Doug Burgum may not have the name recognition of President Donald Trump\u2019s other cabinet secretaries, like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem or Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but Burgum, the Interior Secretary and former governor of North Dakota, still pops up on TV from time to time to push the president\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n
And he did just that on Thursday on Fox News to promote both artificial intelligence and fossil fuels. Burgum insisted that any skepticism about AI was unwarranted and that it would \u201ccure cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fox & Friends crew first asked Burgum about reports that data centers across the country were driving up energy costs, an issue that\u2019s been documented frequently in articles from Bloomberg<\/a>, CNBC<\/a>, and Pew Research<\/a>. Bloomberg found that, \u201celectricity now costs as much as 267% more for a single month than it did five years ago in areas located near significant data center activity.\u201d But Burgum called the claim \u201c100% false.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to talk about data centers, the highest electric prices in this country are places like Hawaii and Maine, and there\u2019s no data center activity going there,\u201d said Burgum. \u201cData centers, it\u2019s the first time in history we\u2019ve been able to take a kilowatt of electricity and convert it into intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n Burgum went on to say that converting electricity to intelligence was \u201cthe miracle of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe can actually manufacture intelligence. Do you think someone who\u2019s gonna spend $10 billion building an AI factory is gonna put it in a place that has high electric prices today? Of course not,\u201d Burgum insisted.<\/p>\n Burgum went on to compare the rise of AI to the expansion of railroad infrastructure in the 19th century, emphasizing that the U.S. is in an AI arms race with China. And Burgum, like every cabinet secretary who\u2019s placed in front of a microphone, credited President Trump with having the vision to make all of the good things happen. Burgum celebrated Trump\u2019s denunciation of clean energy and the \u201cgreen new scam,\u201d claiming, without evidence, that green energy was somehow bad for the environment.<\/p>\n It\u2019s true that energy prices in blue states tend to be higher, though solely blaming that on renewable energy doesn\u2019t make much sense. Burgum gave Hawaii as an example of a state without data centers but high energy costs, which isn\u2019t intellectually honest, given Hawaii\u2019s unique geographical characteristics as an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Everything\u2019s more expensive in Hawaii.<\/p>\n West Virginia is a deep red state, with 70% of voters opting for President Trump in 2024. But its energy prices have soared 10.3% since 2018, according to the New York Times<\/a>. Less than 5% of West Virginia\u2019s energy comes from renewables, according to the state\u2019s Office of Energ<\/a>y<\/a>.<\/p>\n Burgum\u2019s point doesn\u2019t even make much sense in the context. People aren\u2019t complaining that data centers are being built in areas with high energy costs; they\u2019re pointing out that data centers are increasing energy costs in the areas where they are being built.<\/p>\n The think tank Energy Innovation modeled what\u2019s likely to happen to energy costs since Trump\u2019s so-called Big Beautiful Bill<\/a>. It found that red states like Kentucky, Missouri, and South Carolina could see the highest jump in household energy prices over the next decade, with the phasing out of a tax credit for wind and solar in favor of fossil fuels like natural gas.<\/p>\n Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt made the reason for Burgum\u2019s appearance on the show more explicit after the Interior Secretary explained that AI is great. Earhardt said that people in Chandler, Arizona<\/a>, would be voting on Thursday on whether to build a data center.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to stay ahead of China,\u201d Earhardt said<\/a>. \u201cAnd if we want to win the AI race against China, we have to build these data centers. So it\u2019s just perception. How do we tell\u2026 you coming on Fox & Friends is telling the people in Arizona, \u2018vote for this because it doesn\u2019t mean your electric bills are going to go up.’\u201d<\/p>\n Rarely is propaganda and the process behind it ever explained quite so bluntly by the people delivering it.<\/p>\n Burgum received criticism as the Governor of North Dakota that he was too cozy with the oil lobby. At the Interior Department, he\u2019s pushed for ramping up an increase in oil production<\/a>. The discussion on Fox News got particularly weird when Burgum insisted, without any pushback, that AI would cure cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst of all, software came upon America and the world in our lifetimes, and it was the greatest extension of human capability. Now we have\u2026AI comes along, and it\u2019s the greatest increase in productivity for humans ever. I mean, this is gonna, it\u2019s not only gonna cure cancer, but it\u2019s gonna eliminate all kinds of drudgery, repetitive jobs,\u201d said Burgum.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, this drives things forward. So jobs will be different, but if every person in this country can have a free assistant that speaks 30 languages and can code. That\u2019s not a bad thing,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Claims that AI has radically increased productivity are highly contested, of course. While you might expect such a grandiose claim about curing cancer from someone who is ignorant of technology, this isn\u2019t some random guy. Burgum made his money back in 2001 when he sold his software company, Great Plains Software<\/a>, to Microsoft for $1.1 billion. He\u2019s now reportedly worth about $100 million, according to Forbes. In theory, Burgum should have a little skepticism about the wildest claims coming from AI companies, given his tech background.<\/p>\n Burgum never defined any of the terms he was using, including AI, which is used in a wide variety of contexts these days. The AI tech that\u2019s shooting down missiles is not the same AI tech that tells you to put glue on your pizza<\/a> for a tasty snack. He also didn\u2019t define a specific type of cancer, which is important given the fact that there are so many subtypes of cancer that require different treatments. A universal cancer cure is widely thought to be illogical.<\/p>\n But all of these talking points about AI clearly serve the interests of Big Tech and the people who\u2019ve gotten so close to Trump\u2014all of the same people who were revealed to be on the cover of Time magazine today as \u201cPerson of the Year.\u201d Whether they like it or not, they do seem to be a big factor in rising household energy costs.<\/p>\n The Trump regime may have stumbled upon a new strategy for bringing down the cost of energy, even if it\u2019s wildly unethical. On Wednesday, the U.S. seized a Venezuelan oil tanker<\/a>, leading to questions about the justification for such a move. U.S. officials claim the vessel was violating sanctions.<\/p>\n White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked specifically by Fox News\u2019 Peter Doocey whether Trump would use the seized oil to \u201ctry to help Americans with affordability here in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs you know, Peter, the vessel will go to a U.S. port and the United States does intend to seize the oil,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cHowever, there is a legal process for the seizure of that oil, and that legal process will be followed.\u201d<\/p>\n