Tapper Presses House Democrat to Name People He Wants to Primary Biden: ‘I Hate to Be Rude…’
CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed Rep. Dean Philips (D-MN) to list the names of potential candidates he would like to see challenge Joe Biden in the presidential primary after the House Democrat accused his party of “pursuing a coronation.”
“One of the core elements of successful leadership is a succession plan, being sure that there’s somebody able and ready to go,” Phillips began. “And I’d like to see the president actually invite people to the primary stage… there are people ready to go, governors in particular, moderate governors in the heartland —”
“Who?” Tapper interrupted.
“I tell you what, Jake, I’ve been someone who reaches out to people before I talk about them, and sadly, some have asked that I not even reference their names right now, which is a pretty good indicator of how this establishment blocks, prevents and silences people.”
Tapper then asked if Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) was on Philips’ list.
“I think there are about five names, everybody watching right now probably knows who they are,” Phillips replied. “They are on the bench, they’ve got organization, they have institutional support, they have access to the extraordinary amount of money and resources necessary to mount a credible primary campaign— ”
“Everybody doesn’t know who they are!” Tapper interrupted again. “I hate to be rude, but everybody doesn’t know who they are because, as you note, President Biden is basically only being challenged by anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson, maybe by you, although 60,000 Twitter followers and $250,000 in the bank doesn’t exactly sound like you want to enter the race. So, I’m discussing: Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Jared Polis, Pete Buttigieg — you haven’t mentioned or alluded to Vice President [Kamala] Harris, but she certainly is a woman, and she’s next in line — you want all of those individuals to enter the race?’
Philips responded:
Like I said, right now the only thing preventing three, four, five, six, eight of the names you just mentioned from appearing on the page making their case to Democratic voters, the only thing preventing that, is we have an incumbent president who essentially, with an institution around him, the establishment protecting those interests.
Nobody is willing to take a step that might affect their future. Perhaps that’s why I’m the only one doing this. This is not about reelection for me, it’s about our country, the future of democracy, and doing anything I possibly can to stop Donald Trump from returning to the White House.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
