question some of that's happening right now.
00:14:05.000I mean, you know, everyone, the Democrats sound, but they're going to make our country better.
00:14:09.000It's like, I'm not, you know, I'm not sure.
00:14:10.000It doesn't seem like what I'm seeing coming across, the people beating up cops in New York.
00:14:14.000They weren't making their country better.
00:14:16.000I don't know that they're going to make our country better.
00:14:20.000I mean, this reminds me sort of, you know, what happened in Cuba, you know, where they just sort of, hey, you know what?
00:14:27.000Take all the criminals, just get them out of our system.
00:14:31.000Yeah. And send them to America, because there's almost no other way to interpret a lot of what's going on, especially when you see the video of all these sort of fighting age males at the border.
00:14:39.000This is not a sort of a cross-section of the countries that they're fleeing.
00:14:43.000It's very specific. Yes, and in a three-month period of time when you have 24,000 Chinese, mostly young men of military age that are coming to that border, we know there's a better way to address this.
00:14:58.000Let me take you back in history, recent history a little bit.
00:15:01.000When Barack Obama was president in Crimea, The issue with Russia going into Crimea.
00:15:08.000Obama sent them blankets and meals ready to eat.
00:17:35.000You're in these meetings. You're in these closed-door meetings.
00:17:37.000Have they articulated what victory means?
00:17:40.000Other than, you know, what I see is, which is like the elimination of every, you know, man, woman, and child in Russia, which it seems like, you know, that's what they're going for.
00:17:48.000And the problem is all you're getting is a lot of that into Ukraine.
00:19:14.000What is going for What is going for military aid?
00:19:20.000The American people deserve to know because this is not government's money, it's the people's money.
00:19:27.000Yeah, and the fact that, I mean, they seem so just wanton waste with it.
00:19:31.000You know, there has been no accountability.
00:19:33.000You say, oh, well, we lost, you know, the Pentagon lost another $220 billion or $250 billion.
00:19:37.000I mean, like if we, you know, the same government that wants to audit our bank accounts if we have a $601 Venmo account is fine losing $220 billion.
00:19:48.000Billion with a B. Like, it's unfathomable.
00:19:51.000Now, of course, I'm sure that's more money that's getting sent to Ukraine in other roundabout ways, but we're creating an oligarchic class of billionaire that's just pilfering from it, and our even Republican senators seem, you know, with perhaps yourself, I know Bill Haggerty was against it, obviously, you know, J.D. Vance, but...
00:20:14.000There may be two or three others, but it's shocking to me that no one else wants to even know where this kind of money is.
00:20:21.000This is money that could build schools, that could do so much to take care of our veterans at home, and those people aren't even considered anymore.
00:20:30.000The American people that I speak to literally feel like they're second-class citizens in their own country oftentimes, and again, it's also hard to argue with that.
00:20:38.000Well, and you're exactly right, because when you look at the federal government budget, it should be about priorities.
00:20:45.000And it seems many times that our veterans, that people right here at home, are not the priority.
00:20:54.000And what we would like to do is change this.
00:20:58.000You know there is a concept I've been working on which would initiate government reform system-wide because we're $34 trillion in debt.
00:21:09.000And what we need to do is freeze federal spending, federal hiring, and federal salaries.
00:21:18.000And then we need to move these agencies out of Washington, D.C. and begin to drain the swamp
00:21:27.000and turn this government back to being a representative government and a government of, by, and for the people.
00:21:37.000Because right now, the people are not trusting what they're hearing and seeing from this administration.
00:21:44.000And they see every day there's two tiers of access, two tiers of treatment, and definitely two tiers of justice.
00:21:55.000And they're tired of it because they're the ones footing the bill.
00:22:01.000And this is not what they expect from their government.
00:22:06.000Well, I mean, I think a lot of this really raises the larger questions about, you know, what role do we want our government to have in our lives?
00:22:13.000I mean, it seems some, you know, just an all-encompassing role.
00:22:16.000They will, you know, govern me harder.
00:22:21.000And it seems like on the issues that matter most, like protecting our border and protecting public safety, the drug trafficking and human trafficking crisis, We see Democrats, and again, even some of these Republicans, especially in the Senate, where there's just so many few fighters, they're literally failing to meet the moment.
00:22:38.000They are not in tune, even remotely, with the people that they're there to represent.
00:22:48.000You have some of the same problem, but not nearly as much.
00:22:51.000But in the Senate, the disunion between the people they're there to represent and the desires of the Washington, D.C., whether it's the swamp, the beltway, the deep state, it's so crazy that it can be that far off, and yet people still keep getting elected.
00:23:20.000We don't live in D.C. And when you're out and about, and I visit with every one of our 95 counties every single year, and you're hearing firsthand from people, about the impact of the border, the impact of inflation, their concerns over national security, their concerns about our young men and women who are in the military, their concerns about a lack of a defined strategy to protect the sovereignty of this nation,
00:23:55.000and their concerns about economic security, job security, access to healthcare, These are real live issues that people are dealing with every single day.
00:24:09.000And I find it so interesting that there are people that are not home and talking to people every weekend.
00:24:22.000And that there's There is that divide between the way some people, not all, but some people that vote, and what you hear when you look at polling are issues that are prevalent in their states and districts, And you wonder how there can be such a separation.
00:24:48.000But I think it's one of the reasons it makes 2024 so vitally important that we elect people that are going to represent
00:24:59.000our views, like I said, from the courthouse to the statehouse to the White House, because they are.
00:25:07.000You've got elected officials that are out of touch at each of these areas and people with their hard earned tax
00:25:18.000dollars, hardworking people are the ones that are paying for government to be in place in their communities, in
00:25:53.000Because the people knew you, and you knew the people.
00:25:56.000You actually spent that time in the state that they understood exactly what it is.
00:26:00.000So the biggest pop star or whatever can do their nonsense and make it political, and yet it didn't actually matter because you're out there actually talking and listening to the people.
00:26:11.000Too many others in Washington, D.C., they moved to Washington, D.C. They represent X, Y, Z state, but they don't even go back to visit anymore.
00:26:22.000Well, and that is why I think it's not a great idea for people that are in the House and the Senate to live in Washington, D.C., because you lose that proximity.
00:26:34.000You know, yesterday at church, I had a woman come to me and she said, I am more worried than I have ever been, and I worry every single day.
00:26:47.000And she has kids that are in college and are just finishing college.
00:26:54.000And she's worried for them about the potential for their careers.
00:27:33.000You see so many illegals being involved in all of these crimes that you're seeing reported.
00:27:38.000And I guess the Biden administration recently, or in the last week, issued an order that will shield Palestinians in the United States from deportation for 18 months via a program called, I guess, Deferred Enforcement Departure.
00:27:53.000This comes amid major concerns about Hamas-linked extremists that are already here in the country.
00:28:01.000You saw some of the lunacy after the October attacks happening on college campuses and in major cities across the country.
00:28:11.000What level of concern do you have about this order and how it seems to protect...
00:28:17.000A class of people that could, some I'm sure are great and others could be absolutely terrible.
00:28:23.000We're just going to give them blanket immunity for 18 months?
00:28:27.000Again, the second class citizen in your own country concept seems to ring a bell each and every time I see one of these orders coming out of Biden's White House.
00:28:42.000When I heard about Biden's order of protection that was there for Palestinians, it caused me to think back through his entire administration.
00:28:57.000He has done everything he possibly can do to make illegal immigration legal.
00:29:04.000Now, when President Trump left the White House, we had the securest border that we had had.
00:29:10.000We didn't have large numbers of terrorists coming to our border or people of interest,
00:29:16.000nor did we have hundreds of thousands of people coming in a month.
00:29:20.000We had what was considered to be a secure border, a wall going up.
00:29:29.000Joe Biden comes in on day one, and he begins to execute executive memos, executive actions, executive orders that are going to weaken not only border security but immigration law.
00:29:46.000In his first 100 days, he took 94 actions.
00:29:53.000Ninety-four. To make the border more open and to weaken immigration law.
00:30:04.000Last year, Border Patrol told us we had people from 170 different countries come to the border.
00:30:13.000If you look at the month of December alone, December 2023, When you had people from China, from Russia, Iran, you had people from Syria, from Pakistan, you had people that were coming in from countries of interest, and they were coming in not just in ones or twos or threes.
00:30:41.000Don, they're coming in the hundreds and thousands.
00:30:45.000Now, this should be alarming to each and every one of us.
00:30:50.000The fact that on Joe Biden's watch, you have had north of 300 known terrorists on that watch list that have come to that southern border.
00:31:01.000Now, all of these numbers that I've just used, they're in the ones that Border Patrol intercepted.
00:31:10.000Think about the gotaways and the numbers that are in those known and unknown gotaways.
00:31:18.000That's where the really bad guys are because they're smuggling in the drugs.
00:31:25.000They're smuggling in people that have criminal backgrounds.
00:31:31.000And you referenced earlier the criminals that were being cleared out of the jails in Cuba and sent across into the U.S., These are not people that are coming here for economic activity.
00:31:46.000We have seen that in New York with the beating up of police by the Venezuelan gangs.
00:31:52.000So, of course, people are right to be concerned and they're right to question what this administration is doing about that issue of border security because it is where our foreign policy Yeah, the fact that that one, you know, we all understand what they're doing.
00:32:19.000They're importing a voter base because they're losing the base here that would vote for these ridiculous Democrat policies.
00:32:25.000And if they create dependence, you know, I guess that's a win for them, you know, playing the long game if you're a Democrat.
00:32:31.000The fact that there's literally no concern as it relates to the terrorism side of things.
00:32:36.000You know, again, the terrorists are going to be well-funded.
00:32:39.000If they've caught 300, imagine how many thousands got across because they are a little bit better funded.
00:33:06.000I mean, they're putting their own children into harm's way, and they couldn't care less, which tells you really everything about their thoughts and views of our country as a whole, and that should scare everyone a lot.
00:33:18.000Well, it should scare everyone alive because when you look at the way this administration tries to encourage lawlessness, you can look at the defund the police agenda.
00:33:33.000You can look at the disrespect and so many other issues that are there that affect our culture and affect society.
00:33:43.000And this push to make illegal legal, finding ways for illegal immigration.
00:33:52.000I think that it, and all of that leads into that two tiers of treatment, two tiers of access, two tiers of justice in our country.
00:34:03.000And there again, this is what people are growing really tired of.
00:34:08.000So, legislatively, you've also, speaking of sort of safety, our kids are, you know, first and foremost in my mind, you've recently co-sponsored a bill called the Kids' Online Safety Act.
00:34:17.000I guess that would place new restrictions on big tech platforms and the content that they can show to children.
00:34:24.000We see some of the stuff in its lunacy.
00:34:26.000You know, I know you're not allowed to use the word groomers anymore, but you see a lot of very nefarious groups doing something that could...
00:34:34.000Could be described as nothing other than grooming.
00:34:37.000But there's been a lot of pushback on the legislation that could be used as a tool for censorship and stuff like that.
00:34:45.000But I see that coming out from some rather odd groups.
00:34:49.000Can you explain the law and what it would actually mean in practice?
00:34:53.000Because there's, I'm sure, a very big discord between the law that you helped write and the way it's being spun by, let's call it the...
00:35:02.000You know, trans mafia, you know, and others out there that are doing their thing, but with the full assistance probably of big tech and the mainstream media.
00:35:12.000Well, the Kids Online Safety Act is a piece of legislation Senator Blumenthal and I have worked on in a bipartisan manner for the last three years.
00:35:23.000We are so pleased that we've been able to work through this process to the point we now have 60 Senate members who are co-sponsors that join us on this legislation.
00:35:42.000This is a safety by design and puts the responsibility on big tech to make certain that the virtual space is going to be a safe space for our children.
00:36:01.000It requires that these social media platforms go through An audit every single year to make certain they're complying with the law it requires them to open their algorithms and to give parents and kids the ability to set those settings in a manner That they're not going to be constantly fed all of this about eating disorders and videos on how to commit suicide or self-harm, or they're not going to be meeting pedophiles and drug dealers in the virtual space.
00:36:44.000And Don, there is a mental health crisis with our nation's teens and young people, and You can go talk to all sorts of pediatricians, psychiatrists, school principals, teachers, parents, and they will tell you much of it
00:37:05.000is because of what kids are exposed to online.
00:37:10.000And- Oh, 100%, like you didn't see these things.
00:37:12.000There was no, all of, you know, you mentioned, whether it was teen suicide,
00:37:17.000whether it was sort of the, you know, I decided to be trans at five, you know,
00:37:21.000all of these things, they never existed until we just sort of started force-feeding it.
00:37:27.000And the algorithms, frankly, have been so favorable to that.
00:37:30.000I mean, I always say that today, the radical trans movement in America
00:37:34.000is by far the most privileged class in society.
00:37:37.000They can do literally nothing wrong in the eyes of the mainstream media and big tech,
00:37:41.000and therefore, you know, the world more broadly.
00:37:45.000But where's the pushback coming from on something like this?
00:37:49.000I mean, this feels like, again, the perfect sort of Chinese PSYOP
00:37:53.000if you're trying to destroy a country, attack the youth, make them confused,
00:37:57.000give them all sorts of, just literally create out of thin air
00:38:01.000all these disorders that wouldn't otherwise exist.
00:38:07.000Because it feels like this is something that should be 100% of the United States Senate on board, not just 60%.
00:38:13.000And let me say, this is not a censorship bill.
00:38:17.000There is nothing in this bill that is about censorship.
00:38:22.000This is a bill to protect children in the virtual space and give them the tools that they need so that they can control what is coming in on their feeds.
00:38:36.000But, you know, Senator Blumenthal and I have said time and again, The big tech companies have had an army of lawyers and lobbyists that have fought having the Kids Online Safety Act.
00:38:56.000When kids are online, they are the product.
00:39:01.000And what they have to do is keep them online longer because when they're online longer, the data is richer and they get those eyeballs and the valuation of these tech companies is set on how long they can keep your eyeballs glued to the screen.
00:39:24.000So, the longer kids are watching, the more money they are making.
00:39:29.000And I think this is why in our hearing a couple of weeks ago when I confronted Mark Zuckerberg about all the pornography and the sex trafficking issues And he said, Didn't want to answer that.
00:40:00.000But what he did was to push back because I told him, I said, it seems as if you're developing the premier sex trafficking platform for teens.
00:42:40.000Honestly, the pushback is so ridiculous.
00:42:42.000It's as though they're acknowledging what you're saying is 100% right, but it doesn't matter because the money's worth it and they couldn't care less.
00:42:48.000And I'm not just saying even from the tech platforms.
00:42:50.000I'm saying from some of the affected communities who seem to have weaponized a lot of this to create from your children what they'd love in the world.
00:43:02.000And it's absolutely sad to see it going on right now.
00:43:06.000It really is. And we're just determined.
00:43:09.000We're so grateful for the 60 senators that have joined us.
00:43:13.000We're grateful for the 200-plus organizations that have come out in support of the legislation.
00:43:21.000And we know that the parents who have been so effective are, they are working Capitol Hill to try to get this passed
00:44:35.000And I guess lastly, really more broadly, I'd love you to talk about sort of the state of the 2024 race, the momentum you see from not just my father's campaign, but from other conservatives that need to get in there.
00:44:48.000I think we thought we had a lot more of it in 22, and that wasn't the case.
00:44:54.000You didn't get sort of the red wave that based on The data, based on common sense, should have been.
00:45:01.000What issues do you think are going to decide this election in November?
00:45:10.000As I said, this is the impact people feel in their lives and in their communities every day.
00:45:15.000And every sheriff, every police officer I meet with says, Marsha, we cannot handle the drug issues, the human trafficking, the sex trafficking, until you secure that southern border.
00:45:31.000And they want to see this administration, and they certainly want I want to see the Trump administration that will begin in 2025 secure that southern border.
00:45:46.000And the amount that you are paying at the grocery store and what you're paying at the pump to fill up the car, that is just People can't make ends meet.
00:46:01.000And when you see the price of groceries, the price of clothing, and then you hear the White House say, oh, inflation's only 3.5%.
00:46:15.000Sure it is. I'm the son of a billionaire, Senator, you know, from Manhattan.
00:46:21.000And like, honestly, I'm pissed off when I go to the supermarket.
00:46:25.000You know, if I feel it, I promise you, it's much more tangible to real Americans.
00:46:31.000I'm self-aware enough to realize that and that the fact that our White House is not probably tells us all we need to know.
00:48:21.000They know what they're paying when they check out at the grocery store and what they were paying a few years ago or even last year or the year before.
00:48:34.000Yeah, they also realize that if you have a hard time spending $75 to fill up your tank, you're probably not buying a $75,000 electric vehicle.
00:48:43.000You know, just minor details like that.
00:48:50.000Really appreciate you fighting back, really, in the United States, especially.
00:48:55.000We need more warriors out there, so I'm glad you're doing some of that bidding.
00:49:00.000Great to have you. So Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, folks, check her out, follow her, and support those who are actually fighting back.
00:49:28.000He's one of the most entrepreneurial governors that are out there, so don't go anywhere.
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00:50:35.000And joining me now, folks, North Dakota governor, former presidential candidate, great all-around guy, tech entrepreneur, all of the things we probably actually could use some more from our politicians.
00:50:55.000And I'd like to start by giving you a chance to introduce yourself to the audience.
00:50:59.000Obviously, you ran for president, but because you didn't just take pot shots at Trump, they weren't going to give you a lot of the attention.
00:51:06.000I actually said, hey, after the first debate, I said, you know what?
00:51:10.000That guy actually is speaking common sense.
00:51:13.000And he's got an interesting story because you actually come from the business world that so few of our politicians actually come from.
00:51:20.000So you have an interesting story about a career in tech and a business and then getting into politics.
00:51:27.000But you were born and raised in North Dakota, went to Stanford Business School, built an incredible business.
00:51:32.000Can you give a little bit of a rundown of your story, how you went from that to politics?
00:51:37.000Because I think it's pretty fascinating.
00:51:39.000Well, thank you, Don, and great to be with you, and thanks for all you do for the country and your family.
00:54:02.000And I tell you, as a governor, having a chance to be a governor under President Trump or now being a governor under Joe Biden, it's a world of difference.
00:54:11.000It's win at your back versus win at your face.
00:54:14.000Well, I want to, you know, unpackage the, you know, sort of, you know, bet the farm, because you quite literally bet the farm on this thing, which is sort of, you know, maybe the American dream.
00:55:39.000You've got to You know, education, healthcare, all these things that you have to do, water projects, infrastructure.
00:55:46.000And the framework that you set in terms of tax and regulatory can either attract talent and capital to your state and your economy thrives, you know, or you can have a regulatory approach and drive capital away.
00:56:00.000And so in North Dakota, we just say innovation, not regulation.
00:56:03.000And that matched so much with the Trump administration.
00:56:07.000You know, with President Trump, What we had was someone who actually understood that the states created the federal government, not the other way around.
00:56:16.000We were treated as operating leaders that were leading states.
00:56:20.000Under the Biden administration, it's nonstop.
00:56:40.000I mean, everything about it, economy, energy, national security, which includes border security, 180 degrees in the wrong direction under Joe Biden.
00:56:47.000And we were going in the right direction.
00:56:50.000And so it is one of the reasons that I'm supporting President Trump is because it's so important for the country for us to get going in the right direction again.
00:56:59.000Yeah, how is the impact on the energy sector?
00:57:01.000Obviously, that's a big one in North Dakota.
00:57:04.000It's a big deal for our country, but I also feel it's not just the business side of that.
00:57:09.000It's also security, not taking oil and gas from Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terror, or Venezuela, a regime even this administration didn't recognize before they basically made it impossible for us to do these things.
00:57:24.000How has that affected the state, and are the people feeling it and understanding what's going on?
00:57:29.000Well, you're spot on, Don, on these issues because you cannot separate energy from national security and from global stability.
00:57:37.000And the Biden administration, it's unbelievable what they're doing with Russia.
00:57:42.000Our Swiss cheese sanctions on Russia has turned Russia into one of the largest exporters of oil and gas.
00:57:50.000And of course, who are they selling to?
00:57:52.000China, Iran. They're selling half of their production now.
00:57:56.000their sanctions are off, it's going to China.
00:57:58.000China's refilling their strategic petroleum reserve at discount prices at a time when Joe Biden
00:58:04.000drained our strategic petroleum reserve in half ahead of the midterms just to get price down at the pump.
00:58:09.000He turned a strategic, meaning like when World War III comes strategic,
00:58:13.000he turned a strategic petroleum reserve into a political tool to help gain votes.
00:58:18.000And you mentioned Venezuela. Six and a half million people have fled this corrupt country, many of them piling into our southern border.
00:58:25.000I was just down at the border on Friday, one of the top three countries where people are coming from, Venezuela.
00:58:55.000Do you think this administration looks at you differently because of that as well?
00:58:59.000Or is this sort of, you know, artificially trying to help the blue states and the crazy policies associated therewith while sort of disproportionately affecting your states?
00:59:13.000Under President Trump, when we had the global pandemic, if there was resources being distributed to the states, it was being distributed on a per capita basis.
00:59:22.000I mean, everybody's got people, count the number of people, give them their percentage share of support.
00:59:28.000When Joe Biden immediately got in, they changed the formulas and said, no, we're going to give money to the places that had the highest unemployment.
00:59:35.000Well, that meant that it was going to blue metros, you know, that were all on lockdown.
00:59:40.000All these sanctuary cities got way more money per capita than a place like North Dakota that was open.
00:59:46.000And right now, today, we've got among the lowest unemployment and the highest workforce participation in the nation.
00:59:51.000So we got less. So the bad policies that hurt our students and hurt America got more money, and the people that were doing it right got less.
00:59:59.000It's just blatant. And then take the student loan stuff.
01:00:04.000I mean, the forgiveness for student loans.
01:00:05.000In North Dakota, we've got a student loan program at the state level where every kid that's got a student loan is actually paying their loans.
01:00:12.000So when he's doing student loan forgiveness, it doesn't help anybody in North Dakota.
01:00:16.000It helps the people that voted for him.
01:00:18.000So these are the largest political payoffs in the history of the country that the Biden administration is driving, and they're driving it back to the places that voted for them.
01:00:28.000Well, I think without question, when I think of the oil workers, guys that are making really good salaries, didn't go spend $300,000 to get a degree in underwater basket weaving that could never possibly pay itself back.
01:00:43.000You don't need a master's degree to realize that many of these degrees and doctorals that are being pursued in academia today, there's no value to them.
01:00:53.000If you want to educate yourself, that's great, but You're sticking that burden on a roughneck who's working his ass off in an oil field but making a good living.
01:01:04.000I mean, that's a tax on that guy who made intelligent decisions, who made the right decision for himself, who decided to work, who's making a six-figure living without the burden of debt, and now you're asking that guy to To pay for some rainbow-haired kid that spent 15 years in school and still has no marketable skills.
01:01:29.000And honestly, that should outrage everyone who made those sort of responsible decisions.
01:01:36.000And honestly, even if you're the one that did the other things, they should understand just how pathetic they are asking for those people to pay off their loans.
01:01:44.000They think of themselves as so much better and they're the elite.
01:01:46.000But the reality is in this world, they can't even take care of themselves.
01:01:51.000Well, it's so right and people should be outraged.
01:01:55.000And people in North Dakota are outraged because our country was built on a simple principle.
01:02:18.000But It is the definition of unfairness, and it erodes the whole core of our country.
01:02:25.000So, I guess you have an interesting story with what you talked about.
01:02:27.000At Stanford, you ended up making friends with Steve Ballemer, who became the CEO of Microsoft.
01:02:33.000I mean, you're a farm guy from North Dakota that made it big in Silicon Valley and in big tech.
01:02:42.000You know, how, what was that like, right?
01:02:45.000I mean, you see Silicon Valley today is maybe different than Silicon Valley in the 80s.
01:02:49.000I mean, sort of the heart of liberal extremism.
01:02:52.000And I'm not even sure the smart guys believe it, but the problem is, at this point, you know, the inmates are running the asylum over there.
01:03:05.000How did they persist? What would they be like today, being a conservative governor with businesses that started off in tech and perhaps the antithesis of what you started off as?
01:03:18.000Well, at the beginning, there wasn't much politics in Silicon Valley.
01:03:22.000You want to call that as sort of, even though we were never there, we were always based in North Dakota building this global company.
01:03:53.000And then somewhere along the line in the last 10 years, things have got twisted and you've got a group I feel like Silicon Valley's split.
01:04:02.000There's people that are literally splitting.
01:04:04.000They're moving to Nevada, Texas, Florida.
01:04:07.000They're getting out of there because of the high taxes and because of the whole idea that somehow there's a set of ideals that are opposed to the whole capitalism which created the wealth in the first place.
01:04:19.000Nothing is crazier than You know, billionaires that are supporting Biden.
01:04:24.000I don't get what it is that they're trying to achieve when they made their money, they achieved their success, they created these jobs because of free markets, because of competition, and not because of some Some ideology that's coming out of the liberal elite coast.
01:04:41.000So right now, I think there's a big split.
01:04:45.000But still, there's an opportunity going forward.
01:04:47.000I'm very optimistic that we have an opportunity with what's coming with AI. We have an opportunity to shrink government.
01:05:06.000You know, drive for three hours to a DMV motor vehicle site to get a number to wait in line to get a driver's license when they've got a job and they're working when we could just have them renew their driver's license online on their phone and never have to drive anywhere and we don't need the building we don't need The person behind the glass that's dealing with all of the paperwork.
01:05:28.000I mean, there's so much waste in government and coming in as a tech guy and a business guy, watching how we've been able to automate and drive costs out.
01:05:37.000I mean, I think that That even every single federal employee, 20% of their job is some mind-numbing, soul-sucking work that they don't want to do.
01:05:47.000And if you come in with the right ideas, you could take out, you know, 20% out of every agency without changing one thing and you'd have better services.
01:05:55.000Then you could say, well, maybe we don't even need these agencies.
01:06:02.000Government is 20 years behind the private sector in just applying basic common business principles that would serve the taxpayers like the customers that they are.
01:06:12.000So it's an interesting thing, I mean, with AI, I mean, obviously you see the government bureaucracy growing, you know, as AI, you know, I remember when it sort of started, all the journalists were like, oh, you farmers better learn to code, but it seems like they're the ones that are being displaced, you know, the guys that kind of sit behind a desk, ultimately, you know, sort of, you know, lawyers, some of the white collar jobs, you know, a journeyman lawyer can be replaced with AI, probably in the not too distant future.
01:06:38.000As it relates to those government bureaucracies, though, do you think AI, What are those people going to do?
01:06:44.000I mean, if you're a bureaucrat, you're not really good at much.
01:06:47.000You're pushing a little bit of paper back and forth.
01:06:49.000When they're displaced by AI, what happens to those people?
01:06:52.000Again, you're not displacing a roughneck in an oil field anytime soon, a farmer, a job, a carpenter, something that needs to be there, those blue-collar jobs you're actually not getting rid of.
01:07:04.000A lot of the white-collar jobs are probably...
01:07:07.000They can be dispensed with like that with the rate that the technology is improving.
01:07:11.000What do you think happens there both good and bad?
01:07:15.000Well, I think that displacement would be great for America because when you've got government jobs, it's producing cost, not value.
01:07:24.000And if we can move those jobs out of a place where they're costing taxpayers and get them back in the private sector, maybe they've got to be re-skilled to find those jobs.
01:07:34.000We have 10 million jobs open in America.
01:07:36.000There's never been a better time to reduce the size of government than right now.
01:07:40.000And we can increase the productivity of the country, which increases our GDP, lowers the burden of taxes on everybody.
01:07:46.000But part of that is, you know, if we could get, you know, hundreds of thousands, if not a million, you know, workers out of government at the state and federal level and get them back in the private sector, that would be fantastic right now.
01:08:00.000And Don, as you understand it, it's these white collar, middle level jobs that are just pushing paper.
01:08:06.000Those are the ones that are going to be displaced very rapidly.
01:08:08.000Yeah. Yeah, the people that were all about the learn to code when it first came out, they're finding out very quickly that they may have to learn to code.
01:08:16.000I think that's sort of one of the great cell phones of all time.
01:08:20.000When they were talking about, again, the guys working on the oil pipeline, well, they should just learn to code.
01:08:24.000It's like, I'm watching the journalists just be displaced.
01:08:37.000It's sort of the reverse of what they thought was going to happen.
01:08:39.000They're the ones that are actually easily replaced.
01:08:42.000Yeah, and I can tell you right now for both the big push we're making in North Dakota with career and technical education starting at the K-12 level and going up through our two-year and our four-year universities that we have, you know, if you want to go into, you know, ag equipment repair today, You're a computer scientist.
01:09:03.000I mean, a combine, a tractor, these things, it's software and computers on wheels.
01:09:07.000The level of sophistication, the GPS, the autonomy.
01:09:10.000I mean, the one thing the liberal elite completely underestimates, you know, you put North Dakota farmers up against anyway, the ones that are still in business are so sophisticated in their use of technology.
01:09:20.000And we've got a number of things going on at the state level right now.
01:09:25.000We've got one of the largest autonomous efforts going on on an unmanned aerial system.
01:09:30.000We got the only place in the nation where we've got beyond visual line of flight capability.
01:09:36.000And now we got 42 unmanned aerial system startups that are here in a cluster around this test site.
01:09:41.000And we're building out the software system that the whole nation will end up using for air traffic control for detect and avoid when we end up because there's going to be 10 times as many unmanned aerial systems in the air as there are manned.
01:09:53.000So we're on the leading edge of technology here across a number of things.
01:09:57.000And those jobs, we need people to fill those jobs, people that understand this technology.
01:10:04.000We don't need people that are pushing paper and raising costs for Americans.
01:10:10.000I mean, I guess, you know, I want to ask a little bit more about that entrepreneurial spirit because, I mean, you've quite literally been called America's best entrepreneurial governor.
01:10:18.000You know, how does business experience help you navigating in politics?
01:10:22.000You know, it was interesting for me sort of entering this world eight years ago, and I know we had some fun back in 16 up in North Dakota getting you elected, but...
01:10:31.000In business, I knew what people's motivations were.
01:10:37.000Everyone's looking to jump on that next campaign or figuring out their next grift or some other leak that gets them a favor somewhere else.
01:10:45.000What did you find the biggest difference between running a company and ultimately running a state, running a government, and being in politics?
01:10:56.000It's outputs and outcomes versus inputs.
01:11:00.000I got into the first budgeting cycle in North Dakota and I realized very quickly that if you had an agency or a group or a university or anybody, if their budget went up, they thought they were winners.
01:11:11.000And if their budget went down, they were losers.
01:11:13.000When in fact, no one was looking at the outcomes.
01:11:15.000I mean, you know this from a business standpoint.
01:11:17.000If you were in a group with a bunch of business leaders at a convention, no one would be bragging about, hey, I spent more to build that building than you did, or I spent more on marketing than you did.
01:11:27.000No, you'd be talking about customer acquisitions.
01:11:30.000You'd be talking about customer satisfaction.
01:11:32.000And so those are all outcomes of your work.
01:11:35.000So we're trying to reorient the whole state of North Dakota.
01:11:37.000We do A strategic planning process ahead of the budgeting process where strategy drives budget instead of budget driving strategy.
01:11:45.000And we got all of our agencies focusing on outcomes and publishing what those outcomes are that they're chasing.
01:11:51.000And with that, then we say, wow, there's a bunch of rules we don't need.
01:11:54.000Who created these rules? So we passed 51 out of 52 red tape reduction bills last year in North Dakota.
01:12:01.000I mean, we are trying to have this be the easiest, best place For people to do business because it's not the first place people think of.
01:12:08.000And so we need capital and we need talent.
01:12:11.000And now we have like over $40 billion of capital that's lined up trying to come to our state because we're a state where you can actually be supported in an environment where we want people to invest.
01:12:23.000We want to do things that are innovative as opposed to right now we're facing over 20 rulemaking efforts from the Biden administration.
01:12:31.000Every one of those rulemaking efforts might at a minimum be 800 pages long.
01:12:35.000And those 800 pages are filled with stuff that's come from people that have never set foot in our state, and it will choke and kill the U.S. oil and gas industry.
01:12:46.000It is unbelievable what they're trying to get done.
01:12:49.000I know they're afraid they might lose in the fall, so they're trying to shove as much regulation as they can.
01:12:54.000It never even makes it on the front page, doesn't even make it on page 18.
01:12:57.000But we're suing the federal government across multiple fronts right now to try to stop this madness because none of it's based on science.
01:13:05.000None of it's based on the law. It's based on an ideology that one party is trying to drive.
01:13:09.000These aren't laws that have come from Congress.
01:13:11.000These are rules that are being driven by these three-digit agencies that are driving Biden's thing.
01:13:18.000And again, when specifically on energy, their job is kill U.S. liquid fuels.
01:13:23.000We're going to go all EV. And if you're on EV, Team EV, you're on Team China because they control 85% of the rare earth minerals.
01:13:29.000If you're on Team Liquid Fuels, then you're on Team Farmer, you're on Team Oil Worker, you're on Team USA. I know you announced you're not going to seek another term as governor.
01:13:40.000How do you see some of that through to make sure it doesn't happen?
01:13:44.000Because I think they would be crippling to, not just North Dakota, frankly, all of these states.
01:13:49.000These are regulations designed to give the regulator a job.
01:13:54.000It'll do nothing positive for the businesses.
01:13:57.000It's just a job that only this person can fix, and you've got to take care of them.
01:14:00.000They're literally just creating busy work.
01:14:03.000What role do you see for yourself in the future as it relates to politics, making sure some of this stuff doesn't happen, and combating it still?
01:14:11.000Because I know you care deeply about it.
01:14:13.000Well, we've got 300 days left in our term here, and we're going to work hard every day to make sure we cement all these changes.
01:14:19.000Happy that last Thursday, Lieutenant Governor Tammy Miller announced that she's jumping in the race.
01:14:24.000Like me, she was a CEO, private sector, CEO of border states.
01:14:32.000She was our Chief Operating Officer, new role recreated in North Dakota before she became Lieutenant Governor a couple years ago when I appointed her.
01:14:39.000She's gonna keep things rolling for us.
01:14:41.000So looking forward to her, you know, carrying that baton forward.
01:14:46.000And then we've also, you know, I think my most important job right now is help President Trump get elected.
01:14:53.000I mean, it doesn't matter who's the governor of a red state.
01:14:56.000If you have another four years of the Biden administration, It's just wind at your face like you can't believe in terms of them trying to attack U.S. energy.
01:15:05.000And as you said earlier, like literally the rules we have right now are empowering places like Iran.
01:15:10.000Iran was broke when President Trump was in office.
01:15:16.000You know, Russia made $160 billion extra on oil the first year of that war.
01:15:22.000They're paying for their war with basically with our funds.
01:15:25.000With our energy policy, which is trying to kill U.S. And a couple weeks ago, when the Biden administration said, we're going to put a pause on LNG exports, I mean, they had to be jumping up and down inside the Kremlin going, wow, I mean, do they have like a Manchurian policy person working in the White House?
01:15:44.000I mean, that had to be the biggest celebration of the year.
01:15:46.000That's bigger than a victory in the Ukraine for them, because it's where all the money comes from.
01:15:50.000How in the world we should be exporting LNG exports?
01:15:53.000To Japan, to the Philippines, to Korea.
01:15:59.000And they're putting a pause on it for environmental reasons.
01:16:01.000And I'll tell you, that's the biggest lie of all.
01:16:03.000Because if you actually care about the environment, you would want to have every drop of energy and every electron produced in the United States.
01:16:09.000Because we produce it cleaner, safer, and smarter here than Venezuela, than Russia, than Iran.
01:16:15.000Any of these places don't even have an EPA. We do it better here.
01:16:19.000So if you cared about the global environment, you should try to shut down everybody else and have the U.S. deliver all the energy.
01:16:25.000Yeah, instead, we borrow money from China to give to Ukraine while Russia's funding their wars with the Delta.
01:16:34.000But, Governor, thank you so much for what you're doing.
01:16:36.000Thank you for being out there on the trail with us in this mission.
01:16:40.000It's absolutely critical, and I look forward to seeing you out there sometime in the not-too-distant future.
01:16:46.000Well, it was great being together in Iowa, New Hampshire, and great to be with the President of Nevada.
01:16:52.000And whatever we're called on to do, we're going to do it.
01:16:55.000The First Lady and I are fully committed to driving this thing through.
01:16:59.000And again, it's so important to America.
01:17:02.000And I'm telling you, Even if you're a Democrat governor in some state, I bet you some of those folks are quietly cheering for President Trump because governors actually were respected and treated as an essential part of this thing as opposed to this crazy Biden regulatory one-size-fits-all ideology that's going on.
01:17:20.000So it's really essential for the future of this country that President Trump get elected in November.
01:17:25.000So thanks, Don, for everything you're doing.
01:17:27.000And it's great having someone like you that loves the outdoors, loves hunting, loves your children, all the things that you do helping in this cause.
01:17:35.000You've put so much energy in 16, 20, and in 24.
01:17:39.000And I just, on behalf of North Dakota, want to say thank you to you for your leadership and the difference you've made.
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