Doug Burgum’s Rebranding: ‘He’s Playing the Game Now’

The rain had passed, and the June sun shined down on the Badlands. The pastures of John Hanson’s 11,000 acres ran green between the sandstone buttes that dotted the land. Hanson, sat in the back of an F-150 truck next to Beau Bateman. John’s kid brother Ted was driving, a rifle by his side. All three have been friends of Doug Burgum’s for nearly half a century. Hanson, dressed in a blue checked shirt, giant belt buckle, work jeans and tattered cowboy hat, had already put in a full day,...