Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota said Friday that those who think he is hurting President Biden's chances are overestimating his power.
“[Y]You're giving me so much more power than I actually have,'' Phillips said on MSNBC's “The Chris Jansing Report.'' “The reason I did this is because Joe Biden is not going to win the next election. He was the only one who could have won in 2020. He's probably the only one who could have lost in 2024. That's probably it.”
Phillips also said it's not his fault that Biden's approval ratings are low and he's struggling in battleground states and national polls. He also highlighted concerns about the ages of Biden and former President Trump, but said he was not “voicing a national opinion on that.”
“That's not me,” Phillips continued. “I'm running because we need an alternative. And shame on any Democratic Party who might say voters shouldn't have a choice. That goes against the very democracy we're supposed to protect. I'd say that. And they know it too. They're afraid to say it.”
The congressman said late last month that there was “not a shred of evidence” that Biden could beat the former president. Phillips said he tried for a year to “pass the torch” to the president.
“This is what we do in democracies, we practice by actually holding competitions, so it's going to take some time for that paranoia to go away, but Joe Biden is in that position. “I've never seen a single shred of evidence that Donald Trump didn't win,” Phillips said.
Phillips said Biden should “cautiously withdraw” from this year's presidential race, saying the president was intentionally running against “the most dangerous man in the world” and losing every battleground state to him. He said that his approval ratings were low and that he was putting democracy at risk.
“If I were President Biden and I valued democracy – and he believes so – would he prudently leave the stage or encourage other candidates to do so? “We should do one of two things,” he said.
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