An Interview with NH-02 Candidate Bob Burns

The Dartmouth Review’s Technology Director, Ian Kim (TDR), interviewed the 2022 Republican Nominee for U.S. Congress in NH-02, Bob Burns (BB), in person on October 17, 2022. The interview was conducted following a Dartmouth Political Union candidate’s forum in which Mr. Burns was a participant. Mr. Kim asked questions predominantly informed by his personal interests in technology and security. Mr. Burns is running for Congress against incumbent Democrat Anne McLane Kuster.

TDR: What would you say to the people who want Kuster out but are alienated because of your right-wing positions?

BB: So, you know, the thing is, we have to look at the bigger picture. The reasons that I got into this race were supply chains, national security, and pharmaceuticals. I mean, people have to wonder—is the most important thing to them their ability to have a 40-week abortion? Or are they scared of our power grids going down and infiltration by an enemy government that can legitimately cripple this country? And we have a bunch of lawyers and lobbyists out there that barely know how to use a computer. 

You know, I think I’m talking about a lot of things that aren’t first and foremost in people’s minds but really will be when they give some more consideration. People also have to ask themselves why the pharmaceutical companies, the corporations, and the insurance companies are giving my opponent hundreds of thousands of dollars? Why is she their darling? She claims that she’s out there for the people.

People also need to be asking themselves why she doesn’t want to expand the energy independence of the United States—why she wants to cripple that—and why she thinks that the best way to pay for things is to print more money. For someone who graduated from such a prestigious school, I have to believe that she understands inflation and knows that printing more money won’t work. So she must believe that voters are just dumb. 

This reminds me of when Bloomberg ran for office, and one of these major newscasters said, oh, the amount of Bloomberg spending, we could all have a million dollars … we’d all be rich. And it simply doesn’t work like that. If you give everybody a million dollars, we all still have the same buying power because everything will go up that much in price.

TDR: Many Chinese nationals are a part of elite graduate programs, universities, labs, and corporations. They’re not necessarily Chinese spies, but they go back and do technology transfer that is not explicitly illegal but still helps the Chinese. What can we do about this?

BB: I know very well that it is a problem. My mom immigrated from another country, and we go back there sometimes. 

But you know, and I know, Chinese Americans who, when they come here, are all about the United States—the Fourth of July, waving the flag, defending the country. They’re the most patriotic people you’ll ever meet. 

But I also meet people sometimes, and they still have allegiances to their former country; we need to be very careful with that. We need to consider patriotism, and we need to do a better job with background checks. And we can’t fall into the wokeism of saying that, just because somebody is ethnically different, we can’t look at their country and their allegiances. My family once came here from an enemy country, which was Canada; again, not my mother, but earlier—around maybe the time after the War of 1812. So I understand that there’s going to be apprehension towards people who come here from countries that are technically not our allies, and we need to do better in properly vetting them.

TDR: Energy is also a very big national security issue. You talked a lot about nuclear energy as the way forward. Even if everything you’re saying is true about nuclear energy, the public is still very concerned about nuclear power. What do you think Congress can do to address public fears that are unwarranted? What kinds of things will you do in Congress?

BB: People have to understand the new technology, and I think people need to get past a lot of age-old fears—and we can help with that. I think there are still ideas out there that, say, if there’s a nuclear meltdown, all of a sudden we are all dead. A lot of this misinformation was pushed by the fossil-fuel industry. We found conclusively that they were hiring protesters and sending out a lot of misinformation back in the 60s and 70s. So we really have to combat that and the fossil-fuel industry more broadly.

TDR: Our military’s goal is to gain AI capability by 2027, the prospects of which look pretty bleak at this point. What can you do in Congress to help the military adopt an AI capability faster than China?

BB: Yes, the level of AI that we are at is nowhere near where we should be. I’m afraid the Chinese may beat us to it. The thing that really scares me about it all is that we’re talking about our networks and our power grids—and people still using Windows XP. The key point to make, however, is that we saw all of this shut down when the Colonial Pipeline was hacked. We need to prevent that sort of thing from happening.

TDR: What can you concretely do at the Congressional level?

BB: Our critical systems need to be updated and encrypted. We need to be going into private industry and working with private industry when it’s a critical system for national security. You know, I believe in the free market, but we need national security. And that’s something the United States government is absolutely responsible for.

TDR: We’re beginning to reevaluate our relationship with Saudi Arabia. Do you think at this point that’s a wise move?

BB: I don’t understand why we have the relationship with Saudi Arabia that we do after September 11. I know that the Trump administration was friendly toward the Saudis. But I’m not Trump. This is something I disagree with Trump on. The human-rights violations alone should be a reason we don’t want to be involved. 

TDR: Even if it means Iran, China, and Russia getting closer and having fewer watchdogs in the region?

BB: You bring up a good point there. This is something I’ll have to re-evaluate and get back to you on.

TDR: A final question: What’s one of your policy positions that everybody should know about that no other Republican has?

BB: The AI stuff I’ve never heard anybody talk about, and I would highlight even some of the critical manufacturing as well. My healthcare policies, advocating a public option, also don’t really align with Republicans.

TDR: Wonderful; thank you for your time, Mr. Burns. Best of luck to you and your campaign.