This is Part 5 in an ongoing series, thanks in large part to the All-In Podcast, those guys are doing absolutely fantastic work.

It probably doesn’t hurt that one of the “besties” is David Sacks and he’s likely getting them access to all the top people, but I’ll take it!

This series is basically designed to give you an inside look into everything happening in the Trump Administration, and specifically into the key people filling all the big roles.

Because the more I find out about these people, the more I’m absolutely blown away!

These are truly and best of the best.

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If you missed parts 1-4, here are they are:

Part 1:

If You Have ANY Doubt About ANYTHING In The Trump Administration, Watch This Right Now…

Part 2:

If You Have ANY Doubt About ANYTHING In The Trump Administration, Watch This Right Now (Part 2)…

Part 3:

If You Have ANY Doubt About ANYTHING In The Trump Administration, Watch This Right Now (Part 3)…

Part 4:

If You Have ANY Doubt About ANYTHING In The Trump Administration, Watch This Right Now (Part 4)…

And now we do Part 5, featuring Doug Burgum.

I have to confess something....

I didn't know much about Doug Burgum.

He always struck me as a nice guy but a little bland and not real strong.

It turns out, nothing could be further from the truth!  Sorry Doug, I had no idea!

This guy is absolutely dynamic when you listen to him talk and his resume is off the charts!

Here's a quick summary:

Doug Burgum – Résumé

Current Title:
• 55th Secretary of the Interior, United States of America
• Chair, National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC)

Recent Presidential Appointment:
• Appointed by President Donald J. Trump following endorsement and national campaign support
• Leading U.S. energy infrastructure, mining, and national balance sheet revitalization initiatives

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Career Highlights

Governor of North Dakota (2016–2024)

• Won the 2016 GOP primary after starting 69–10 in the polls
• Re-elected in 2020 by the largest margin of any race in the country
• Led North Dakota to become the #2 oil-producing state in America
• Spearheaded growth across coal, oil, natural gas, agriculture, and ranching sectors
• Championed responsible land use, clean energy production, and economic growth
• Managed the state’s public land, mineral leasing, water policy, and tribal affairs
• Worked closely with President Trump during his first term
• Fought 30 lawsuits against Biden administration policies as Governor
• Prioritized national energy security and resisted federal overreach

Entrepreneurial & Technology Background

Great Plains Software (Founder & CEO)

• Founded and scaled a startup software company from Fargo, North Dakota
• Took the company public, achieving global success with 2,000 employees
• Acquired by Microsoft in an all-stock deal

Microsoft Corporation (2001–2007)

• Served as a Corporate Vice President following acquisition
• Helped grow Microsoft from 40,000 to 90,000 employees
• Managed global expansion and integration of Great Plains operations
• Gained deep executive experience in global enterprise software management

Post-Microsoft Business Ventures

• Involved in two additional startups within six months of retiring
• Participated in three more software IPOs and dozens of ventures
• Maintained an active leadership role in the private sector until entering politics

National Energy Leadership

Chair, National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC)

• Assembled and leads a cross-cabinet team including DOE, EPA, DOT, DOI, and private sector leaders
• Driving U.S. energy emergency response under President Trump

Education & Personal Background

• Raised in a town of 300 people in North Dakota — all gravel streets, no computers
• Lifelong problem-solver with a blend of small-town grit and global business success
• Passionate about public service, innovation, and restoring American competitiveness

I had no idea about any of that.

Can you imagine anyone better suited for the job he's currently doing?

It's like his whole life was training for what he's doing now, and that's pretty incredible!

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The whole interview was fascinating and I think you're really going to enjoy this one, and I also think you're going to have increased confidence that we truly have the best people in the right postitions.

Please enjoy:

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

David Friedberg:
We're here on the Celsius Galway in Sabine Pass, just outside of Beaumont, Texas, with the Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.

The crew is giving us a tour. This is an amazing export facility — the largest in the United States, second largest in the world. We're going to talk with the Secretary in a minute about American energy independence and the role that this company, this facility, and this process plays.

So excited to have the conversation with the Secretary.

What'd you think?

Doug Burgum:
Well, he was fantastic. But to be on a brand-new ship like this is pretty special. I mean, like brand spanking — like this is the first cargo it's taking. This is like not even out of the showroom.

Brand new. Yeah, I mean look at that. Those are spotless.

David Friedberg:
Yeah, this was definitely coordinated for you. I have a suspicion.

Doug Burgum:
But it's beautiful. I think they coordinated for you. They heard you were coming, Doug.

They were saying in 2008 this facility was basically bankrupt.

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David Friedberg:
Yes.

Doug Burgum:
And this has been a development project since about 2012, and it went from practically nothing to the largest LNG exporter in the world in 13 years.

David Friedberg:
In 13 years!

Doug Burgum:
And prior to that, when it was originally built — because this is before the amazing miracle of the whole shale revolution in our country — without that, this was being built as an LNG import facility. That was the original thing: "We're going to have to import LNG to America."

Now LNG is the number two dollar export on the all-time list for the country. It's the second-highest dollar value we export.

We went from being like, "Oh, we're going to run out of oil and gas," to today we're energy independent on a net basis. And we're on our path towards becoming energy dominant.

David Friedberg:
I'm going all in. All right besties, I think that was another epic discussion. People love the interviews. I could hear him talk for hours.

Absolutely. We crushed your questions in a minute. We are giving people ground truth data to underwrite your own opinion.

What do you guys think? That was fun. That was great.

Welcome to the All-In interview here today with Secretary Doug Burgum.

Doug Burgum's background and how it led him to his role in the administration.

55th Secretary of the Interior of the United States of America. We are here in beautiful Sabine Pass in Louisiana today at the Cheniere LNG facility.

It's been an amazing tour this afternoon. It's a little bit windy, but it's still a beautiful afternoon.

Thanks for joining me today, Doug.

Doug Burgum:
David, it's great to be with you. Thank you for coming down and seeing this amazing facility.

David Friedberg:
So we just took a great tour here. Why were you here today and what are we checking out?

Doug Burgum:
Well, I think President Trump — one of his core goals — if we talk about energy dominance, which is beyond energy independence, it's not just a slogan.

It's really about: How do we have the power to power AI in America? How do we power the remanufacturing in America?

And then how do we sell energy to our friends and allies so that they don't have to buy it from our adversaries?

And what you and I had a chance to see today is the largest LNG export facility in America — the second largest in the world.

David Friedberg:
Yeah, I was struck. I didn't really realize how quickly this facility grew up. Just about a dozen years ago, there was nothing really going on here.

And now it's the second-largest export facility of methane in the world.

Doug Burgum:
And methane is seeing a massive resurgence around the world because it has a lower carbon footprint. There's demand. It's transportable.

So there's a lot of reasons why there's a massive, growing market for liquefied natural gas — or methane.

David Friedberg:
Absolutely.

Doug Burgum:
And part of the amazing energy transformation that I think is not fully appreciated by most Americans is:

When this plant began in the early 2000s, it was meant to be an LNG import facility.

America was running out of oil and gas and they said, “Wait, we got to be ready to start importing it just to meet our needs.”

Well, along comes the shale gas revolution — again, driven by technology. That technology of horizontal drilling, that ability to fractionate rock and get oil and gas out of places that people thought was just impossible that we would ever be retrieving.

Those resources from those hard rock shale locations.

And so then this thing, after the financial crisis, turned around and began its life as an export facility.

And now, as you say, the only one larger in the world is in the Middle East.

David Friedberg:
So I want to go back a little bit on how you ended up in the seat.

Not just being the Secretary of the Interior, but you're also the Chair of the National Energy Dominance Council.

I really want to talk about the importance — I talk about it on the podcast a lot — about the importance of growing energy production in this country.

But you're a tech entrepreneur who is from North Dakota, became Governor of the state, and I'd love for you to just do your highlights.

How you ended up there, what you did with respect to energy, and also how that translated into a surplus of jobs and economic prosperity for that state.

Doug Burgum:
It's been quite a journey. You know, starting out in a town of 300 people in North Dakota, with all gravel streets and no computers...

To end up having an opportunity to be part of a software startup, grow that business, take it public, have a great run as a public company.

Get acquired in an all-stock deal by Microsoft.

Stayed there for seven years, helping grow Microsoft from 40,000 people to 90,000 people.

There were 2,000 of us at Great Plains when we got acquired. 1,200 in Fargo, 400 rest in North America, 400 rest of the world.

We became this improbable global software company coming from the Great Plains.

And then when I left Microsoft to presumably spend more time with kids and retire — that was an epic fail.

Ended up in two more startups within six months. Was involved in three more software IPOs and dozens of other software businesses.

And then in 2016, at a time when we were having an energy collapse in prices, there was an open seat for governor.

I threw my hat in the ring. We were down at 6, 9, 10 in the polls in January. The primary was in June.

Katherine, who became the First Lady, was like, “Oh, we've got a great life. Why would we get into politics? Why would we get into that?”

And I assured her that we had no chance of winning and she didn't have to ever worry about being First Lady, but this would be fun for six months to create some competition.

But we ended up winning that primary and then went on.

Got — it was a good year for outsiders.

So we took office. In North Dakota, you start middle of December. So about 36 days ahead of President Trump, we were sworn in.

Had four amazing years working with President Trump as a governor.

There was wind behind our back.

…And then second term, we got reelected by the largest margin in the country of any race.

But then I was serving as a governor under the Biden administration, and in a state where we were rapidly becoming a very resource-rich state. We had climbed to being the number two oil producer in the country.

We had tremendous coal resources, incredible agriculture resources, and ranching. And the Biden administration really was having a war on — whether it was timber, grazing, oil and gas, coal, critical minerals — anything that had to do with extraction.

There was a regulatory battle going on. And I would have to say that a part of me not just became frustrated — I became very concerned about the future of the country.

And that led to jumping at the national level and saying, "Hey, we've got to have a policy." Because if we don't have energy security, we're not going to have national security. And that's what really drove us to sitting here right now today.

David Friedberg:
So you ran for president. You ran for the Republican nomination against President Trump and others. And then obviously President Trump got that nomination.

Did you keep in touch with him after that? And how did you kind of work with his staff and his office as he was moving his campaign forward?

Doug Burgum:
Well, we were in touch because we knew each other as a governor would know a president. But I was never really running against President Trump.

And I think the record shows that I was really running against these horrifically dangerous and unsound, unsafe policies of the Biden administration, which are almost too numerous to enumerate.

When I left office last December 15th, 2024, as governor, I was involved in 30 lawsuits against the Biden administration — many of them including against the bureaus that I'm now leading.

Because the regulatory regime was such that it wasn’t about regulating oil and gas — it was about eliminating oil and gas from America.

And if there was some sort of false god around climate ideology being chased, it was like, "Oh, if we stop the supply coming from the U.S., we're going to somehow save the planet."

But there was no reduction in demand. The demand was just being filled by Iran, Venezuela, Russia. And they were funding wars against us.

So I thought it was the closest thing to insanity that I'd ever seen.

And so when we dropped out, very quickly, I was the first of any of the other candidates to endorse President Trump and then spent last year campaigning for him.

David Friedberg:
Yeah, and then there were — can I say this — some rumors that you might have been in the running for vice president. But you obviously stayed close with the president and his staff and found your way into this role.

How did that process go for you? How did you end up in this role?

Doug Burgum:
Well, I love what I'm doing and I love the role. Because of course, as a Western governor, we had all the things that Interior has. As Governor of North Dakota — which is a jam-packed, fun job — you’re chairman of the land board.

And just being governor meant dealing with land and minerals and all the leasing and all the issues with the energy industry.

You're also the head of the water commission. Interior has the Bureau of Reclamation, which is the second-largest hydroelectric producer in the country and manages the miracle of irrigation that Roosevelt came up with.

We wouldn’t have agriculture in Arizona or California without that.

And then the Bureau of Indian Affairs is part of Interior. That’s something I had a lot of experience with, and all the challenges we face in terms of healthcare and education on the tribal areas.

So across the whole realm of Interior, everything that I had in North Dakota is part of my job today — except one thing: offshore oil production.

Because North Dakota, as you would know, is the center of North America. So if you're afraid of sharks, you should move to North Dakota because it literally is the furthest place in North America from any ocean.

So we had no offshore. But today, earlier today, I had a chance to get on my first offshore platform and see the innovation and entrepreneurship there that’s again now providing about 16% of the oil for America.

David Friedberg:
So I mean, let's talk about the energy problem — the energy opportunity.

Before we do, I think understanding the state of American energy production and how we got here...

Fifty percent of the potential audience of this conversation tune out and say, "This is evil. There’s good and there’s bad. This is bad."

"Exploitation of natural resources. Extraction of natural resources damages the planet, ruins the environment, puts carbon in the atmosphere, drives climate change."

And they won't listen to any conversation about the pragmatism of energy security and the importance energy plays in prosperity — taking people out of poverty, raising them up, raising living standards, and giving access to things around the world that every individual wants, which is more prosperity.

And one statistic I always quote is that if you go back 500+ years, there are all these studies that have tried to understand energy production versus GDP, which translates to prosperity per capita.

And there’s a linear relationship. The more energy that’s produced, the higher the GDP per capita.

That’s what we see around the world in developing markets today.

So I guess maybe you could just take a moment to talk to those folks. Share a little bit about your perspective of the relationship between taking care of the environment and the planet and the importance of energy demand and energy security before we get into the things that are going on.

Doug Burgum:
Well, I think you’re spot on. Human flourishing depends on everyone.

If you're talking about access for everyone — take a look. We could have as many as 800 million people on the planet — shy of a billion — that don’t have access to electricity.

They need more energy.

Now with AI coming, the demand for power is going to go up. The demand for advanced manufacturing is going to go up.

So we’re not in any kind of “energy transition.” We’re in an era where we need energy addition.

If we want human flourishing, if we want to reach our planet’s fullest potential, and if we want to take care of our environment — which we can do all at the same time — that even requires energy.

If you’re worried about water sources, desalination — which we can do — requires a lot of energy. Transportation of goods requires energy.

So whether it’s the clothes on your back, the food on your table, the transportation you drive — there’s an energy component to all of it.

And electrifying stuff doesn’t change that. It just changes the source. You still need to create the electricity.

So I feel like if anybody is concerned about the environment, they should want every ounce of liquid fuel and every electron produced in the United States.

Because if you compare us to any other country, we produce it cleaner, safer, smarter, and healthier than anyone else.

That I learned in North Dakota over those eight years as governor, where we were always at the top of the list for cleanest water, cleanest air, best soil health — all of these things.

And we were going up the charts in terms of energy production. These things go hand in hand. They’re not either-or.

It’s a plus when you can do both.

And we were just talking to this crew on board the ship we just visited. They’re on their way to Taiwan. They go to Japan.

If we can produce liquid methane in this country with a lower carbon footprint than that methane might be produced elsewhere — which is the case — we use cleaner methods.

That demand exists regardless of whether or not the United States produces it.

It’s important that the U.S. take advantage of the opportunity to produce it cleaner, more safely, and with a lower footprint — and build economic prosperity for us as exporters.

David Friedberg:
Yes, absolutely. So the net formula that you’ve just described is:

The more energy that’s produced in the United States, the better it is for the globe, and the better it is for American prosperity.

Doug Burgum:
And I would say it’s not just for the globe environmentally. It’s also for peace.

It’s not just prosperity at home — but literally, the two proxy wars that we’ve been involved in with Russia after they invaded Ukraine, and Iran funding 24 different terror groups.

They were funding those wars against us with their oil and gas sales.

If we can replace their customers with U.S. sources, they have less revenue.

They have less funding — literally — to fund terrorism.

So it is prosperity at home. Peace abroad. It’s nothing short of that.

David Friedberg:
So let’s talk about the energy demand equation.

The U.S. is forecasted to increase its electricity production capacity from 1 to 2 terawatts by 2040 — 15 years from now.

During that same period of time, China is going to go from 3 to 8 terawatts.

And that China forecast, by the way, excludes any of the Gen 4 nuclear reactors, the new hydroelectric facilities, and the new thorium, if that ever scales, that they’re considering rolling out.

So in the next 15 years, China is adding five Americas in electricity production capacity.

And if everything gets automated — factories automated, AI becomes the great accelerant of the global economy — China is hugely advantaged relative to where we sit today.

What do we need to do about it?

Doug Burgum:
Well, if you were to ask me what’s the thing that keeps me awake at night — this is the issue.

And it’s so thrilling and refreshing that you understand the scale, the magnitude, and the importance of this.

The AI arms race is really driven by access to electricity.

And China last year brought on 94.5 gigawatts of coal-powered electricity. One gigawatt is Denver.

They brought on 94 Denvers — just last year. That’s more than all we have today for California and New York combined.

They added a New York and a California worth of electricity last year — just from coal.

They’re still getting 60% of their baseload from coal.

People may stop listening when they hear the word “coal.”

But coal, from an electricity standpoint — thermal coal — is fantastic baseload. It allows you to maintain amperage and voltage to keep a system going.

We just saw in Spain — they shut down their last coal plant.

A week later, they celebrated 100% renewables on their grid. A week after that — subways shut down, airline flights canceled, hospitals in panic — because of rolling blackouts.

It defies physics. You cannot run an electric grid with only intermittent sources.

Sun doesn’t shine at night. Wind doesn’t blow every day.

In America, we are dangerously close to the same thing. Biden brownouts and blackouts.

We’ve over-subsidized intermittent sources. We’ve overregulated baseload.

And all we’re doing is putting our own country at risk.

David Friedberg:
So it was regulatory action that’s been taken — and I’ve got to imagine it’s not just the Biden administration.

Doug Burgum:
Correct.

David Friedberg:
In 35 years, we only added 6 terawatts of electricity capacity.

Why?

Doug Burgum:
Because of whole-of-government regulatory attack.

You couldn’t get permits for fossil fuel baseload. No permit — no capital.

Then social media, protests, ESG pressures saying “exit from all this.”

This happened in Germany. They shut down coal and nuclear, and bought gas from Russia.

Germany spent $500 billion on a green transition — they now produce 20% less electricity, and it costs 3x more.

And now they’re scrambling back to coal and nuclear.

So the greatest existential threat to America is not 1° of climate change by 2100.

Innovation will solve that. But we won’t have innovation without electricity.

Losing the AI arms race to China is the real threat.

David Friedberg:
I agree.

Doug Burgum:
That’s why President Trump declared an energy emergency on day one.

We don't have enough power to win the AI arms race.

AI is critical for defense — hypersonics, ocean fleets, golden dome systems.

That’s why I’m chairing the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC). Think of it like a supercharged economic development team.

We give white glove service — help infrastructure projects get permits, capital, insurance.

We’ve got to preserve baseload — including coal, natural gas — and fast-track small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs).

Long-term, SMRs will help. Short-term, LNG power plants are our fastest scalable solution.

One gigawatt = one Denver.

Standard Gen 2 nuclear = 1 GW.

SMRs = 5 MW and can be placed near cities, office parks, or military bases.

Safer, smaller, redundant designs.

Once design is approved, mass-produce like aircraft, not one-off plants.

Transmission is another bottleneck — pipelines, transmission lines — all get protested if even one mile touches federal land.

We need to cut permitting time drastically.

(continued shortly with final segment…)

Doug Burgum (continued):
We’ve got incredible partners. Chris Wright at DOE, most qualified Energy Secretary we’ve ever had.

DOE has most of the nuclear responsibility, including military nuclear stockpile and national labs like Los Alamos and Sandia.

These are the places where the Manhattan Project happened. We need to mobilize them again to solve today’s energy emergency.

David Friedberg:
We should talk to Chris Wright.

Doug Burgum:
Yes, you should.

David Friedberg:
What’s your point of view on the timeline for SMRs? 2035? 2040?

Doug Burgum:
Fun thing — if you did this five years ago, you’d only be talking to utilities.

Today, you’re talking to venture-funded startups. At least ten chasing new fission and fusion designs.

Applications for military bases. Distributed generation is harder for enemies to knock out.

David Friedberg:
Do you think America has a risk tolerance problem? We’ve gotten so prosperous, we regulate everything to avoid any downside.

Self-driving cars are safer — 1 crash every 5M miles — yet one crash dominates the news.

Same with nuclear.

Doug Burgum:
Exactly.

Highway deaths? 38,000 to 40,000 per year — half from impaired driving or distractions.

No one talks about that. But if 70 people die in a plane crash, it’s front-page news for weeks.

No deaths from nuclear energy in the U.S. since inception.

But 37 deaths from vending machines tipping over.

David Friedberg:
Where did you find that?

Doug Burgum:
It’s out there — federal safety stats.

So, if you’re afraid of nuclear, avoid vending machines too.

When I was campaigning, someone asked, “Would you live near a nuclear plant?”

I said, “I raised my family on a farm near a road — that’s way more dangerous.”

David Friedberg:
Let’s talk about another crisis: debt and deficit. $38T of debt, $2T annual deficit.

You’ve talked about America’s balance sheet. What do you mean by that?

Doug Burgum:
We always talk about the $38T in debt. But what about the assets?

Interior alone manages 500M acres of land. Add Forest Service — 200M more. That’s ⅓ of U.S. land.

700M acres of subsurface rights. 2.5 to 3B acres offshore — with minerals and energy.

Interior as a standalone company would have the biggest balance sheet in the world — bigger than Saudi Aramco.

At a recent forum, I asked: “How many of you know our debt?” — everyone raised hands.

“How many know our assets?” — nobody.

We’re working under the Trump administration to map this.

One estimate: $8T in coal resources alone.

We need steel for defense, shipping, and advanced manufacturing. That requires coke, which comes from metallurgical coal.

We kill coal — we kill steel.

And coal seams are rich with critical and rare earth minerals.

China is restricting exports. We need these minerals for EVs, drills, rockets, magnets.

Theodore Roosevelt said public land was for the benefit and use of the American people. Conservation meant sustainable use — not total preservation.

We saw what happened with the spotted owl. Shut down timber industry in the ’90s.

Now we burn more board-feet in wildfires than we harvest. That emits more CO₂ than logging ever did.

We need to get back to managing our lands, grazing, mining, drilling — responsibly.

These all involve selling leases to private companies. They take the risk, pay royalties if they succeed.

One small offshore company has sent $1.2B to the Treasury.

David Friedberg:
Compare that to tech companies — almost no royalties or resource return.

Doug Burgum:
Exactly.

Interior brought in $22B last year.

If we got just a 1% return on our estimated $100T balance sheet — that’s $1T annually.

We’re off by a factor of 50.

Assets are only valuable if you can access, utilize, monetize them.

We need to “Map, baby, map.” That’s what the USGS was founded to do.

Use new tools like ground-penetrating radar — more accurate and less intrusive than seismic.

Then publish that data — steer capital to develop resources.

David Friedberg:
Let’s talk mining. We only graduate 200 mining degrees a year.

Why did the U.S. stop mining?

Doug Burgum:
We used to be a great mining nation. Gold, silver, copper — through WWII into the ’80s.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
 

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