Dean Phillips: What I Learned From Challenging Biden

all right welcome back to The Young Turks at the DSC Jake H or John Iola look at this representative Dean Phillips joins us we're just missing Maryanne I could go find her search party so uh Dean you ran for president in the primary you got a lot of flack for it um I know I was there uh and I I experienced it but I think you got the worst end of it and so I think it's okay for you to say it you feel a little Vindicated you know I got to tell you I the mission has been Vindicated that's that's what you and I have talked about this so many times about this system this duopoly that suppresses competition and I really wanted to shine light on two things uh that we can do this better that competition is always a creative to success uh and that Joe Biden wasn't going to win you knew that I knew that I think a lot of people knew it but it is not advantageous for one's political career when you're already elected to tell the truth and a disease I think that has now permeated a lot of our elected offices uh and it is a Vindication to feel the joy and the energy and the transformation just for making a simple change because it's not about a person it's about a country and a principle and that's what you and I both work to achieve and I'm so glad that at least half the battle has now been won yeah and so you know I told you this off a but I'm going to say it again so look it's a little easier for me I'm an outsider easier for Maran William was the primary outside right and but you you a sitting us congressman and and you know the Press was kind to you the party was kind to you you already had all you had a lot to lose the you and you so I think it took tremendous courage for you to do do and and I appreciate it and I hope this whole place appreciates it which leads to my question which is what's the sense you get now the reaction back to you as opposed to when you were R Jal wrote today that it seems like Dean Phillips has been welcome back to the popular kids stable which you know another way of putting it yeah feels good and and based on what you just said I went to Vietnam last year right before I declared my candidacy uh because my dad died in the Vietnam War and I went to the site where he was killed remember flying back home that night and thinking to myself you know he and a million others have literally given their lives in service uh whether it be in wars that um were just or those that were unjust but the point was why should we in Congress you know be willing to lose our jobs let alone those Americans who are willing to lose their lives over fighting Injustice and speaking truth and that that really inspired me and I just hope future generations of public servants my colleagues can see that they can actually step out of line they can be disent they can practice dissent they can speak their truth and as they're watching me now as opposed to six months ago being welcome back I hope that's a little bit of some inspiration uh for others who we will need to speak truth to power and say the quiet part out loud yeah and before I go to John real quick on that note look on the show we talk about open minds all the time right and so what I appreciate about for example Lana is even when he knows we're gonna vehemently disagree he'll come on the show Independence position right and so and and you and I agree on a lot of things and we don't agree on some things in terms of policy right but I appreciate you for your courage and and that makes a giant difference and so that's why guys always open minds Open Hearts and and that's what Congressman Phillips showed as he did that race and yeah I I think you deserve to be Vindicated here and and I'm I'm relieved to hear that that they're saying okay nice job being thank you yeah uh so in terms of the the mission being Vindicated obviously like this particular one hopefully will be uh looking forward like Joe Biden the stakes were about as high as they could be for a candidate being you know not able to really run the campaign not have a chance of winning he's not the only politician that has perhaps overstayed their welcome at like the Senate level do you think going forward will people be a little bit more comfortable maybe having that conversation do you think that the media will feel a little bit more pressure to acknowledge a primary coming out of this will there be any Lessons Learned well look it it's really easy right now to say absolutely but boy history teaches us that some of the most overt experiences do not translate into a change of behavor behavior and I came to Congress in 2019 calling for a new generation of Democratic Leadership in the house Nancy Pelosi Jim kurn stenny Hoyer had been in their positions 20 years uh when Diane Feinstein was clearly in Decline when Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joe Biden you know we should not be this is not a game of personalities this is a game of principle and I do hope can't promise it but I do hope that this reawakens people to recognize the consequences uh of protecting people who are in Decline and this is an unusual matchup where Donald Trump made this election about age and lo and behold I hope it still is an election about age and he's just on the other side of this table but man I'm I'm not convinced yet that we're going to learn the lessons we need and that's why I also believe in term limits that we have too many people serving too long and that prevents a new generation from even participating for even having a chance to participate that to me is the biggest issue and that's why I think we need 18e term limits in the house of that combined and also the Supreme Court it's healthy to have new ideas uh and I think we're missing the boat uh as it relates to that yeah of course I couldn't agree more but I I I wanted to ask you in your run did you learn something once you were banished to the role of Outsider right and and a her once it took like a day at least I'm from Minnesota so it's kind of like Siberia that's a good point but it got worse and worse right then they you more and attct you more did you learn something from that experience that you didn't know before Oh I sure did I'll tell you to this very moment what to me is the most egregious example of what you're talking about is MSNBC you know the the the you know the figurehead for the Democratic party I did not receive a single invitation other than one the day after the South Carolina primary which was Joe Biden's High Watermark of course but not one invitation from October when I declared my candidacy to this very moment and I think that's says something about what is happen there is a connection as you probably suspect uh there is a political industrial complex that activates when initiated to suppress or to deplatform you know and and and you and MaryAnn you know we all deserved a little bit of platform that's all we were asking for not asking for the nomination not asking for a hall pass we were asking for simply the opportunity to make our case uh to American Democratic voters it doesn't seem like too much to ask and that is what really did surprise me but I'm glad I went through that Crucible I hope you are too because only with that Discovery can we now maybe try to do something about it and shine some damn light on a subject that I know neither party wants to be exposed and that is the result of two private corporations that do not have any accountability to American voters and I'm not sure most voters are even aware of that fact and I think I'm going to be on a mission soon to uh speak that truth yeah I'm curious you know like there's been a lot of talk about you know Joe Biden's perhaps lingering resentment over being pushed out I'm wondering do you feel when you see you know during during the primary as you point out CNN MSNBC could have had forums could have had Town Halls they just chose not to like when I look at I follow the daily it's one of the the podcasts I follow no coverage whatsoever and then you see as soon as the debate happens and there's pressure to step down suddenly it feels like all those media Outlets have always been very serious about this and they acknowledge the concerns and all that even though they completely erased the primary any any resentment over the the turn to now want to claim that you were always in the right you were always aware of the problems you always covered that when they didn't when it perhaps would have been a little bit better I think it's that's a fair contention you refall too that CNN hosted a town hall for I think five of the Republican candidates one hour Prime Time town halls for the Republican candidates I can only believe I don't have proof but I can only believe that there is some kind of a uh unspoken deal between certain elements of either you know the Democratic party DNC the white house uh that poses a threat to a news or media organization that would violate the terms of of of that unspoken Rule and you know the lifeblood of uh mainstream media is access to information to leaks and to talent and if you risk uh ruining that you're risking your entire Enterprise and I think it is that conflict of interest that has to be explored a little bit in American Media because it is that's probably the single big biggest Epiphany disappointment and if I have an modicum of resentment it's that uh it is the deplatforming of the American Media of candidates and I think there is some type of a tide house or conflict of interests that at least should be explored I'm not trying to create a conspiracy but I think at least needs to be explored it's not at all conspiratorial it's natural incentives and disincentives but it need the rules need to be fixed because otherwise yeah yeah yeah the incentives are perverse they need access Etc and it creates a system that that you could see how the mechanics of it work and to your point so for those of you una aware me Dean Phillips and Mari and Williamson were in the Rays uh we did one joint appearance on tyt and we did a debate on news Nation Dan Abrams did that that's great but otherwise we were we were we were shut out right and and at one point Maryanne had a higher significantly higher poll ratings than Nikki Haley and Nikki Haley was all over cable news and and had a town hall Etc and none of the three of us could possibly get you know that kind of coverage the town halls Etc and so it became obvious like it it became H harder and harder to hide the ball on that one but I want to ask you about uh fellow Democrats Etc here so do you think at this point that they get that we were running not because we thought oh yeah we're g to magically become president and it's high likely hood and we think it's a 51% chance that's why we ran no guys we were trying to help we were trying to get you a better candidate do you think they finally get that now uh I like to think so do I believe so not yet you know I've said to many that we were trying to be Paul River not George Washington right and it it saddens me that people assume this was some egomaniacal uh uh you know fool's erand right and I hope and that's the message I've been sending to everybody and I will say that most of the people here who have approached me you know have made comments that would indicate that they do understand now what we're trying to do you know because I don't recall any of us really disparaging President Biden or demeaning him we were trying to say that he's going to lose America by the way what what we're really trying to say is that the Democratic party better listen to voters they were saying it more loudly than we ever could because 5 like five% of them if you recall wanted a different nominee when we started our campaigns that's not all Americans that's just Democratic voters so for the party to ignore that kind of polling when a majority of it own voters are saying we'd like at least an alternative there in lies the big issue and I hope but I can't I can't say with certainty that uh that lesson will be learned because every cycle will present its um version I think of what we went through in protecting the incumbent and I think we should talk about that for one moment which is it is the nature of the incumbency we usually felt that accured uh that power accured to the incumbent based on voters I think it's actually the media it's the incumbency advantage relative to the media um that is so significant and very difficult to overcome and that's what we were trying to say just have a competition show up at one debate and if we had had that debate and America could have seen that live and in person with their own eyes I think this might have been um a very different outcome earlier yeah if Biden had stumbled with us it would not have been as bad as embarrassing as Etc and we would have been able to get to that conclusion earlier right you don't want him losing the Trump you know is so and so the way that it happened was not the best way the way would have been to test him in the primaries make sure you got the right guy and why did we enter the race in the first place because we saw the polling saying he's not going to win right so the polling isn't us the polling is the American people that's the voters and that's the Democratic voters and so we were in response to that we didn't push that that pulled us in it's the essence of democracy representation yeah and that's why Americans are so damn angry including many people watching and listening right now because when your voices are not heard whether it's a home in a personal relationship professional or certainly political you don't feel heard you're going to get angry and we got a lot of angry Americans because of this system that is really diminishing their voices and that is that's problematic and should be for all of us yep so last question uh here's what you're going to do in the future I know that there might be a governor position open soon in Minnesota your home state let's hope there is we W course Sims to win can I say I think this is a great example of it is sometimes better to be lucky than to be smart because what has transpired if this happened two months ago and kamla Harris had to then Pander to the you know to elements that would have made the a more difficult path if you will to the general election um if it had happened earlier in this wave maybe didn't take your all I mean there's a lot of things that have transpired that I would not have argued would have been beneficial then in a strange way we might be feeling a little bit of divine intervention uh in a way that maybe the former president experienced when he was spared from that bullet not long ago and that's a very strange outcome that I never would have anticipated and and look it's especially Divine interes for progressives because we're thrilled with the Tim Ball selection about yeah so you know your state you know what Minnesota's got a lot to be proud of you know you're the congressman who went was did the right thing led to the right result and then Tim Walls the governor gets picked as the VP God bless Minnesota yeah well you know Senator Clover says all the time in Minnesota when a baby is born new parents put the baby on their laps and say one day my child you too may become Vice President of the United States of America because we might have if Tim wall when Tim Wallace becomes a VP that will be the third Democratic vice president of the last de six Democratic vice presidents Hubert Humphrey Walter Mondale and Tim wall so that is amazing we are we are good at producing number two that didn't come out well but you know what mean the bumper stickers well is maybe that's maybe that's my next Pursuit making bumper stickers from my faux all right representative Dean Phillips I would argue American Heroes thank you for joining us appreciate if you enjoy this video that's because of our members they make us independent they make us 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