All posts tagged "dean phillips"

‘Thought we would be coming to a funeral’: Dean Phillips gets his validation moment

CHICAGO — Failed Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips — who challenged President Joe Biden in this year’s primary to the guffaws and eye rolls of his party colleagues — is having a little moment at the Democratic National Convention.

Phillips, who based his ultra-longshot campaign on the basis that Biden was too old and frail to beat Donald Trump, and that Democrats must nominate someone else, failed to win one Democratic primary contest. He wasn’t offered a prime-time speaking slot.

But Biden withdrew last month, Kamala Harris is now the party’s presidential nominee and Phillips couldn’t be happier.

ALSO READ: Inside the Democratic National Convention corporate moneyfest

“Are you just walking around here being like, ‘told you so,’ ‘told you so,’ ‘told you so’?” Raw Story asked the congressman as he was briskly walking around the convention hall on his way to a television interview.

“Yeah,” the Minnesota congressman said through a laugh. “That's not what I was seeking, but I've been the recipient of a lot of wonderful handshakes, high fives and hugs that I, frankly, wasn't even anticipating and I’m grateful.”’

Phillips — with a total of four — came in second to Biden in terms of those all-important delegates in this year’s Democratic primary, besting self-help author and political gadfly Marianne Williamson after Robert Kennedy Jr. ditched the Democratic Party last fall and ran as an independent.

Other Democrats still aren’t ready to verbalize their non-apology apologies to Phillips, a multimillionaire businessman who comes from a family of distillers.

But Phillips says he still feels the love.

“I'm getting a lot of wink-winks and nod-nods,” the 55-year-old Phillips said through a knowing smile. “And just a lot of kind gestures.”

After a less-than-lackluster primary showing against the sitting president and member of his own party, Phillips ended his campaign this March and endorsed Biden. But there was still lingering bad blood — until Biden flopped during his first and only debate against Trump, the former president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

ALSO READ: Why Kamala Harris may get a big convention polling ‘bounce’

Like most Democrats, Phillips felt gutted and terrified after Biden’s poor debate performance. But Phillips’ fear turned to validation when many of his congressional colleagues joined his effort and successfully pressured Biden to drop out, which he did on July 21.

Phillips says he’s not spiking the proverbial football — though that doesn’t mean he’s not dancing in the end zone of this year’s Democratic National Convention.

“It wasn't about me, it was about the mission, and the mission's been validated,” Phillips said. “By the way, not just validated, I thought we would be coming to a funeral, and it turned out to be a birth.”

Thing is, Phillips says this isn’t news to him. That’s because in the quiet of the Capitol’s cloakrooms, he had colleagues — he didn’t name names — voice support to him throughout his longshot bid to upend his own political party, he said.

ALSO READ: Donald Trump exploits AP photo error for new $99 'Save America' book

“Yes, there were a number of colleagues who agreed with me during it, but we live in a political culture — work in a political culture — that doesn't reward independence and that kind of risky truth telling,” Phillips told Raw Story. “And I know that, and I was in a unique position to risk my job — and even lose it — and I think that too few are willing to undertake, and that's where we have problems.”

While Phillips is retiring from the U.S. House after this session of Congress ends in January, he’s not done with politics: He’s got opinions — including unflattering ones on his own party — and he’s sharing them to whoever will listen

If anything, this chapter in his political career makes him want to upend the nation’s two-party system, because he says it’s structured to help enrich Washington’s political class — whether monetarily or with the power so many politicians sell their souls for — at the expense of the very people they’ve pledged to serve.

“They're both private corporations, and I think the American public needs to better understand that they don't answer to shareholders, they answer to officers and they're appointed by political leaders. And I want to shine light on that, because we have perverse incentives,” Phillips said before heading off to do a TV hit. “I’ve gotta run.”

Lawmakers caught in controversy as congressional stock trading debate rages on

Members of Congress are on a summer stock shopping spree — and still violating a financial disclosure law — amid a reinvigorated movement to ban congressional stock trading.

Three members of the House of Representatives appear to have violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act this week by filing required reports late — some as much as two years past a federally mandated deadline.

From Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), more than a dozen other members of Congress continue trading stocks and securities, even in the immediate two weeks after the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act passed out of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security.

The bill has yet to be voted on by either the House or Senate in order to be sent to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law, but its bipartisan co-sponsors call the committee vote “strong bipartisan momentum” toward a stock trading ban.

Continuing epidemic of violations

The latest STOCK Act violators appear to be Reps. David Joyce (R-OH), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Stephen Lynch (D-MA), who join a list of more than 50 members of the 118th Congress who Raw Story has found to have violated the STOCK Act.

Joyce reported on Aug. 6 a dozen stock transactions after the 45-day deadline required in the STOCK Act for disclosing most purchases, sales and exchanges of stocks, bonds, commodity futures, securities and cryptocurrencies.

Three of the transactions date back to July 2022, reported nearly two years late, and the rest are from June 2023, reported a year late. The transactions are valued between $138,012 and $495,000 total. (Lawmakers are only required by law to disclose the values of their transactions in broad ranges.)

Investments include stock in aerospace corporation Boeing, multinational investment bank Citigroup, private credit manager Golub Capital and energy company TC Energy Corporation. Some investments are part of a trust, others from a retirement account.

Moskowitz disclosed on Aug. 6 more than 60 stock transactions from an account for a dependent child. Ten of those transactions were from February 2024, reported nearly five months late.

The tardy stocks include investments in companies ranging from health insurance provider Elevance Health to personal care multinational corporation Kimberly-Clark to footwear giant Nike and manufacturing company Snap-on. The value of the 60 investments are each in the $1,001 to $15,000 range.

Lynch reported on Aug. 7 six sale transactions and one purchase for mutual funds as part of a retirement account, disclosed three weeks late. The transactions’ values ranged between $397,007 and $930,000 total.

Lynch was previously three months late reporting the sale of VMware stock as part of an individual retirement account that underwent a “forced sale” when the company was acquired.

The congressional offices for Joyce, Moskowitz and Lynch did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Who is trading stocks? And who is pushing for a ban?

The ETHICS Act calls for an immediate ban on members of Congress buying stocks and would prohibit them from selling stocks 90 days after enactment. Members’ spouses and dependent children would be prohibited from trading stocks starting in March 2027, which is when the president and vice president would also be required to divest from covered investments.

Covered assets include securities, commodities, futures, options and trusts. Congressional staff members would be allowed to continue trading stocks under this bill as would legislators' non-dependent children.

“Lawmakers like me, we're kind of like umpires in a baseball game. We call balls and strikes, and you definitely don't let umpires bet on the outcome of the game, because the public needs to know the umpires are calling balls and strikes fair,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), a co-sponsor of the ETHICS Act, in an Aug. 7 video posted on X. “Members of Congress are making decisions every day that impact the stock market, that impact businesses and industries, and we receive confidential information on big events that are coming.”

Sen. Ossoff Explains It All: Banning Congressional Stock Trading pic.twitter.com/UDWvyfyeet
— Ossoff's Office (@SenOssoff) August 7, 2024

Ossoff co-sponsored an amended version of the ETHICS Act alongside Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Gary Peters (D-MI) and Josh Hawley (R-MO). The bill passed out of a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs markup on July 24 with an eight to four vote, despite Republican senators divided on how to proceed.

The same day Georgia Republicans Greene and Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) disclosed stock transactions.

Greene reported six stock purchases on July 24, each valued between $1,001 and $15,000. She also disclosed the purchase of U.S. Treasury bills valued between $250,0001 and $500,000.

A little over a week later, she reported on Aug. 2 purchasing more Treasury bills, with a value between $100,001 and $250,000.

Carter reported on July 24 four partial stock sales in Ameris Bancorp, each valued between $100,001 and $250,000.

Greene and Carter’s congressional offices did not respond to emailed questions by the time of publication.

The next day, Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) reported the June 28 purchase of stock in real estate investment company, Simon Property Group, as a part of her husband’s Roth IRA, valued between $50,001 and $100,000.

“These are just stocks that Congresswoman's husband had in his retirement account before she was elected to Congress,” Kristi Risk, chief of staff for Spartz, told Raw Story via email. “He was just reinvesting his dividends back into the same stock.”

Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) reported on July 29 the sale of stock in boat dealer, OneWater Marine Inc., as part of a joint account. Value: $1,001 to $15,000. Britt’s congressional office did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Pelosi reported on July 30 two stock transactions from her husband, who is a prolific trader. When she was House Speaker, Pelosi was one of the biggest obstacles to previous stock ban bills advancing.

Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, sold 5,000 shares in Microsoft valued between $1 million and $5 million, and he purchased 10,000 shares in artificial intelligence leader Nvidia, also valued between $1 million and $5 million.

“Speaker Pelosi does not own any stocks, and she has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions,” said Ian Krager, a spokesperson for Pelosi, via email.

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) disclosed three stock transactions on July 31, each valued up to $15,000. His spouse sold stock in Royal Bank of Canada and shipping company, United Parcel Service, and Burgess reported his own purchase of additional stock in Royal Bank of Canada.

While Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) does not buy and sell stocks, he did report sales of ownership interest in Outsell, Inc, a “developer of consumer engagement technologies for the automotive industry,” according to the Aug. 1 disclosure report. The sales were valued between just over $1 million and $5 million, total.

"Congressman Phillips is one of a very small number of lawmakers to have voluntary established a qualified blind trust for his finances. He has no view of or direction over his investments," Sam Anderson, communications director for Phillips, told Raw Story via email. "That long, complicated, process took significant personal effort and expense, but it’s one he believes should be rule – not the exception – in Congress."

Phillips, who ran as a Democrat for president in the 2024 race, is an original co-sponsor of the TRUST in Congress Act. The bill, authored by Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Chip Roy (R-TX), would require members of Congress and their families to put investment assets into blind trusts during their time in office and ban them from trading individual stocks.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) reported on Aug. 2 his spouse’s sale of a UBS corporate bond valued between $15,001 and $50,000. Carper filed a timely disclosure this time but was previously late three times in reporting stock trades and U.S. Treasury bill purchases.

Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) reported on Aug. 3 the sale and purchase of U.S. Treasury bills. Each transaction was valued between $250,001 and $500,000.

The congressional spokespeople for Burgess, Carper and Meuser did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Peters, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and co-sponsor of the latest ETHICS Act bipartisan agreement, reported two stock sales on Aug. 5. Each trade was valued between $1,001 and $15,000 and were investments in elevator manufacturer, Otis Worldwide Corp., and heating and air conditioning corporation, Carrier.

“Sen. Peters has always been transparent about his trades and follows the requirements of the STOCK Act, which is the current law,” a Peters aide, who declined to be named, told Raw Story.

“He negotiated a bipartisan agreement to update the ETHICS Act, and led the historic passage of that bill out of committee on July 24 – the first time a Senate committee has ever voted to advance legislation that would ban stock trading for members of Congress,” the aide continued. “Sen. Peters is continuing to work to get the amended ETHICS Act passed and signed into law to establish new requirements for all members of Congress.

Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) reported on Aug. 5 two stock transactions involving tech giant Apple, valued between $15,001 and $50,000 each.

Rep. Rudy Yakym (R-IN) has not reported any stock transactions, but disclosed on Aug. 5 his purchase of Treasury bills valued between $15,001 and $50,000.

Yakym and Lee’s congressional spokespeople did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) reported on Aug. 5 a purchase of shares in soda giant Coca-Cola, valued between $1,001 and $15,001, which is “solely the automatic reinvestment of dividends on securities that my wife inherited, rather than taking the dividends in cash,” Doggett told Raw Story via email.

Doggett said he does not trade individual stocks, “nor have the holdings of these few stocks impacted my work, as indicated by my vocal advocacy demanding that large corporations and the wealthiest few pay their fair share of taxes.”

The congressman said the New York Times chose to exclude him from an investigation into congressional stock trading since he does not actively trade individual stocks.

Doggett said he supports a congressional stock trading ban, including the efforts of Oregon senator Merkley through the ETHICS Act, and “would likely support similar legislation in the House.”

Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) reported on Aug. 6 two government securities transactions in Texas and New York through a joint trust, each valued between $500,001 and $1 million.

“Government securities are generally considered safe investments,” Nick Martin, a spokesperson for DelBene, told Raw Story via email. “The congresswoman supports banning members from trading stocks and is a co-sponsor of the TRUST in Congress Act (H.R. 345), which would do that.”

DelBene has a complex financial situation due to her husband’s significant investments from his time as a senior executive at Microsoft. DelBene was previously late disclosing two sales of vested Microsoft shares totaling between $1.25 million and $5.5 million, but she previously disclosed her family's s Microsoft stock investments on her annual disclosures and a 2022 periodic transaction report, providing details of a forward contract her husband enacted before being confirmed as the assistant secretary for information and technology in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) reported four stock purchases on Aug. 6, each valued between $1,001 and $15,000. Three stock purchases were for chemical tankers company, Ardmore Shipping Corporation, and one was in investment adviser, Ellington Financial Inc.

Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) reported on Aug. 6 five joint stock transactions, each in the $1,001 to $15,000 range. Stock transactions included investments in Alphabet, the parent company of Google, telecommunications company, Motorola Solutions, and semiconductor company, Lam Research.

Boozman previously appeared to be in violation of the STOCK Act twice with late disclosures of U.S. Treasury bond transactions. with a disclosure filed on Aug. 21, 2023, a day past the 45-day disclosure deadline.

Foxx and Boozman’s congressional offices did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Biden easily wins South Carolina’s ‘first-in-the-nation’ Democratic primary

COLUMBIA, South Carolina — President Joe Biden cruised to an expected victory Saturday in Democrats’ first recognized contest of 2024, following a month-long push by the president and his proxies to drive up turnout after the party put South Carolina first on the official voting calendar.

After The Associated Press called the race at 7:23 p.m., less than a half-hour after polls closed, the roughly 100 party faithful gathered at the South Carolina Fairgrounds chanted “four more years!”

With less than 30,000 votes counted, Biden was winning with 97% of them.

“I want to let you guys know, South Carolina, tonight is our night,” state Democratic Party Chairwoman Christale Spain told the crowd. “For the first time, Southern voters, Black voters and rural voters have had the chance to have their voices heard first.”

Biden called in to his victory party from Los Angeles.

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, whose 2020 endorsement catapulted Biden to the White House, held his cellphone up to a microphone, but reporters stationed in the back couldn’t hear what the president said.

“In 2020, it was the voters of South Carolina who proved the pundits wrong, breathed new life into our campaign and set us on the path to winning the presidency,” Biden said in a statement. “Now, in 2024, the people of South Carolina have spoken again, and I have no doubt that you have set us on the path to winning the presidency again and making Donald Trump a loser again.”

The result of Democrats’ “first-in-the-nation” presidential primary was never in doubt, with Biden running against two extreme-long-shot candidates: U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson. Even when Phillips spoke to South Carolina Democrats, he said he fully expected 95% of the vote would go to Biden.

Still, Democratic officials and the Biden campaign went all out with get-out-the-vote efforts that focused on energizing Black voters, who make up a large part of South Carolina’s Democratic base. The party touted that a “six-figure” investment in radio, digital and outdoor advertising in South Carolina represented its earliest ever spending during a presidential contest on outreach to young, rural and Black voters.

That outreach effort continued after polls opened Saturday, as Biden called in to four Black radio stations across the state, his campaign announced.

Civic duty

Janae Epps, a 47-year-old University of South Carolina employee, said she was flooded with messages to vote.

“I got so many text messages that I’m kind of sick of them, and emails, that some of them I’ve opted out of,” she said, after voting at Irmo Elementary in suburban Columbia.

Biden visited twice himself, kicking off the campaign at the historic Black church in Charleston where a white supremacist gunned down nine worshipers in 2015. He returned last weekend to headline the Democrats’ “First-in-the-Nation Celebration” dinner. Other stops included a Black barber shop and, on Sunday, two Black churches.

Vice President Kamala Harris made three trips, the last on Friday at South Carolina State University, the state’s only public historically Black four-year college.

With Biden being the guaranteed winner, voters told the SC Daily Gazette a sense of civic duty is what brought them out to the polls.

A sign with the words "vote here" over an American flag

A “vote here” sign next to a series of Biden-Harris campaign signs outside of a polling location at Hopkins Park south of Columbia on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024 (Abraham Kenmore/SC Daily Gazette)

“I try to vote every chance possible,” Robin Mays said after voting in rural Hopkins south of Columbia.

The 37-year-old nurse said she’s well aware that people who looked like her — being a “double whammy” of Black and female — were once kept from voting, so she regularly exercises her right.

Mays said she voted for Biden.

So did Sam Waters, a 79-year-old retiree who voted at Dreher High School in downtown Columbia.

“I’ve seen what he’s done for the nation in the last three years, and I can’t imagine jumping ship right now when he has a chance to continue the programs,” he said.

Perhaps surprisingly, Waters said he came out despite not seeing any of the get-out-the-vote messaging.

Besides Biden and Harris, others visiting the state as campaign surrogates included first lady Jill Biden; California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff; former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge and U.S. Rep Ro Khanna of California.

Keeping South Carolina first

Democrats pushed South Carolina to the front of the 2024 nominating contest because of its diversity, saying Palmetto State voters better represent the party than Iowa and New Hampshire, whose voters traditionally went first and second.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison and state Democratic Party Chairwoman Christale Spain talks to reporters after President Joe Biden is declared the winner of South Carolina’s primary. (Abraham Kenmore/SC Daily Gazette)

National Chairman Jaime Harrison, who’s from Columbia, pitched it as an opportunity for Black voters, “the heart and the backbone of the Democratic Party,” to set the agenda for 2024 and beyond. Democrats needed a strong showing Saturday to keep South Carolina first in future presidential contests.

“I’m going to do everything in my power” to make that happen, Harrison told reporters at the fairgrounds.

“I am ecstatic at the turnout numbers I’ve seen so far,” he said.

This year’s calendar shift also was seen as Biden rewarding the state. It was South Carolina that catapulted Biden to a win in 2020 with a 30-point advantage here over second-place finisher Bernie Sanders, following fourth- and fifth-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Voters in South Carolina do not register by party, allowing the state’s 3.2 million registered voters to vote in either the Democratic or Republican presidential primary. They just can’t vote in both.

More than 48,000 people cast ballots in the two-week early voting window that ended Friday, according to the state Election Commission.

Although the Democratic National Committee put South Carolina first on the voting calendar, New Hampshire leapfrogged South Carolina to go first anyway. Biden refused to register for that primary or campaign in the state but won as a write-in anyway with 64% of the vote.

Nearly 79,500 people wrote in Biden’s name in the Granite State.

Ahead of Biden being declared the South Carolina winner, Clyburn said he will ask Democrats’ rules committee to count New Hampshire’s delegates despite the state’s snub of the official calendar.

“That what Joe Biden has done for three years — making this country’s greatness accessible for everybody and affordable by everybody,” Clyburn said.

According to Biden’s schedule, he will spend Sunday and Monday in Nevada ahead of that state’s presidential primary Tuesday.

Meet the clowns, cranks and ghost candidates running in New Hampshire

No, Taylor Swift is not on New Hampshire's Republican ballot.

But Rachel "Mohawk" Swift of Hagerstown, Md., is.

Swift is rather preoccupied with ... pens. Her presidential agenda? Unclear.

Swift personifies an age-old quirk in tonight's first-in-the-nation primary contest, where some minimal organization and $1,000 — zero dollars if you can prove indigence — will get you on the official GOP ballot alongside the twin headliners of Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.

In all, 24 Republican Party candidates appear on the New Hampshire ballot.

Among them are several familiar folks whose names remain despite them having already dropped out — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum among them.

Texas businessman Ryan Binkley, an all-but-unknown Republican candidate who competed in Iowa to little effect but still is running, appears on the ballot, too.

If none of these options appeal to a particular New Hampshire primary voter, that person may cast his or her ballot for, say, Mary Maxwell of Concord, N.H., who really loves the Constitution.

Or Glenn J. McPeters of Essex Junction, Vt., who is concerned about migrants "building sleeper cells."

Or Peter Jedick of Rocky River, Ohio, who wants to cancel all student loan debt and institute term limits for Congress.

Meanwhile, the denuded Democratic Primary, which President Joe Biden is boycotting and the national Democratic Party has all but stripped of relevance because of New Hampshire's refusal to pass it's first-in-the-nation crown to South Carolina, is arguably wackier.

Perennial performance art candidate Vermin Supreme is back with his megaphone and rubber boot hat.

Someone who's apparently already president — President R. Boddie of Atlanta — is also on the ballot.

So is Paperboy Love Prince of Brooklyn, N.Y., whose detailed, all-caps campaign platform includes "putting an end to junk food" and guaranteeing the rights of students to learn to swim in school. Prince has a very trippy website.

They're among the 21 named Democratic candidates on the ballot, which also includes nominal Biden challengers Dean Phillips, a congressman from Minnesota, and Marianne Williamson, the author, spiritualist and 2020 presidential election also-ran.

Keep an eye, too, on the Democratic ballot blank with no name at all: the "write-in" line.

While plenty of New Hampshire's Democratic voters are expected to fill in the blank space with Biden's name, others are angling to cast protest votes.

Don't be surprised if "cease-fire" — being pushed as a write-in vote by some far-left New Hampshire activists in protest of Biden's Israel-Gaza policies — finishes in the top 10.

Biden's challenger mocked for saying voters want 'a president who grew up listening to U2'

The most serious Democrat challenging President Joe Biden for the party's 2024 nomination for president just got a harsh reality check on his social media.

Dean Phillips, who has said he's running for president because he thinks Biden is one of the few Democrats who would lose to Trump despite the fact that the lawmaker has voted with Biden's policies the vast majority of the time, has made age a central tenet of his campaign. He has said he thinks it's time for Biden to pass the torch to a new generation.

With Biden's age likely on his mind, Phillips on Christmas Day took to social media to proclaim the following:

"Imagine waking-up January 21, 2025 with a President who grew up listening to U2 and watching MTV on a color television."

The internet quickly returned fire at the representative, including in the comments of his own post.

ALSO READ: Trolling, erotica, vulgarity: Trump, Biden Facebook pages are unmitigated trash heaps

"Oddly enough, I want someone who doesn't think that's what qualifies them," one verified user replied Tuesday.

Another verified user responded:

"I want a President who knows how to do the job, who navigated us through the worst pandemic in 100 years, through worldwide economic turmoil and inflation, and who helped stabilize the country after 4 years of the last moron."

"I would rather have a president who is competent enough to read the room, not one who will condescend to me based on age-related, shared interests," a third user responded.

Another commenter went even further.

"You mean, Ireland’s most famous band who were given Kennedy Center Honors last year by Ireland’s favorite son, President Joe Biden? That U2?" they asked.

Keith Olbermann also chimed in on it, saying, "Imagine waking up December 27, 2024 and you've given up this bid to help re-elect Trump, resigned your seat, and gone a nationwide apology tour?"

You blew it in New Hampshire, Joe Biden. Pray it doesn’t hurt you — and then some.

CONCORD, N.H. — You blew it Joe.

The decision by you and "your advisers" to reward Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) by attempting to make South Carolina the first-in-the-nation Democratic primary in 2024 was one of the biggest political blunders in your decades-long time in public service.

You have said over and over that you might have skipped a 2024 re-election bid if it were not for Donald Trump, because you see Trump posing a unique threat to the United States and to democracy itself.

So while we know the 2024 general election may very well be a rematch of 2020, you are the incumbent this time and Trump is not. And despite his enormous lead in the Republican primary, coupled with the many pundits who are debating what color prison jumpsuit Trump will soon be wearing, all the GOP candidates running against him have been waging a war against you, not him.

By skipping January’s New Hampshire primary in protest of it leap-frogging your beloved South Carolina, you may have very well undercut your ability to fight the very anti-democratic force you say you’re in this race to slay.

ALSO READ: Mention ‘Liz Cheney 2024’ and things get very, very awkward on Capitol Hill

Let’s review: Because the GOP has kept the traditional, first-in-the-nation calendar for their New Hampshire presidential primary, all the Republican candidates — save for unabashed anti-Trumper Chris Christie — have made their time in Iowa and New Hampshire an opportunity to declare war on Biden and dance around Trump. And you, sir, are MIA. You are not on the primary ballot. You have not campaigned here in New Hampshire. You are entirely resting on the laurels of your 7-percentage-point victory over Trump in the 2020 general election — an advantage that’s hardly guaranteed in 2024 when every last electoral vote might count. (Thanks, but no thanks, South Carolina).

So, in January, New Hampshire will nevertheless conduct a presidential primary as is demanded by the statutes of my state. New Hampshire state law dictates that the presidential primary for both the Republican and Democratic parties must occur before any other in the nation — "7 days or more immediately preceding the date on which any other state shall hold a similar election."

Given that the presidential primary is run by the state of New Hampshire, and not by the Republican or Democratic parties, a primary for both parties will be held. Republican voters and undeclared voters that have chosen a Republican ballot on Primary Day will have a reason to vote – and their vote will matter. Dems will also have a primary, but it is little more than a rogue primary … not recognized by the Democratic National Committee. In fact, when the state of New Hampshire holds the legally required primary, it could actually lead to the national party penalizing New Hampshire Democrats and the Democratic presidential candidates who campaign here.

Yippee!

So the date has been set, a primary will be held, millions of dollars will be spent on ads attacking you, and we have to ask, “What value will this rogue presidential primary hold for New Hampshire Democrats?”

ALSO READ: Inside a nightmare: Donald Trump’s White House on April 4, 2025

To vote or not to vote, that is the question now before New Hampshire voters. But vote for what? There are currently 21 folks appearing on the New Hampshire Democratic Primary ticket (heck, cough up $1,000 and you, too, can be a presidential candidate in New Hampshire.).

But no Joe.

So write Biden in? What does that get you? If not enough people write you in, will the media spin it as a poor showing? (Traditionally, write-in campaigns are successful when there is a passion, either around the candidate or the issue at stake. Passion for Joe, if there ever was any, has faded like so many of the policy hopes and dreams we held four years ago.)

Voters could also show up to vote and leave the ballot blank as an expression of disgust.

They could vote for spiritual self-help guru Marianne Williamson or little-known, increasingly hated Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) who could use his multi-million-dollar personal wealth in a vain attempt to package himself as a younger, more energetic Biden.

All the choices suck, and the only thing you, Mr. President, have created by this misstep is a vehicle for competing, self-defeating messages that will be interpreted in self-serving ways by the media, the Republican opposition and even members of your own party you so desperately need in November. This is more danger than help, and you and the DNC invited a problem your campaign did not need and now cannot manage.

You may have better things to do these days: Attempting to manage the complex and tragic war between Israel and Hamas, eroding support for the continuing war in Ukraine, discontent with the economy — have you looked at the cost of groceries recently? — and the real-life consequences of climate change.

But when you finally roll your campaign into South Carolina after months of giving your opponents free shots at you and perhaps even bruising faith within the Democratic Party, folks won't give a crap ... the damage will be done.

Your mistake made, please figure out — and fast — how to reverse your blunder and stanch your losses.

No pressure: Only the very fate of our democracy may depend on it.

Arnie Arnesen is the host of syndicated radio program "The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen." A former fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics, Arnesen was the 1992 Democratic nominee for governor of New Hampshire and served as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1984 to 1992.

'Trump is the threat': Adviser to Biden's challenger disavows controversial remarks

The Democrat who announced a primary challenge against Joe Biden despite largely agreeing with the president on most issues found himself in hot water when he claimed Biden was a threat to democracy just like Trump is. Apparently, that spread to his campaign launch adviser.

Former GOP strategist turned Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt said he advised Dean Phillips on the initial launch of his campaign, but noted that he has "not advised the congressman since then." Yet that didn't stop Schmidt from having to disavow the controversial statement.

"Do I believe that President Joe Biden is a threat to American democracy? It was posed as a result of a reporter asking Congressman Dean Phillips that question last week. The answer to this question is: I DO NOT," Schmidt wrote.

He added that he did not advise Phillips to say that, and that he was not paid to launch Phillips' campaign.

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"Donald Trump is a threat to the American republic that is severe, unique and exceedingly dangerous," Schmidt wrote. "In fact, his danger is singular. He is the most dangerous individual who has ever lived during the history of the United States when it comes to posing a direct threat to the survival of the America republic."

He then continued: "Donald Trump is the threat to democracy. President Biden is NOT."

"President Biden is a sentinel of democracy," the former Republican wrote. "He is an honorable man who has recorded significant accomplishments, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS Act and the lowering of prescription drug pricing. The infrastructure spending will help build 21st century America."

Further, Schmidt said, "Biden has been assailed, smeared and swallowed by the most vicious propaganda machine that has ever existed in American history."

"His White House team has been overwhelmed by Trump’s MAGA operation," he wrote. "In poll after poll, Biden is losing to a man who is currently facing 91 felony counts and running on a platform of revenge and retribution. It is deeply worrying because national catastrophe and death are what follow Trump’s return to power."

'Emergency': Democrat announces primary challenge to Joe Biden

A Democratic congressman announced late Thursday that he is formally mounting a primary challenge to President Joe Biden.

Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who last year angrily confronted a Republican colleague who compared Washington D.C.'s vaccination passport system to the Nazis' extermination of 6 million Jews, has been teasing such an announcement for weeks.

He has now finalized the move, according to CBS News.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

"Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota has decided to challenge President Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination and will launch his 2024 campaign on Friday in New Hampshire, where he will file to appear on the state's primary ballot," the outlet reported.

The article continues with quotes from Phillips.

''I am. I have to,' Phillips told CBS News chief election & campaign correspondent Robert Costa in an exclusive interview for 'CBS Mornings' that will air on Friday, when asked whether he is making a late entry into the Democratic race."

Phillips goes on to say he admires Biden and thinks he has done a great job for the country, but that he's choosing to challenge the president anyway, purportedly because of polling numbers.

"In the interview, Phillips, 54, said he admires Mr. Biden, 80, but believes it is time for a new generation of Democrats to lead the party, especially with former President Donald Trump poised to potentially be the Republican presidential nominee," according to the CBS report. "Phillips said he has studied polling data and is alarmed about the prospect of Trump beating Mr. Biden, should the 2024 election end up becoming rematch of the 2020 race."

"I think President Biden has done a spectacular job for our country," Phillips said, according to the network. "But it's not about the past. This is an election about the future."

Phillips called the plan a preparation for an upcoming "emergency."

Read the full article here.