Democrat Congressman: “I Should Be A Republican”

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) said “I should be a Republican” during a conversation with Laura Ingraham at the DNC in Chicago, Illinois.

“I went to a MAGA rally. I went to a Donald Trump rally when I was campaigning in New Hampshire back in the winter of 23. And I was met with handshakes and friendship and hospitality and decency,” Phillips explained.

“Cause you should be a Republican,” Ingraham commented.

“I should be a Republican,” Phillips responded.

WATCH:

“I went to a Donald Trump rally when I was campaigning in New Hampshire … I was met with handshakes and friendship and hospitality and decency,” says Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips.

“I should be a Republican!” pic.twitter.com/y0iKxLOgS7

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 20, 2024

YouTube backup (start at 05:04):

Despite backlash, Phillips ran for president in the Democratic primary.

The Minnesota congressman threw his hat in the race because he felt Biden was too old for another term.

The Hill reports:

Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips is now seeing the rainbow after walking through the rain, as his father would say, months after he failed to win a primary contest against President Joe Biden, jeopardizing relationships within his own party in the process.

The 55-year-old multimillionaire House member from Minnesota was the lone Democrat to challenge Biden for the presidency, a campaign that was fiercely criticized by colleagues. Speaking with Nexstar at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago Tuesday, Phillips had no regrets about his “principled mission.”

Over a year before major figures in the Democratic party would call for Biden, 81, to step down following a disastrous debate against former President Trump, Phillips was trying to convince his own party and the public that Biden was too old to serve another term.

However, it appears Phillips’ relationships with his Democratic colleagues have been repaired.

Dean Phillips and Hakeem Jeffries shared a hug earlier when they ran into each other at DNC media row

Phillips told me yesterday that “many” of his relationships in the party have been repaired after he was isolated for trying to primary Biden pic.twitter.com/v74DuQZ5X3

— Liz Elkind (@liz_elkind) August 21, 2024

In an interview, Phillips said he felt the energy from nominating Kamala Harris could potentially lead to a Democratic White House, House, and Senate.

WATCH:

“We were fighting the couch”: Former Joe Biden challenger @RepDeanPhillips tells me the movement from Democratic voter apathy under Joe Biden, to the energy behind Kamala Harris, is “extraordinary.” pic.twitter.com/eJxkWxumdc

— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) August 19, 2024

From POLITICO:

The once-presidential hopeful said he felt vindicated after the president’s decision to step aside. “It was a mission of principle. And what mattered is how I felt and my values and what I believe was so important. And what’s so joyful is everyone came around. It wasn’t about me. I was trying to be a Paul Revere, not a George Washington. It took Joe Biden to be George Washington. Giving up power before he had to. I was just trying to sound the alarm bell. It was strangely joyful.”

Phillips was relieved that his party is letting him sit back at the popular table. “I’m just pleased to feel my party now come around and find space and place for me to celebrate with everyone,” Phillips said. “And rather than be excommunicated, be welcomed back into the fold. It feels good.”

And for his colleagues on the right? Phillips said no Republicans would have survived what he tried to pull off. “If anybody in that party did what I tried to do, they would have had their career ended immediately,” he said. “I know many of my [Republican] colleagues right now who would love to see the same thing happen on that side of the aisle. That’s the real differentiator between these parties right now. We actually did something.”

It didn’t take long for him to bring up his fellow Minnesotan, Tim Walz. “Brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” he said of the selection. “He knows how to fix a lawnmower. He knows how to skin a deer. He knows how to plow his driveway. And that says something for a party that has now been classified as coastal.”

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up.

View the original article here.