Longshot Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota on Monday gave the media a scolding while sharing his disgust with the Democratic Party’s unwavering support for President Joe Biden.
While taking questions from reporters on Monday, Phillips — who is challenging Biden in Tuesday’s Democratic New Hampshire primary — vented his frustration with how the media has handled the Democratic race.
“First of all, I just hope one of you asks a question about what people really care about right now. That’s just a simple request,” Phillips said after being asked about a potential third-party challenge to Biden.
He went on to say that voters cared about issues such as the economy, inflation, health care, Social Security, homelessness and education rather than what he called “clickbait” questions from the media.
“I’ve said this 18,000 times,” the congressman said. “I’m only doing this to defeat Donald Trump. Nobody seems to want to do that in the Democratic Party right now, other than me, because Joe Biden can’t, is my proposition, because the data says he can’t.”
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“No one in the country right now cares. In fact, most of the people in the country are going to the Trump rally right now because he’s listening to them,” he said.
“No one’s asking about this stuff. I’m just frustrated. I hope you understand why I’m getting tired of it. You’re doing your jobs, but you’re not asking the questions that Americans give a s*** about,” he said.
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some viewers may find offensive.
Phillips, who makes no secret of his disdain for the GOP front-runner, former President Donald Trump, said he entered the presidential race because he does not believe Biden can win.
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Party leaders and congressional Democrats “know that Joe Biden is one of the least well-positioned Democrats to take on this mission,” he said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“Coronating incumbents, even when they are not electable, even when the country says they don’t want it — particularly in light of the consequence of a Donald Trump re-election — it’s tragic, and that’s why somebody has to do something,” the congressman said.
Damning Biden with faint praise, Phillips said the president is “a man of good character and competency who is in decline, who is at a stage in life where human beings are no longer able generally to accommodate the demands of any job, let alone the most demanding job in the world.”
“It’s not Dean Phillips that produced historically low approval numbers” for Biden, he said. “It’s not Dean Phillips that is showing him losing in every battleground state.”
The congressman later said that his candidacy “is an intervention for a party that has become addicted to a delusion.”
Phillips told WGBH-FM in Boston that although the odds are against him, the New Hampshire primary could be “the beginning of something.”
“I’m practicing democracy,” he said. “I’ve had the most extraordinary 90 days of my life. I’ve been reinvigorated about our great country. I’ve met people with the most people stories, the most heartbreaking stories.
“And I showed up. And that was my mission, is to demonstrate that in this country we do not do coronations, we have competitions.”
Referring to Biden, he said, “I believe Americans have made up their mind: He is not electable.”
