North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is trying to put distance between him and some of his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination by saying culture war issues belong neither in the White House nor the corporate boardroom.
“It’s not the place that a CEO should be spending their time,” Mr. Burgum, a former entrepreneur, said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday. “It’s definitely not the place where the president should be spending their time.”
Although considered a long-shot candidate, Mr. Burgum’s position stands in contrast to other GOP White House hopefuls like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and biopharmaceutical entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Culture war issues like education, the LGBTQ community and corporate activism that conservatives say is biased toward liberals have dominated GOP politics.
Mr. Burgum took a shot across the bow at Mr. DeSantis, who trails former President Donald Trump, by saying he opposes the Florida governor’s book-banning movement.
“We need a president that’s focused on the challenges that we’re being faced as a nation, not a president that’s going to decide whether a book is in the right section or not in a library in a small town somewhere in America. That’s part of what is going wrong now,” Mr. Burgum said. “The reason why we’ve got issues with our economy, with our energy policy, with national security that are just raff, it is because we are somehow, through culturally, media, whatever, trapping the presidency or expecting them to weigh in on every single thing.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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