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former north dakota governor doug burnh, the picked to head the interior depament. saw the 2020 four republican presidential nomination but ended up suspending his campaign six months after announcing his candidacy. he eventually went on to endorse donald trump for present. prior to his political career, he waan early shareholder of great plains software and eventually became president of the accounting software company. under his tenure, the business was sold to microsoft in 2001 for $1.1 billion. first, we take you back to the summer of 2023, when then governor bergen launched his presideial campaign at an event in fargo, north dakota.

>> good morning. thank you, jeff for that heartfelt introduction. thank you all for being here for this exciting at historic day. it is such an honor to serve as first lady of north dakota. it is also an honor to stand before you today to introduce my husband, our governor, doug bergen. doug is a man of integrity, compassion, and courage. who cares deeply about the future of our country. his family is deeply rooted in north dakota.

he comes from the hardy stock of pioneers. his life has been directly influenced by a long lineage of strong, powerful, and intelligent women. his great-grandmother, linda slaughter, was one of the state earliest pioneers. she arrived in north dakota by steamboat. coming up the missouri river after the civil war. she was an author and correspondent who fought for women's right to vote. [applause] linda was the first woman in dakota territory to hold an elected office. a superintendent of buehrle county schools. she beat out several male candidates at a time when she could not even vote for herself.

in 1892, she earned the distinction of becoming the first female in the country to vote for a presidential candidate at a national convention. her daughter, doug's grandmother, was the only female in the first-ever class of students at north dakota state university in 1890. a year after north dakota became a state. doug's amazing mom, catherine, was a widowed mother of three when she reentered the workforce as the dean of the college of home economics after doug's father died. of the 2000 great plains team members, 51% were female, unheard of in the software industry when they merged with microsoft in 2001. many became senior level executives at microsoft.

[applause] it is clear doug has been influenced and surrounded by strong women his entire life. which brings me to my next topic, me. [laughter] after becoming first lady, i made the decision to go public about my battle with the disease of addiction. today, i stand before you as a person celebrating over 21 years and long-term recovery. [applause] i chose to stop living with the shame and stigma of the disease of addiction, which had affected my life since high school. i made a choice to become a face and voice of recovery. doug has been a magnificent supporter and partner on

this journey. i'm grateful our work together on recovery reinvented has touched many lives in every community in our state. and around the world. but there is so much work to do. over 30 million families in our country experience the disease of addiction. many know the tragedy and heartbreak of the income principle 110,000 u.s. overdose deaths in 2022. an fentanyl is still pouring into our country through our open southern border. the sense of community and optimism in many of our towns and main streets in north dakota is so different than other places in our country right now. like many of you, i can't remember a period in my lifetime where our country has been more divided. today, i offer you a message

of hope. that there is a better way. doug cares deeply. he's a values and mission driven guy. it shows in everything he does. now his mission is to become the best of america. and to improve every american life. for the boy who lost his father at a young age, the executive who would bring thousands of jobs to north dakota. he's always shown perseverance and resilience. he's north dakota's biggest champion. he's never given up on our state or the people that matter most to him. now his goal is to improve opportunities for every american. [applause]

and that is really what doug's campaign will be all about. improving lives in bringing out the best of america. we need to focus disparately on that as a country to stop the division in the fighting. doug will get it done. doug has truly carried on the north dakota pioneer spirit of his family into the 21st century through new ideas and innovation. he's a visionary leader who has dedicated his life to serving the people of north dakota as an entrepreneur and a governor. he has a proven track record of creating jobs, growing businesses, and transforming government. he's champion bold initiatives to diversify the

economy, improve behavioral health care access, and enhance environmental stewardship. he is a partner with the tribal nations, with which we share borders in north dakota. especially in areas of education. behavioral health care services and law enforcement. and doug is a strong champion for the new presidential library in the north dakota badlands to honor theodore roosevelt. [applause] he's been recognized nationally for his innovative and collaborative approach to governing, which has earned him bipartisan support. and respect. doug is not a politician. he's a problem solver who listens to all perspectives and finds common ground. he's a leader who inspires

others to dream big and act boldly. a patriot who loves this country and wants everyone to make it better for all of us. that is why i'm proud to stand by his side as he runs for president of the united states. [applause] i know he has the vision, the experience, and the heart to lead our nation forward. please join me in welcoming

my husband, and our governor, the next president of the united states, doug burgum ♪ . ♪ >> it feels like espn game day in here. thank you.

our hearts are full of gratitude for everyone who made this moment possible. including all of those who have gone before us and all of you joining us today. thank you. [applause] catherine, i'm so grateful for you. grateful to be on this journey with you. i've witnessed firsthand how you're brave and powerful decisions and share of your personal story of recovery has touched countless lives. through your groundbreaking work, you have saved lives. i love you, our state loves you. and i know america is going to love north dakota's amazing first lady. together, catherine and i have so much gratitude for all of our family members.

we have our siblings, cousins, second cousins, third cousins. nieces and nephews, aunt joan from california. you know you've got one vote in california. but all of the close friends, all of you here today, looking back at the risers, one third of my arthur class of 2016 -- is standing back there. thank you. but thanks to all of you who have encouraged us and supported us, believed in us through our lives. this is a family decision and we are grateful. we got a boatload of elected officials here. state legislators, mayors, tribal chairs and leaders from our five-star nations whom we share a geography. all of you elected today, you are in the arena and we are grateful for each of your service.

but we especially want to thank the people of north dakota who we are honored to serve. you took a chance on us in 2016. that was another race where everyone said we are starting out as a longshot and dark horse. we think it is a good place to be. but i want to thank you all. reelecting us in 2020, our 40 plus point victory margin was the largest in the country of any of the governor races. you made that happen. thank you so much. and again, thank you for being here today watching in the room and in the overflow areas. so many friends around the country watching online. today is just the start of showing how much we can achieve when we work

together. i grew up in arthur, tiny town of 300 people. part of the other 300 people -- our parents were a gift. they taught us not just by their words, but their actions. datt, world war ii navy veteran, taught us the importance of service to country and community. mom taught us the importance of caring deeply, listening thoughtfully, respecting everyone. from the earliest days, dad and mom, not sure why, but they supported my entrepreneurship and risk-taking. whether it was crazy ideas like launching a newspaper when i was eight years old in elementary school, or wilderness canoe trips or

hitchhiking to alaska as a teenager. but it was a cold saturday night in january ready to head out of the neighboring town when they pulled me off the bus to tell me our dad was dying. i was a freshman in high school. that was tough. but north dakota was the type of place your neighbors rally around you. also the birthplace of the good samaritan society of america. at that time, we liked to brag arthur had a population of 400, not 300. we got to the big number because we counted the over 100 residents in the good samaritan home. in those days, they took everyone in, regardless of age or abilities. the way our town was about taking care of each other, helping those in need, about neighbor helping neighbor. every small town in america is like that. arthur especially. if someone was in need, a

neighbor was there to help out. we see that across north dakota today. if a farmer has a serious health issue, all the neighbors rally to get the crops planted or harvested. every spring in north dakota like this spring and ranch country, neighbors help neighbors with roundups. i will never forget the way our town lifted up our family and supported us all. other dads like my uncle al bergen, all made sure i was doing again. i would go to helen williams house for a fabulous dinner, homemade rolls, and a wonderful chocolate milkshake. i will always remember her generosity and kindness. her daughter is here today.

it should not be a surprise small-town values have guided me my entire life. small town values are at the core of america. and frankly, big cities could use more ideas and more values from small towns right now. [applause] along with cousins and friends, i worked every summer at our families grain elevator. including some jobs but rotten grain out of the pit. they should be featured on dirty jobs, absolutely. one time we were also dirty and smelled so bad, we went across the main street to go to the cafe and walt man came out and said we will serve you out here on the curve. i worked on the farm all

through high school and college and helped pay for college. i even worked as a chimney sweep the minimum wage in north dakota was $2.30. i figured out i could earn $40 an hour sweeping a chimney. i love working outside, i loved climbing, and got to wear a top hat when it was 20 below. this is a time there was an energy crisis going on. opec had a oil prices. a lot of people burning wood at their homes. the chimney prevents those fires. it is a chance to help people. the career had a real appeal. when you are a chimney sweep, you had an opportunity to move fast and stay in the black. [applause] thanks for laughing, not

groaning. for my kids i have at least one data joke in this presentation. but i believed then and still believe now, and believe it deeply unlimited opportunity exists everywhere in america. i literally bit the farm to turn a small start up into a billion-dollar company and north dakota. people thought i was crazy. a software company in north dakota? but we ignored those who said north dakota is too small, cold, and distant to build a world-class software company. we did it anyway. great software in a company that served 140,000 businesses in 132 countries. we did it for more than 220 small towns across north dakota. at the time we went public, we were one of the top five

most successful nasdaq ipos ever. only in america 4.5 years later, by the time we join forces, we had just over 2000 team members, 1200 based right here in fargo. 400 team members across the rest of north america. 400 great plains team members around the globe. a to the commitment of our partners, team members, and investment. in their absolute courage to take a stand against the conventional wisdom that said it could not be done. some people called us an amazing overnight success story. the truth is we were an overnight success story 18 years in the making. you start a software company here, you need to be willing to go against the grain and reimagine what is possible.

that is what we did when we ran for governor in 2016. we shook things up a bit. we cut 1.7 billion dollars in spending our first year in office, we cut red tape and streamlined services. working with other state lied -- statewide electives and legislature, we balanced the budget every year. we bolstered cybersecurity, brought life back to the main streets, made record investments in education, strengthened tribal relations, build infrastructure, unleash energy production and diversified economy. north dakota is both growing and getting younger. one of the only states doing that. we have the third lowest on employment in the country and the highest workforce participation in the nation. and again, working with the legislature this past year, we received historic pension reform and enacted the

biggest tax cut in state history. [applause] we know we can do the same for america. right now, the world, our economy are both changing rapidly. how we respond will define our future. technology is changing every job, every company, and every industry. this change will become more rapid than ever before. we need new leadership for the changing economy, a leader who understands the real work americans do every day. someone who has worked alongside our farmers, ranchers, and small business owners. someone who has held jobs where you shower at the end of the day, not at the beginning. someone who's got decades of success selling our technology overseas and

knows the threats on the risk to our future from foreign state-sponsored competitors, stealing and pirating our intellectual property. we need a leader who's experienced first hands that we win as a country when innovators and entrepreneurs can soar and when every single person can grow and thrive. to unlock investment in america, we need a leader clearly focused on three things. economy, energy, and national security. [applause] and that is why today i'm officially announcing i'm running for the president of the united states of america. [applause]

new thank you. that was so sweet, thank you. godmother to our kids, i should point that out. the economy needs to be the absolute top priority. every small business owner and every family in our country is feeling the corrosive hidden tax on their lives driven by the biden-induced inflation. inflation is the worst, it hurts those the most who could afford it the least. but innovation has always been the driver of america. innovation over regulation, innovation over regulation.

we say it every day in north dakota. innovation over regulation is how you solve the challenges. regulation looks backwards, innovation looks towards the future. the biden administration is obsessed with creating mountains of federal red tape. these regulations raise costs for every american consumer. they hamper our ability to compete in the world marketplace, siphon time and investment away from innovative solutions. in the way we retain our nation's position, which is so important to everything we do, the world's largest, most dynamic, and powerful economy, is through innovation. for well over a century, american innovation for telecommunications to electric light, to fight itself, and the power of

american agriculture, feeding the entire world. america has led the way. yet when i was in high school, we were told two things were absolutely certain about our future. the world was going to run out of food and energy. however today, we live in a world of abundance because of american innovation. innovation has paved the way for a better life for all americans. and the potential, possibility come upcoming breakthroughs can continue this trend. but due to overregulation, that brighter future for americans is now at risk. let's get back to common and eliminate redtape, get inflation under control, reduce the cost of living, and help every american realize their fullest potential.

[applause] it takes energy to get things done in america. clean, reliable, low-cost energy brings manufacturing back to the u.s. and reduces our supply chain risk. u.s. energy policy cannot be separated from either our economy or from our national security. energy policy directly underpins both. and we need to stop buying energy from our enemies and start selling energy to our friends and allies. america produces energy cleaner and safer than anywhere else in the world. if you care about the global environment, you should be fighting to have every drop of energy produced in the united states.

and when we are true allies, that is when we stabilize the globe and restore america as a leader of the free world. vladimir putin only dared invade ukraine because our allies in western europe were all dependent on russian energy. we need to recognize the real threats to america and strengthen our national security. growing up in a small town, you learn quickly the enemy is not each other. our enemies are not our neighbors down the street. our enemies are countries that want to see our way of life destroyed. in a country built on neighbors helping neighbors, we become a country of neighbors fighting neighbors. we should all be fighting to unite the country against our common enemies like china, russia, iran, north korea, and the drug cartels. [applause]

and we all know joe biden is not getting the job done and too often is making things worse. gas prices are too high and the biden administration and ask policies that make us more dependent on foreign oil. that make no sense. american families struggling under the weight of record inflation and the response from democrats? increase the size of the irs to target americans. that makes no sense. an out-of-control border ignored by the white house while killer drugs like sentinel infiltrate our communities and 110,000 individual tragedies occur through overdoses. 110,000 families in 2022 lost a son, daughter, mother, father, sister, brother, and we are doing nothing about the border. that makes no sense.

and we are facing a very real threat from china. and joe biden's green new deal policies are only going to shift our dependence from opec to sign opec. we could go on for hours. but we don't need to. where we come from, when something is not working, you stop and try something new. that is common sense. and joe biden has got to go. if you want to ensure that joe biden is a one term president, i hope you join our campaign by visiting doug burgum.com. if you believe the economy, energy, and national security are critical to our nations future, that is why i'm running for president.

and if you want more small-town common sense in washington and our big cities, we will make that happen. if you think we need a governor and business leader who understands this changing economy, i want to earn your vote. because this campaign, this election is all about what it takes to bring out the best of america and improve every american life. after my dad died, i saw firsthand what it means to be the best of america, when the people of arthur, north terra-cotta -- north coda. small towns across the nation like arthur, it showed the best of america. the best of america exists. it exists in the smallest towns and the biggest cities. the best of america is there on our farms, on our factory floors and tiny startups

with big dreams. every day, students see the best of america inspired by their teachers. we see it in our brave military, dedicated police, selfless first responders. through the sleepless nights of new mothers and fathers loving their newborns and in the loving caregivers taking care of those in the twilight of their life. when we take the time to look, we can see we are surrounded by the best of america. working together, we will unlock the best of america. please join us on this mission with your support, we will improve every american life. thank you, god bless you. ♪

more from interior secretary nominee doug bergen while running for presiden in late023, he spoke at the republican party freedom summit where he discussed his experience in the ivate sector and as governor. >> please welcome business leader and north dakota governor doug bergen. ♪ new >> good morning, florida. let me begin with gratitude to the republican party of florida. christian and all of your leadership, all of you i met last night, the county chairman.

especially all of you today. your time and your resources to electing republicans, the work all of you do matters. you matter, your enthusiasm and commitment matters. in 2024, it matters more than ever. thank you, florida gop. with blue states like california, new york and illinois are losing population electoral votes, republican-led states like florida are growing. north dakota had the highest gdp in the nation, the highest gdp per capita among all republican-led states. low taxes, freedom and liberty, and innovation. not rare -- are the keys to economic growth. people are responding by voting with their feet. over the last decade, north dakota and florida are among the top 10 states for population growth. each january, the sales pitch is slightly different

than youth in florida. it is not just about the weather, we were basically advertising we have a hurricane free, anaconda free, alligator free, very safe in north dakota. there are no hotels in north dakota that have alligators inside the hotel like i saw this morning. i'm running for president because america needs a 180 degrees change, not the direction joe biden is taking us. he's wrong on energy, national security. the terrorist attacks in israel and russia's invasion of ukraine are terrible symptoms of biden's policies, but the disease itself is joe biden. it started with the disaster withdrawal from afghanistan, continued with writing keeping western europe dependent on russian energy,

which enabled and paid for vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine. biden's energy policies helped china and hurt the u.s.. in september under a 5% hostage exchange, joe biden funneled $6 billion to iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. the end result, a horrific attack on israel and more hostagetaking. that is what happens when you put a $1 billion price tag on american heads. joe biden's policies empower dictators and terrorists through the world and the world is less safe for americans and drives inflation at home. from day one, i focus on three interconnected issues that focus on everything a one of you, the economy, energy, and national security. we unlock the best of america. that is our mission and that is why we are running. i grew up in north dakota

with 300 people. woke was something we did at 5:00 a.m. to start the day. i held about every job you can imagine working on the farm, the grain elevator, started a construction company in high school, even paid my way through college working as a chimney sweep. every job i held was one where you took a shower at the end of the day instead of the beginning. and when i'm your president, we will have someone who understands and respects the real work americans do every day. that includes everybody in law enforcement and all of our militaries. my dad died when i was a freshman in high school, he was a world war ii navy veteran. i understand what americans are feeling with economic insecurity under joe biden. i literally bet the farm to turn into a worldwide company. i have been making payroll every two weeks since my mid

20's. i've created more jobs than all of the other candidates combined. i know what it takes to sign the front of a paycheck, not just the back. we built a company that served customers all over the world. 140 businesses in 132 companies -- countries. i will have someone in the white house who knows what it takes to win in the global economy. that is what we did for decades. with technology and ai, it is changing every job, company, and industry. it needs to change the government as well. i know exactly how to do this. i was in the private sector my whole life until 2016. we jumped into the governor's race 60 points down, won the primary by 20. in 2020, we won by over 40

points. the largest margin of any governor's race across the country. in our first performance in office, we cut $1.7 billion from a $6 billion general fund. more than 25% of the budget. and we kept every train running on time. you can cut spending and improve services, it is possible. it starts with treating the taxpayer like a customer. after cutting spending, we slashed redtape. this last year, we slashed 51 more tape reduction bills. we crowd sourced ideas from our citizens on how to get government out of their businesses and out of their lives. we cut taxes every legislative session i have been governor. we provided over $1 billion in additional property tax relief, eliminated income taxes for active military and veterans. we enacted the largest tax cut in state history. now a majority of our citizens pay no income tax at all. thank you.

today, north dakota is both growing and getting younger. we have the second lowest on employment and highest workforce participation rates in the nation. the place we start improving every american life is focusing on the economy. biden mix is reckless fiscal policy built into an endless swarm of new and dangerous regulations. high inflation is really a hidden joe biden tax. right now, all of you, every american, inflation is costing the average family $700 more a month, it is a massive hidden tax hike from joe biden that is hurting everyone. especially those living paycheck-to-paycheck. if you are part of that lucky half of america that has been able to put away some savings, joe biden's inflation has come like a thief in the night, stolen nearly 20% of your purchasing power through your savings account.

interest rates at a 23 year high, pushing the american dream of homeownership out of reach for millions. and worse, if joe biden had his way, your taxes would go up even more. his budget called for 7 -- $4.7 trillion, $4.7 trillion in new and increased taxes. to put that in perspective, over $14,000 of additional taxes for every man, woman, and child in america. we know joe biden's reckless policies actually created the runaway inflation. now he's bragging inflation is lower this year than last year. that is why telling someone congratulations, your pay cut is half of what it was last year. joe biden and the mainstream media are trying to sell america on bidenomics but they are not buying it. his regulations are hamstringing job creators with almost unimaginable layers of redtape, driven by bureaucrats, ideology that

defies economics, physics, and common sense. this never happens if we put someone in the white house -- this is what happens when you put someone in the white house like joe biden who has never created a job in the private sector. as your president, i will fix this crazy economy, we will cut taxes, lower gas prices, and help people realize their fullest potential. to stop inflation and make the u.s. more safer and prospers, we need to reverse joe biden's green fantasy energy policies. [applause] on day one of our administration, we will stop buying energy from our enemies and start selling energy to our allies. [applause] america produces energy cleaner and safer than anywhere else in the world. anyone who actually cares about the environment should want every drop and every electron of energy produced here in the united states.

when we become truly energy dominant superpower and support our allies, we will prevent wars like the one putin started in ukraine, stabilize the globe, and reinstate america as leader of the free world. instead, joe biden's policy have turned russia and iran into china's gas station. he's subsidizing american production with your tax dollars. even though china controls 80% of the world's rare earth minerals needed to make ev batteries. it makes no sense. joe biden's energy policies were written by china. china. as as governor of one of the largest energy producing states in america, and as a business leader who built multiple global software companies. i understand what it takes for america to win when we increase energy production, stop

inflation, we grow jobs, and we weaken dictators. last, we need to recognize the real threats to america and strengthen our national security. and that includes border security, food security, energy security. in a country built on neighbors helping neighbors, we become a country of neighbors fighting neighbors. we need a leader who's going to fight to unite the country against our common enemies like china, iran, north korea, russia and the mexican drug cartels. it's time for america to have a commander in chief who understands how to make america both safer and more prosperous without a fundamental change in direction away from joe biden. we're headed towards a century dominated by the chinese communist party and an axis of anti-american regimes with a change. we can usher in an unprecedented era of mass flourishing with breakthroughs in education, health care and more, which will improve every american life.

we can create another incredible american century. this moment demands a president focused on and leeching american potential. i understand from all my work in the private sector the economic challenges and the innovation opportunities of this moment. we must also recognize that border security is national security, and our national security is compromised. every day that we do not control our own borders. the the likelihood that hamas have entered america has increased dramatically over the last two and a half years. the radical left support of our open border policy has overwhelmed our defunded border patrol and put american people in danger. i've been down to the border more times than joe biden. we've had troops from our state there, multiple deployments throughout my time as governor, including flying helicopter

missions from san diego to the gulf's gulf coast, trying to stop transnational criminal organizations that are helping the mass invasion. six and a half million people and, 300,000. we've lost more than five vietnams. five vietnams of americans dying of. overdose deaths. i will use all the diplomatic information and military capability to stop that from happening. it took joe biden two years to get to our southern border. i've been there repeatedly as governor. i'll get there in my first two weeks as your president. ronald reagan spoke of a shining city on a hill. america need not to be perfect for it to be exceptional. i've had people working for me around the world in all those countries. i've had people working for me that didn't have the right to vote, didn't have the right to free speech and have the right to assemble. i learned as a young person how

exceptional our country is and the opportunities that we provide in our constitution. it provides the foundation for never ending work of achieving the historic and aspiration national vision presented by our founding fathers. but right now, under joe biden is creeping towards world war three. we're in a cold war with china. we're in a proxy war with russia. we're in a proxy war with iran. to defeat those adversaries, we must have a leader who understands the power of free societies and free markets. ronald reagan taught us how to win cold wars. it starts with having the strongest economy. i remember visiting parts of eastern europe just before and after the fall of the berlin wall, back in the 1980s and in the early 19 9090s. i actually went through checkpoint charlie in the 1980s. i witnessed poland's transition to a democracy. at the dawn of that following decade, i saw entrepreneurs coming out of being suppressed by communist countries and flourishing. it's a reminder when we think

about what ronald reagan said of the power of a president who lifts america up and lifts up freedom and liberty at home and abroad. ronald reagan famously told us, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. sometimes people remember that, but they forget the second part of the quote. and i think it's the most important freedom must be fought for and protected. or we'll spend our later used years telling our grandchildren what it was like when america was free. all of you were here fighting for freedom. i'm a proven governor and a proven global business leader. i'm a washington outsider. i actually know how to shrink government and improve services. as your president, i will bring out the best of america and i will improve every american life. thank you, florida gop. have a fantastic day.

we're going work around the country onone of the most resped governors, one of the most respect did governors in the country. brilliant guy, made a lot of money. and then he said, let me run for office. we know about that. and he is truly from dakota and done really an incredible job. and he's a friend of mine. become friend of mine and a really good one. doug burgum doug. thank god he's still 80.

when i became governor, it was the same night that donald trump was elected back in november 16 and the world changed because i've had an opportunity to serve under joe biden as president and donald trump. when donald was president, our nation was safe and our nation was prosperous. joe biden, his weakness has led to war. his weakness and his appeasement has led to our adversary, like iran and russia, making of billions of dollars, selling oil to china. economy, energy, national security. those are all three tied together. there's one candidate in this race that understand us how to make our nation more secure, our nation more prosperous. it's the person who did it when he was president, before. that's donald j. trump. biden has been a disaster on the economy. he's been a disaster on energy, and he's been a disaster on national security, including the border under donald j.

trump. our cities were safer. our country was safer. and we were absolutely economically better off than we are to now. joe biden's energy policies are our dictators, and they're hurting our economy. they're raising the prices of what you pay for gas in car, food on your table, and energy to heat your homes. we need donald trump. america needs donald trump and the reason why we do is because he's the individual that knows how to solve these problems. he knows how to keep america safe. he knows how to make us more prosperous. and i want to tell you, i've got an ask for all of you in new hampshire. i've met a lot of you campaigning around the state. but the ask is this, tamara, you've got to get out and bring your friends. you've got to bring everybody in vote because the eyes of the world are on new hampshire tomorrow. they're going to be looking at how you vote. we end this primary tomorrow in new hampshire with a fantastic win. and guess what? it's not just america. it's every foreign dictator it's every terrorist group is going to be rethinking their plans when they know we've got a

strong and experienced president who will stand up to them and bring and make america great again. thank you. thank you very much, doug. all state. hey, they did a very good job. did that you'll be seeing a lot of them. and we have another one. everybody knows them. and today it was a big story. the biggest story out there. he's engaged to be married. we never thought this was going to happen. what's going on? a very, very fine. a man that we worked so closely and i worked so closely with, he was in the senate. he's been there now a long time. and one of the most respected people in all of washington, senator tim scott, south carolina. all right. all right, all right. if if you want four more years of donald trump, let me hear you

scream. i know if you want the race to be over tomorrow, let me hear you scream. laura, come on. y'all want full? four more years of low inflation under donald trump. how would you go on four more years of low crime and high law and order under donald j. how many y'all want me to stop talking so you can hear from your next president? donald j. trump whoa, whoa. you you. oh oh, yeah. oh, yes,

it's. good evening, north carolina. are you ready for a great evening to get even better? you should be, because we've got your next governor backstage here. and yolen and marx coming out here after me. so let's get ready to take it up to the next level. i want to just say right off the bat, being here tonight, how fantastic to be here.

you have to say when you're in a place like north dakota, a place like north carolina, this is the best of america. you start off a dinner like this with a prayer and a pledge surrounded by people that, you know, care about your communities and care about your your kids and your schools and you care about the future of this country. and if you didn't, you wouldn't be here. and we did that in such a great way. and i want to just take a minute to and say, can we just say thank you to all the people that prepared that food and service tonight as well. you've had a lot of attention. there's great speakers rolling through here. you had eric and laura here last night and how wonderful you i mean, you must know how important north carolina is when now we've got the co-chairs of the rnc are both from where, north carolina. this state is so important. you're so important. you're so important to the future of this country. what happens here could determine actually the actual direction of our entire country. and therefore, the country, the

world. and so i want to just say, it's an honor to be with you tonight and and it's an honor because i because of the gratitude i have for all of you. i think when the chairman said it, when he came out, he said, you know, we know that sometimes when you're a republican these days, you're a conservative, you're going to get attacked left and right for whatever. and sometimes you may think you can't even talk to a neighbor. you're afraid we're going to say, but you got the courage to be here, to stand up, to be counted, and we need you to have that courage going forward, because we need more than just republicans to elect leaders like mark robinson. we got to have independent. we got to be out talking to people and telling our story the way you heard some of these great statewide candidates. so whether it's you know, ed, keesha, jason, susan, all the leaders that are here, but all of you, theodore roosevelt, one of our great republican presidents, we're building a presidential library to theodore roosevelt in north dakota in the middle of the badlands. and it's an audacious project, $400 million state of the art presidential library in a town

of 120 people. that's true. but it is right next to the entrance. the theater, roosevelt national park, the only national park named after an individual. but one of the you know, one of the famous quotes that he had did not the critic that counts to the credit belongs those that are actually in the arena, those whose faces are marred by dust and sweat and blood. and if you're someone who's decided that you're going to be in the arena and be a candidate or if you're someone who's decided you're going to knock on doors, you're someone who's going to volunteer and make phone calls. you're in the arena if you're here tonight, if you've been at this convention since thursday and you're going to the prayer breakfast tomorrow morning, you're in the arena. so i just want to say again, you matter. you're in the arena. i want to start off with gratitude for all of you. thank you for being in the arena. give yourselves a hand for being here. the other reason why it's an honor to be here tonight is, i'm told i mean, the whole reason we're here, we know the engine that's driving this train is a businessman from new york.

and in 2012, there was a new york businessman that gave a keynote at this same dinner, in the same venue. it smashed all the party records who was here that night? some of you were here. so there's a few hands that are going up. but i know that north carolina, you got on your license plate first and flight, but i think it makes sense. the tar heels, it was also there for years before he was elected president. you could even say that the beginning of president trump's political career blasted off right here, maybe in this ballroom and this is where it's going to keep going right here with all of you. so way to go in north carolina. i mean. and before we get any further into this thing, i mean, we no one's really brought up the fact that i'm from north dakota as opposed to north carolina. but i just want to tell you, because many of you probably never been to north dakota, you don't know you're from north dakota. but i just want to take a minute and think what it's like every time you see a list of all the states alphabetically. we're behind you guys.

and and so i'm proposing that there's a new list that if you have a state that has a geographic label in front of it, like the word north, it should be listed in order of those that are actually north, the furthest north one would be would be ahead on that list. that's what i'm kind of thinking. but i don't know where that's going to go. but just a thought. but but i was i thought it was cool. you guys got we don't have we don't have a toast in our state. we don't have a state toast. and right after the pledge you had the state toast. and i'm looking at the state toast and you know where that we're the strong go great. and we're the weak grow strong i mean like that's all cool and then but the word carolina is not in there so i'm taking that thing home to me. it executive order tuesday morning right after memorial day. the official toast of the north state, the northernmost of the state's name north, will have a

new toast. so thank you. thank you for that. but it's it's tough growing up when you've got north in your name and you guys maybe don't have this with south carolina but in when we were was just a prairie and we were a territory free and they came in and they barely knew how to survey and they created the line between north and south dakota. and it wasn't quite right. so a few years ago they were doing some work to make sure that the line between north and south dakota was actually accurate. and so then there's a rancher that i know in western north dakota and his headquarters of his ranch was right on the border, but it was on the north dakota side. and then they came through and receive aid and it turns out that his house was actually in south dakota. and so the press went to him. they said, well, you know, how do you feel about this? and he said, well, thank goodness, because i couldn't have taken one more of those north dakota winters.

okay. i just want to say, i allowed my adult children, allow me. one day i joke for speech and i've now used it up. okay, that was it. but do you know, you know, you guys know how when a joke actually becomes a dad joke, it becomes apparent. does that i'm sorry, does that count as a second one? did i go over my limit? okay. all right. but hey, i. i grew up in a small town in north dakota. in north dakota, not north carolina, called arthur, population 300. there were 16 kids in my class that was fantastic. learn to deal with a lot of change. are methodist minister moved away and nancy shearson was in our class and then we went down to 15 but then when i was in third grade, kevin skewness and his family moved in.

so we're back up to 16. so prepared me for life dealing with a lot of change, but it was a great it was a great fantasy. still life. my mom my mom was a stay at home mom. she was involved in the community school board, church, all the things that you do, fantastic, growing up, working on the farm, working at the grain elevator. you know, every job i had grown up was a job where you took a shower at the end of the day, really understood how the all the things worked. and my dad was a he was a world war two navy vet. and i learned so many things from him. and i just want to take a minute on this memorial day weekend. i mean, on veterans day, we said we, you know, celebrate veterans memorial day is really a special world. we talk about those people who have given it all. and one thing i learned from my dad, i know because know we all know this generation. we know about mias because of the tragedies of korea and south vietnam and what went on there. but it was in world war two.

there's 80,000 mias in the history of america, 80,000 from the civil war. i mean, that's the revolutionary war all the way through. and 80,000, 40,000, those mias or world war two pacific soldiers or sailors. soldiers and sailors who were who never came back. and a lot of those were like the fellow fellows, people that served along with my dad. my dad was on a destroyer in okinawa, 151 destroyers there, and 139 were hit by kamikazes. and so it's only by only by the grace of god that my siblings and i ever were set on this earth. so we give thanks for that. but i right now, i know that freedom's not free and we wouldn't be celebrating memorial day weekend with all all our veterans. so it's all if you've served in our country, in any service, in any branch, or if you're still active, it could you please stand and let us give us your appreciation on this memorial day weekend. look at that. wow. go north carolina. thank you all.

well, i'm not surprised. but anyway, had a great life. and then when i was a freshman in high school, my dad passed away of a brain tumor that he'd been battling for a couple of years. and so my mom was a widow with three kids and she went back to work and and she put was putting food on the table and gas in the car and paying the mortgage and keeping a roof over her head. and i understand that that's what a lot of americans are going through right now. and with joe biden's economics, i mean, there's economic uncertainty across this country. and i got a great appreciation for those, you know, heroic efforts of working parents and single parents and working moms and and as well as the deep respect for everyone in uniform. so when i was in college, i was i said, hey, i got to pay my way through college. i was an entrepreneur. i tried a bunch of different things. one of the things i found out, i mean, the minimum wage is like, you know, buck 75 going to 235. and i found out that you could get if i started a chimney sweeping company, i could sweep chimneys and get paid 40 bucks

an hour, 40 bucks an hour. that was more than like plumbers. electricians were getting paid. and and so i was doing that while i was going to school. and in north dakota. and so, you know, it's 20 below. you're climbing around on roofs. you know, we're in a top hat and tux singing was extra, but it was it was it was great. and i you know, people would say, you know, why did you why did you become a chimney sweep? and i said, well, look, i always wanted a career where i could move up fast and always stay in the black was at three, was at the third one or just guys are too quick. okay. anyway, but but anyway, fast forward after that, after after grad school and i was working like a lot of young people, i'd be like, hey, there's, you know, the north dakota was shrinking. young people were moving away. there wasn't much opportunity. you were coming out of that high inflation of, you know, the jimmy carter era. but, you know, ronald reagan got elected this morning in america. things are going along. and i was walking down the hallway at work and i saw

somebody with an apple two computer and physical, and i was like those earliest electron spreadsheet. and i said, wow, that is going to change everything that's changing what i just did the last two nights on a piece of paper. and so i said, wow, what do you know? i got to get into that business. and so i moved back to north dakota. i got 160 acres, a dry land farm ground that maybe a lot of ground in north carolina, north dakota. in north dakota, you need a thousand acres in those days to farm. now, you might need 5000, but i there's a little patch of farm ground and i literally i mortgaged it. i literally bet the farm to start a software company. and we had ten kids and that started when we were young. and this little start up, everyone thought we were crazy, you know, no one had ever heard of software. and it was in 1980s, like, what is that? and if you in they knew what it was then they said you can't do it here. i've had people tell me my whole life what you can't do and you can't do it here. but we started with young folks and we started with a dream. and then 18 years later we were an overnight success story.

but and in between all that, we had some near-death business experiences and we also had a lot of hard work. but i learned a lot of lessons and we started with those ten. we built a company of 2000 people. we had 1200 in fargo, 400 rest of north america, and 400 rest of world. so as a young, i was young and i was still at that time single. the we had 140,000 customers in over 120 countries countries around the world making software in fargo, north dakota. and we had people working for us. we had partners and customers and they didn't they didn't have the right to free speech in some of these countries. they didn't have the right to vote. they have the right to assemble. they certainly didn't have the right to bear arms. and so you grow in appreciation like, wow, we had a chance to be able to build this business and create these jobs and change people's lives and bring young people back to north dakota and thrive and prosper because of the united states, america and the customers we were serving

didn't have the freedoms that we had. so starting with my dad and and starting with that experience, i'm like, wow, this place is special. the united states of america, there's no place like it on earth. it's amazing. and so one later, in 2016, kids were grown up and we had an open seat and decided to run for run for governor and like jason said, i'd never run for office before and got elected the same same first time that president trump did in 2016. and i'll tell you that was a party that night, because we went into that night thinking that i was going to have to be governor under hillary clinton. yikes. and we we came out of that and it was like, yeah, baby, this is going to be great. i endorse president trump that early that in may that earlier that year. and i endorsed him in 2020. and so it was easy to win endorse him this year. and and i can i can tell you right now i'll just tell you one thing. i've had a chance to serve as governor under president trump and under president biden. and people say, why are you

going around the country helping campaign for president trump? and i said, i don't want anything. i want a single thing for president trump other than he gets elected. and katherine, first lady feels the same way. but what i do understand, because i've got a front row seat, which you're not reading about in the papers, which is because it's not laws passed by congress. we in north dakota's a natural resource state. we're under under a full blown attack regulatory regime, a biden bureaucrats. there's over 30 different rules and mandates that have come down on the state of north dakota that are trying to shut down how we produce baseload energy. they're trying to shut down the oil and gas industry, and i don't think they know it, but they're also going to kill agriculture in the process because if you kill if you kill internal combustion machines and say the whole the all of the united states is going to be have a future built on ev cars. if you do that and you get rid of the internal combustion machine, you know what happens to the agriculture from across the midwest. all the way to north dakota, half the land in iowa, you know, half the corn crop in iowa goes towards fuel. it doesn't go towards towards

food. it goes search fuel. half the soybean crop. this country goes towards biodiesel. you killed the internal combustion machine and you've just have killed agriculture. every piece of land is going to drop. every small town is going to be crippled. don't even know if they're doing that. but they've got some idea that somehow we're going to save the planet by by buying batteries from the world's largest polluter, china and that we're going to you know, that we're going to a country that controls 85% of the rare earth minerals. we finally spend 40 years. and under president trump get out of the underneath the yoke of opaque and then they want to enslave our future to a country that is that is actually. our number one strategic threat. that's the existential threat is right now is china. so anyway, that's that's why i'm doing this because i see it firsthand. and we decided we could have run for a third term. we decided not to. and we said we'd better spend our time this year making sure president trump gets reelected versus us winning in north dakota and joe biden being in

office. it cracks me up when they talk about republicans being a threat to democracy. the opposite of democracy is dictatorship. a dictatorship is when people give you a third. what i say a rule. a rule is 800 to 1400 pages long. that's the stuff that they're sending out us. i mean, our revenue as a state. i told our legislature three weeks ago, which is rare, but i went and testified in front of the interim committee on the budget committee. i said, look, if president trump wins, we're going to have higher revenues, a state, we're going to have lower expenses. if biden wins, we're going to have much lower revenue coming into the state of north dakota and we have much higher expenses. they said we're the expenses for. i said we're going to have to hire much more lawyers because we're going to be spending all of our time what we're doing now, which is suing the federal government. so anyway. but despite his war on on natural resources, we're still thriving because we've got a state where we've cut taxes, we've cut taxes by the largest margins that's ever been done in our state. we got the lowest unemployment

rate in america. we were number one in real gdp growth and people are fleeing, you know, the blue metros coming to places like north dakota. so our population is growing and it's getting younger and our families are staying there and people are having having kids and more kids, which is great. and i'm you know, you probably figured out already i'm a competitive guy and i love being when we're number one. it's great when you're governor, we're number one. number one. and on birth rate, north dakota, we were number two. and i said i said we're number two. you know how how do we get what do we have to do to get to number one? and and they said, well, well, sure, that could be tough. and i said, why? they said, well, utah is number one. so we might have to be happy with number two, but we're going to we have some young people working on this at home, but. but we do we have to turn this country around, you know, and we

got to turn it around. and it's simple. and i talked about this last year campaigning. but, you know, biden's wrong on three things. and they're all interconnected. he's wrong on national security and that includes border security. you guys, i'm sure, talked about this in. but it's just, you know, you've talked about everything. we are a border state. we've got 325 miles of canada. we've got issues up there. but as a governor, commander in chief, i've had we've had north dakota national guard deployed to the southern border. i've been down there more times than biden and harris combined, not posting and not, you know, putting stuff, oh, look at me. i'm at the border. i'm going down there as the commander in chief, talking to our troops that are down there, helping to secure our country. and i tell you, it's super underreported. but he's he's wrong on national security. he's wrong on the border. biden's wrong on he's wrong on energy policy. as i talked about. i mean, it's completely, completely wrong headed on that. and then he's wrong on the economy because if you blow up, you know, energy, that's going to be the core thing that drives

inflation across every product that you consume or buy. doesn't matter whether it's the shoes on your feet or the, you know, the appliances in your home or whatever it is. if you if an energy costs are high, everything's going to be high. and and so we got to get somebody in the office and, you know, who understands that president trump understands that, you know, he is a legendary businessman and negotiator. he did so many great things. he created countless jobs in his private sector career. he understands the plight of working people. you've seen that in recent weeks. i was with him in new jersey when there is 107,000 people there. and the and so i had i had someone from the liberal media say to me, oh, there couldn't possibly be 107,000 people there. and i said, no, i, yeah, i think you're probably right. 107,000 because when we were driving in, i saw about 15,000 people on the way in that couldn't get into the state. they were lying on the side of the road for miles in blue new jersey. we drove by.

we were in the motorcade. we drove by new jersey firehouses that had the fire trucks out and the flags were flying and the firemen were in uniform. we drove by a exit where they were doing traffic control and there was a new jersey highway patrolman standing and saluting as the motorcade went by. and then we got there and, you know who was there? it's not a demographic. it was americans and it was americans who work. there wasn't anybody in that 107,000 people that came there to see if if someone was going to get their student loan forgiven, know there was people there that worked for a living. they care about the country, they care about their communities and they care about their future. and they want to make sure that someone is going to preserve the american dream for them. and they know that that person is donald j. trump. and of course, when you've got

high inflation and we've got, you know, high prices for food, gas, electricity and high interest rates, and you can't afford to buy a house that is the definition of killing the american dream. and that's by nomics, but with maga nomics with president trump, that works for everybody. when he was president, we had low interest rates, we had low inflation. we had incredible job creation. our borders were secure and the world was safe. i mean, it's exactly the opposite. and so it is a important that through all the noise that you hear when i said at the beginning, important for all of you that are in the arenas you've got to, you know, talk to independents, talk to talk to people that you may haven't talked for a while. i'm sure everybody in this divisive time has said, oh, i've got relationships that have ended because of politics, but i'm telling you, now's the time to reach out. ask them, you know, ask them how they're doing because every single one of them there isn't a person in america that's escaped the biden inflation and tax. and this taxes is an insidious tax as it comes. if you're part of americans, if you're like 40% of americans that have savings and like all

of you in this room, work to put away your savings and you've got a savings account that says this is how much is in my floor, okay? or for a1k or my savings account. yeah, the numbers the same. the values gone down by 20% under joe biden in a matter of three years. it's kind of like a thief in the night and stolen your savings. and if you you know, if you're someone who doesn't have savings and you're just a working mom or working dad and you're trying to and you're at the checkout line, the grocery store, and you said, we don't maybe i should put i got to put a few items back because i don't have enough cash to take food home. and that's happening every day in this country right now. inflation is it's just incredible and it's not. we used to talk about democrats about tax and spend. this is borrow and spend. they're not there's not it's not tax revenue. they're borrowing money from foreign countries and spending it on their ideals. logical agenda. most of what is driven by the idea that somehow they're going to be the ones that with the moral authority to save the environment and then i just want to challenge that right here, because if you if you shut down

u.s. energy production and i can tell you, as an energy producing state, we our nation produces energy cleaner, smarter, safer, faster than anyone else in the world. and in a in if you shut down the u.s. energy the way they're trying to shut it down, you know what happens. you know who produces more iran, russia, venezuela. take those three right there. we're all in we're in conflict. we're in proxy wars with iran and russia. and you know what they do with their increased revenue under joe biden? oil production in north dakota is down. production in iran is way up. and when they have that money from selling all that president, president trump had iran almost bankrupt. he had sanctions that actually worked. joe biden has lifted all those. they're trying to go back to the obama nuclear deal. they're trying to negotiate with iran. iran funds hezbollah, hamas, saudis. and then all of you, you know, all of us, we get to listen about, oh, congress is debating how much money we're going to give to our team. we're paying for the other side.

joe biden's energy policy is paying for russia's war. they're paying for iran's war. we we don't need to be funding both sides of the war. if we were producing u.s. energy, the environment would be cleaner and our adversaries would not have the money to fight wars against us. know and and and did you stick with this theme? and the other thing is just again, it's just complete craziness. they want to have everything in the in our country be electrified. and they got a whole bunch of agencies running around saying run, electrify every car and every stove and every home, and we're going to put in all this. they're going to do that. and then they come to places like north dakota, where we produce enormous amounts of baseload energy and they go, here's a bunch of rules and you've got to shut down your power plants. okay? i mean, if we have less supply and more demand, what's going to happen? prices going up, price of electricity under joe biden was flat for 30 years. price of electricity is up 30%. but then now, if the electricity

is going to come from intermittent sources, it will be less reliable. so if it may, i don't say it's too late. i'm president trump will do everything he can. but if joe biden is reelected, it's not going to be 2035. in 2025, we will have biden blackout and biden brownouts across this country because their policies are destroying our electric grid at a time when we could be heading towards world war three. and it's completely irresponsible. and another reason why we got to get president trump back in office. so i and then the last thing which tied back to energy, the lng export facilities, liquid natural gas president trump shut down nord stream two. he just shut it down. this is a giant pipeline coming from russia into europe. all of the allies that your relatives and others fought for in world war two fought and died in normandy so we could free western europe. they've been our allies for 70

years and then president trump, that'd be a bad idea. they were dependent on russia. russia's are adversary. and then what does joe biden immediately gets in, approves, approves it and then also in western europe is totally dependent on them and he shuts down our lng export capacity which would then supply it to our allies. so literally it's like it's so simple. president trump will sell american clean energy to our friends and allies. joe biden wants our allies to buy it from our enemies. that's the opposite between the two of them. and when we do that, that's how that's how we end up in two wars. we're in a war with russia, proxy war. we're in a war with iran, and we're in a cold war with china. and china is the most dependent nation in the world on energy and and you could walk softly, carry a big stick like theodore roosevelt. you could go over send over some cabinet leaders from biden say, hey, if you guys you guys need food and energy to run your country every day. how about this? we've got food and energy. have you ever heard i've heard them talk about that as a point of leverage. no. they go over there and talk about, oh, you know, could you

please start reducing your co2 emissions by 2035? and then china's literally building a coal plant to a month. they're building two coal plants a month. world's largest polluter. it is absolutely ridiculous what's going on. i don't understand it. and then like we just saw again, the joe biden drain, the strategic petroleum reserve of the united states in half before the midterms. he turned the strategic petroleum reserve, which was set up for world war three, turn it into his own private political petroleum reserve because its whole point was trying to get the price down before the midterms. it worked because he drained about 400 million barrels and then this last weekend he drained a million barrels before memorial day weekend to try to take credit in case, you know, gas went down a million barrels. we produce a million barrels in north dakota by suppertime. i'm serious. i mean, it's like so again, i mean, they're hoping that americans don't understand the size of the scale because in one time it was two years ago, it was strategically horrible for america. and this is just a press release. so they manipulate it on both

ends of the thing. but president trump will fix all of that. and we're not just going to be energy independent, but he's going to reduce inflation. he's going to protect national security. he's going to win the cold war with china. he's going to unleash america's energy in america, will become what we should be, which is energy dominant, because when we're energy dominant, your prices go down and the world becomes safer and the environment becomes more cleaner. that's what happens when the us leads. joe biden, you know, has been so weak on foreign affairs and and president trump was he was the he was the epitome of peace through strength and and right now, you know what's happening on our campuses and around the country, it's it's happening for political reasons, in part because joe biden can't stand up to one wing of the party. and that one wing of the party is the hamas wing of the democrat party that are actually he's afraid of them. he needs their votes to win in michigan and wisconsin. so then he's you know, if you were going to be had an ally and

someone was your ally, you would say things like this. you'd say, look, we we're with you, we're allies. and then you'd say to hamas, hey, you want you want aid released the hostages, you want a ceasefire, release the just release the hostages. release the hostages. and then we'll talk. and what does joe biden says to israel, stop fighting hamas. make sure you give them aid. and he's actually negotiating for hamas he's negotiating. you know, president biden will not president trump would never negotiate with terrorists. joe biden is no go shooting for the terrorists. it's just again, it's completely. but here we go is crazy. as all those liberal campus protests got. and there was one, you know, a great example of student leadership right here in north carolina where the fraternity guys stepped up to protect the flag. you all saw that story. but then you see there was a go fund me account for him and and

there is people around the country sending in small checks like $10,000, whatever they they raised they raised $500,000 for a patriotic ranger or something they were going to do. but but it was fantastic that they were out there because, you know, there we are in washington at george washington university, and they've got, you know, the statue of george washington draped for days with the flags of terrorists. and so kudos to north carolina. best of america going on here. way to go. let me close with a couple final thoughts. the it's been many times but that 2024 election that's coming up in november. it may very well be the most important election in your lifetime. the most important election in your kids lifetime and the most important election year. your grandkids lifetime. president trump is remarkable individual. he's running full steam ahead.

presidential campaign while being attacked by a two tiered justice system. i had a chance to be with him in court a week ago tuesday and to see the strength of what he goes through and to see the unfairness of that system, you know, sit there for five weeks when they haven't even been clear about was there actually even they can't even articulate what a crime may or may have been? it's just the whole thing is absurd to me as a businessperson. and then what happened that night? well, then he he's got a phone calls. the world leader, he had a meeting in person with the prime minister of australia. and one of the one of the night that i was there. so he does that all day after he's been up early in the morning and then he does that in court all. then he's on the phone call and then he's meeting with world leaders. then he goes to a fundraiser and then he goes back and starts more phone calls and repeats it again. if you were just going to say, i had an opportunity to work as a corporate officer, ceo, chairman in public companies for over 20 years. before i got anything i never in my career saw a ceo in any industry work as hard as he works every single day. and when he's working that hard

he's working that hard for all of you and for our country. why he's doing it. i think one question you could ask when you're talking to your your neighbors that might be undecided about where to go in this thing. is this classic question. ronald reagan was the one that really brought it up. what you said the you know, it's one of the most powerful, simple questions we can ask an election year is ask someone, are you better off than you were four years ago is simple. are you better off than you were four years ago? and if if this person is honest about living in joe biden's america and with biden by nomics what's the answer going to be? the answer is going to be no. that alone should be the strongest indicator that if you just had a regular, regular election, you know, don't vote for the incumbent. take a chance on the next person. but what do we have going on here? we have something that's never happened in our lifetime and won't happen again.

hasn't happened since grover cleveland. we as a country have been given a chance. we don't have to guess what the next president is going to be like. number 47, because we know because we know when president trump was in office, we know that the world is peace. we know that our country was prosperous. we know that interest rates were down. we know all that. so this is the easiest choice ever for a voter because you can pick about what do you have now versus what you had before. and if what you have now is not better than what you had before, that should be the end of the whole discussion. so forget all the other distractions and everything that, you know, the cable news and everybody is trying to shout about this, that and the other thing and just ask people in their hearts and in their family for the kids, are they better off than they were before? and in the answer, if they're honest, is going to be no, they're not, unless they had a lot of student loans or something. but getting okay. but i'm saying, again, i want you to leave with that. but but when i when i leave here tonight, i know one thing

because i know how important north carolina is and i know how committed all of you are. and i know that the leadership in this party i know that the those of you here, that supporters, the core folks this your friends, all the people that were here as delegates the last few days that maybe we had to go back to their families. but you've got the power right here in north carolina to ensure that that our party and our nation once again is heading in the right direction and want to say to all of you and those of us that live other states that may or may not begin with north, but around america, the other 49 states, they're counting on north carolina and they're counting you to do what it takes to make sure that we win because that engine at the top of the ticket, when that engine is pulling hard, you know who's going to get elected and you know what's going to happen because we're going to make america safe again. we are going to make america strong again. we're going to make our borders again. we're going to make america again. we're going to make america prosperous again. and when we do that, and that engine called donald trump is

driving, we are going to put mark robinson in the governor's residence here in this state and all those state elected officials you heard before are going to ride that train the way through. and i got to say one thing about mark. i you know, i've been involved with rga the last seven years as a governor. rga is coming in strong behind mark robinson. you can't coordinate, but i can just say those words here that we're going to be supporting him in this race and supporting him big. this is the race that matters in all the other governor's races around the country. we've got republicans teed up to win. this is the one that is this is the one that. right now is a close race. we're going to be in it. we want you to be in it. we want you out there supporting mark. but the way this thing works for everybody on, that ticket is you got it. you can't take don't if you see a poll that says donald trump is up by five, let's get them up by ten. as we say, we got to win this thing big. it pulls everybody with them. and if we're doing that together in north carolina, you're going

to have the happiest night in november with mark robinson as your governor, donald trump as your president. all these other state officials working together and we're going to make north carolina great again. going to make america great again. thank you. north carolina. thanks for having me here tonight. great to be with all of you. so, governor, thanks so much for joining you. ran a great campaign for president and infused the campaign with amazing ideas on energy on economic development the fact that a businessman is

something that is greatly lacking in this administration. tell us your assessment of things and what you're i'm sure you'll be working over the next four months to get donald trump elected. how do you see the world right now? thank you so much for being here. well, thank you, steve, and good morning, everybody. i want to just start with gratitude. you know, committed prosperity, the amazing work at all of your doing, and then everybody hear this today. i mean, the work that happens because of your support, your participation all of you're here because you care our country. you're here because you care about your communities. you care about kids and your grandkids. and you know that their future depends on how we do as a country. our strength has always been rooted in our economic strength and. and so the ideas that are being discussed in the work that's being done by this committee is so important. so i just want to say thanks to all of you for being here. thanks for all of you being in the arena. and what an amazing panel. i'm honored to be included in with these icons of american history that are up here, i met

this guy. i have and and met him studied both of you. so that's a great, great to be here. but we have a an incredible opportunity. we're on the cusp right now of of unleashing a new wave of activity driven by artificial intelligence, artificial has got an opportunity to transform job every industry. i and you know, every company in it's going to do that and it's going to hit us sooner and faster. the next wave that's coming this year is going to be an order of magnitude better and stronger than the what's here right now. but we have and we have a lead. i mean, we're in an air race with china. the existential threat our country is not. it's not the, you know, a degree temperature rise, 2100, the existential threat is what we have right now with adversaries and especially china. we have a bunch of ways that we can win the cold war with china. we're not doing it right now. they have because of people like harold, we've got energy

security in our country. china imports 11 million barrels of oil a day. we've got the best farmers and ranchers in the world we produce. so much food. we've got food security which we never ever talk about it. we just take it for granted because that's something we have china to import food to feed those people every day. but the one thing that they're doing that we're not under joe biden with his energy policies, he's shutting down baseload energy in our country right now. if you if the rules and regulations that they've tried to do to shut down our baseload and think that we can just live on intermittent, that would be solar and wind, you know that only works when sun shines and the wind blows. we need baseload to be able to have manufacture we need baseload electricity that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, no matter, what? and of course, nuclear is is part of that solution the future? but it's not yet. but what we have right now, china is building. they've got commissioned over there the world's largest polluter right now, world's largest in co2 emissions. they are opening more plants.

they have more coal plants under construction right now than everything we have in the united states. you could shut down every plant we have in the us, totally destabilize our grid, which is what the biden energy policy is trying to do. and china will build more than that at the same time. so we're not doing anything relative to saving environment with this policy of of sort of you know economic martyrdom around around a false head, around a some climate goals. and then we have a we we we have this the thing which is 88 takes electricity. the whole time i was in technology, we consumed about 1% of the nation's electricity for 30 years, even though everybody a cell phone, everybody had a personal computer, the efficiency was there. and we were about 1% that could grow to 6 to 10% of the total demand for electricity. this country could go to data centers to drive. i and i, like i said it's an arms race. you know, here we're it to try

to make a job more efficient. china's using it to to impact their military and and so we are the world order is going to be determined by who leads in ai. that can't happen unless we have it. once we have energy here. and then we also again this thing, which harold is know in our state, the sky is incredible. and what harold what harold did what harold did with horizontal drill drilling, think of that as innovation. they don't think oil guys as tech guys. what harold was a miracle the block in which is one of the largest oil fields in the world, as in many cases a 30 foot strip of hard rock shale, 10,000 feet below the ground. and that guy figured out how to go down two miles, turn a corner, drill sideways for two miles and turn hard into oil. and without that, we wouldn't have the marcellus. we wouldn't have the permian, we wouldn't have the bark. and that's that's a no. it is a a and you want to talk about a tax cut. what harold did, that's like

trillion, $1,000,000,000,000, literally $1,000,000,000,000 of saving to all of you and everybody that works for you because every consumer in america paid less for their food, their clothes, their gas in their car. they heat their home because of what harold hamm did, an american indian american innovation. and that innovation can accelerate if we have a if we lose arms race, it's over with china. so i know you've got a crazy day to day and you're one of the top surrogates for the president. what how do you see things going in the election? what do you think is the path to victory? what do you think donald trump has to do to win? well, i think we're we're in a incredible position versus where we were three weeks ago and there's just been win after win after win. and in the middle of that, something that was in, you know, a horrifyingly millimeter away from, you know, chaos and mourning. but we went when donald trump won that debate, that wasn't like winning a debate. that was knockout. i mean, that was like a rocky

style knockout. and he didn't just knock out a candidate that got exposed that there's been a giant conspiracy hiding. president biden's condition, which would that everybody's been complicit on it. and, you know, including vice president harris, everybody around the white house, the media i mean, it was i mean, that was i think if all of you weren't surprised, if all you watched was msnbc and then you saw that, you're like shocked because you've been told that, hey, this guy is a rocket science behind closed doors and then you're you're seeing what you unsee, what you saw with your eyes that no matter how much how much positioning and spinning they do, but so the whole ruling regime that was put together in 2020 you know elizabeth warren nominating everybody that, you know for all of the stuff that's driving every company crazy you know i mean, her her appointees in ftc, s.e.c. and all these other places that are affecting mergers and regulation, she's all the climate warriors that are bearing a state like north dakota with, 30 plus rules and

regulations. one of each just one of those is the smallest is 800 pages. they typically are 1400 pages. we've run out of lawyers in north dakota trying to fight the federal government on regulation in order talked about the president being, the greatest president. the other thing that he did was he got of a lot of regulation during the time that he was office, which is a relief. so there's that when that night threw their party into complete disarray. so that would be great then. the next morning, supreme court case is started coming in the chevron deference, which is going to help the economy. that's a big win. yes. and and you have and then you have these other court cases that have been a win win, win win win for the president. and then, of course this this a mm. away from a complete change in history on saturday night and then that i think you know created an image which is real president trump's first response when you know when got up was was the courage, the resilience

the spirit the fight and that picture which will now, you know, be in children's school books 100 years from now of him with his fist up, with the flag flying over his head. that contrast versus joe biden. i mean, again if you're an independent or you're a democrat, you look at that and you say, wow, we have to worry. different things going on. and in a world where we're in a we're in a proxy war with iran we're in a proxy war with russia. we're in a cold with china. president trump is actually a deterrent himself. i mean, he's people look at president trump and they like if we do something, he'll do something back. i mean, he's a deterrent. he's like a national security joe biden. they look at him and go, hey, you know, we can do whatever we want. he's not going to do anything. i mean, we're empowering a terrorist group or empowering countries. we empower putin and then back joe energy policies are funding iran and russia. those countries are benefiting from his effort to down u.s. energy. that's helping those countries. iran's production is under under

joe. north dakota's production is