Burgum on Cheneys’ backing of Harris: ‘This is a season for odd couples’
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) on Sunday quipped this election is a “season for odd couples” in response to former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney (R), endorsing Vice President Harris over former President Trump in the general election.
Burgum, speaking on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” remarked that Dick Cheney used to be called “Darth Cheney” by Democrats for his hawkish foreign policy stances, with some alleging he was a war criminal.
“And now, overnight, they’re [Democrats] embracing him. So, I guess I’m just wondering if, you know, maybe he’ll be on the campaign trail, campaigning with Senator Sanders. I mean this is a season for odd couples,” he said, referring to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, appeared after Burgum on “Meet the Press.”
When asked by anchor Kristen Welker what he would say to undecided voters who could be swayed by the Cheneys’ endorsements and warnings about Trump, Burgum said, “Well, I don’t know that any of the undecideds will be swayed, because I think it’s been pretty well understood that former Vice President Cheney is, you know, not a fan of President Trump.”
He later suggested Sanders should be asked the same question. When Welker did ask Sanders if he would welcome seeing Liz Cheney on the campaign trail, he said, “What I think Dick and Liz Cheney are saying is that in this existential moment in American history, it’s not just issues. Cheney and I agree on nothing, no issues. But what we do believe in is that the United States should retain its democratic foundations.”
The younger Cheney, who has become one of the most vocal critics of Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, publicly threw her support behind Harris last week “because of the danger” Trump poses. She maintained she is still a conservative and would like to see the Republican Party “rebuilt” to how it was before Trump’s leadership.
A day later, her father announced he would also back Harris over Trump.
The former vice president said in a statement that Americans “have a duty” to defend the Constitution, regardless of political party.
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” he wrote. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”
Burgum, who launched a long-shot bid for the Republican presidential nomination last year but dropped out amid low polling numbers, has endorsed Trump. His name was floated as a potential vice presidential pick for Trump, and later claimed Trump appeared to extend an invite to him to serve in his Cabinet if he wins a second term in the White House.
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