The styrofoam sculptures of politicians who thought they could convince their party to nominate them instead of the party’s current president crowd the velvet-roped bounds of the Hall of Failed Presidential Candidates, Incumbent Challengers’ Wing.
By going back in time to 2020, we may observe how Bill Weld, Mark Sanford, and Joe Walsh ran unsuccessful campaigns against President Trump. Pat Buchanan, who ran against George H.W. Bush in 1992, and Edward Kennedy, who ran against Jimmy Carter in 1980, both lost their respective bids for the presidency. The most historically significant exhibit belongs to Eugene McCarthy, a candidate to the incumbent president in 1968 who, like his fellow college roommates, did not win the nomination but was essential in driving him from the race.
Despite their differences, all of these campaigns were motivated by ideology rather than a desire to assassinate the monarchy. Our party’s incumbent is wrong, the challengers argued, and their candidatures would restore fairness to politics and policy. They exploited the party’s primary system to have voters consider the president’s case for reelection rather than simply reelecting him automatically.
Dean Phillips, a three-term congressman from Minnesota with zero name recognition who has taken no distinguishing political position and who counts no actual congressional accomplishments, is about to run against President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, throwing a curveball harder than Clayton Kershaw.
Phillips stands out from the other challengers to the incumbent since he has no serious policy or political disagreements with Biden.
Robert Kennedy Jr., who was running against Biden until he recently abandoned the Democratic Party for an independent campaign, and Marianne Williamson both have clear beliefs that are diametrically opposed to those of Biden on key topics. Phillips has never stopped gushing over Biden, calling him a “wonderful and remarkable man” with a “extraordinary legacy.” About 100% of the time, Phillips has followed the Biden party line in Congress. Phillips gushed on X (then Twitter) in April 2021 following Biden’s first address to Congress: “I’m so grateful America elected Joe Biden to be our president.”
You may legitimately wonder what drives Phillips to try a takedown on Biden. While arguing that another Democrat should run against Joe Biden in 2024 and that he himself was not that Democrat, Phillips told “Meet the Press” in August that it was time to “turn the page” on Biden and for him to “pass the torch.” Chuck Todd, the interviewer, prompted Phillips to clarify his thoughts by asking if the actual issue was Phillips’s age, which is a legitimate disqualifier for a candidate in many contexts. Phillips, however, flatly rejected that explanation. The president’s “historically low approval numbers” are a reflection of the public’s disapproval, he said.
As far as the record goes, Phillips wants Biden replaced due to his low approval ratings, and that’s it. Phillips thinks he should run for president because no other Biden supporter with presidential aspirations, such as California Governor Gavin Newsom or Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, is willing to enter the race and pursue the same policies that have earned Biden such low approval numbers.
Phillips’ campaign slogan, “A Vote for Me Is a Vote for Joe Biden, Only You Get Me, Not Joe,” is unsatisfying; it’s too long to fit on most bumper stickers and sounds too dated to appeal to modern voters.
That isn’t the only retrograde part of Phillips’s movement. The major purpose of challenges has always been to force the incumbent to defend his policies in front of the party faithful. This is praiseworthy in every scenario. Phillips, however, hits Biden on the latter’s low approval ratings, which the president will have a tough time improving. If Phillips believes that Vice President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings indicate that he will lose to Donald Trump in the upcoming election, which is very possible, then Phillips must have a strategy to boost those ratings if he is fortunate enough to replace Biden on the ballot while continuing the policies in question. However, if that were so simple, why not just hand over his secret plan to Biden to carry out?
Phillips could at least give Biden a chance to reply directly if he were honest with voters and said what many believe he is saying: that we should move on from Biden since, in the 30 months since he tweeted his unalloyed love of him, the president has lost a stride or two. Perhaps he could demonstrate his preparation for another four years by performing mental gymnastics and navigating a mental minefield. If Phillips made such a comment, it would rightfully elevate the age issue to the fore of the campaign. A political unknown like Phillips, however, would not have the guts to run for president. His standard solution is to swap out a person who is unpopular with a complete unknown. He isn’t doing Biden any favours by continuously reminding people of his dismal approval ratings. In fact, he’s making it easier for Trump to defeat Biden.
Running for president while your party already has one in office has always felt like a bit of a suicide mission. Many of these “kamikaze” candidates are willing to risk their political careers for the thrill of shifting their party to the left or right or sinking their political opponent.
For Phillips, a future in the Democratic Party seems unlikely. Still, it’s hard to see him knocking out Biden, much less sinking him. What exactly is Phillips getting out of this, outside a few weeks of fame and TV interviews during the campaign? The asterisk section of the Hall of Failed Presidential Candidates says it all.
