Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum pushed back against ABC host Martha Raddatz after she snapped at him about answering a question regarding former President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on fellow GOP candidate Nikki Haley.
Burgum appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to discuss his thoughts on Trump’s campaign future following his endorsement of the former president. Raddatz questioned the North Dakota governor about Trump’s recent attack on Haley, in which he called out her birth name on social media, according to the outlet.
Burgum began to respond that the primary election would effectively be “over after Tuesday,” before Raddatz cut him off and demanded he “answer the question.” (RELATED: ‘No Love For Me’: Nikki Haley Responds To Endorsement Snubs From Home State)
“Well, all I know is that I believe this election, the primary election, is gonna be over after Tuesday. President Trump is leading in all 50 states— ,” Burgum started.
“No, please answer the question, sir. Answer the question about why you think Donald Trump is doing that,” Raddatz cut in.
Burgum noted that it was merely “politics,” highlighting that President Joe Biden has launched personal attacks at Trump in his campaign rather than discussing issues voters are facing. For example, a recent campaign ad from Biden’s team called out “MAGA extremists” while broadly emphasizing “freedoms” of the American people.
Raddatz, however, pushed back again, asking if the attacks from Trump would be able to “bring the country together.”
“I think it’s politics. You know, Joe Biden launched his campaign a couple weeks ago with a set of personal attacks on President Trump. He talked about President Trump. He talked about the lawfare that they’re mobilizing to try to slow him down as a [candidate],” Burgum stated.
“He didn’t talk about inflation, he didn’t talk about violent crime in our cities, he didn’t talk about the open border where we’ve had a massive invasion, and now we’ve had more fentanyl deaths than four Vietnam’s in our country under Joe Biden the last three years. No, he talked about attacking his opponent. That’s politics around the world, it’s politics in America.”
“So do you think that’s the kind of politics that Donald Trump is using, going after Nikki Haley’s heritage, that will bring the country together?” Raddatz questioned.
Burgum emphasized that personal attacks were the “norm inside for politics” within the U.S., noting how fellow Democrats previously attacked Biden in the Democratic primaries of 2020. (RELATED: ‘You’re Not Gonna Beat Trump’: Video Emerges Allegedly Showing Veteran Confronting Nikki Haley)
“I mean, you could ask me the question about what did Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris say, you know, the vicious things they said about Joe Biden, even during debates nationally televised within that party,” Burgum stated.
“This is all in the norm inside for politics in our country. But once we agree as parties, we get behind candidates. The Democrats got behind Biden in 2020. I’m confident Republicans are gonna get behind President Trump because they’re concerned about the direction that the world is going and the direction the United States is going.”
Haley has additionally attacked Trump in recent days, calling out his mental fitness after he appeared to confuse her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when discussing the events of Jan. 6, according to CNN. Haley stated during a campaign rally that her concern with the former president was the “pressures” of the position, questioning if Trump would be “mentally fit” for the role, the outlet reported.
President Biden likewise appeared to confuse a woman attending a Bidenomics speech Thursday for Democrat North Carolina Rep. Deborah Ross, calling her out before eventually realizing, “Oh, she couldn’t be here, actually. That’s not true. I got it mixed up,” according to Fox News.
Joe Biden is very confused. pic.twitter.com/b7okM2F7xK
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 18, 2024