Politics makes for interesting bedfellows. I always admired Steve Schmidt’s directness in describing the political woes of this era, which began when Donald Trump came down the escalator and the laws of political physics went haywire. But I canceled my subscription to his Substack page today because he’s backing Dean Phillips’ horrifically bad idea of primarying Joe Biden. Philips is nothing more than a bomb-throwing opportunist who is looking to gin himself up a notch or two on the public relevancy ladder, and he doesn’t care what damage he does while doing that. Politics in this day and age is like football. It’s a game won in inches. Phillips won’t win the primary but he might do enough damage to peel crucial votes away from Biden, just as the dark money No Labels is endeavoring to do.
Phillips already announced that he planned to resign from Congress and I wish he had just gone ahead and done that without putting forth this effort to primary Joe Biden, which is doomed to failure but nevertheless provides an opportunity to build on a schism in the Democratic party. There’s always a schism in our cat herd of a party, but we’ve been admirably united since we got behind Joe Biden. Then came the Israeli conflict, and word is that certain people on the left intend to capitalize on that to undermine Biden and his policy of alliance with Israel. So using that excuse, and Biden’s age, Dean Phillips is going to raise some unnecessary hell, oblivious to the damage he’s going to do. And Schmidt’s going to help him, apparently likewise oblivious, or not oblivious at all, but willing to do what’s needed for a nice paycheck.
Nobody is denying that money is key. You’ve certainly noticed how the look of this website has changed due to my efforts to monetize it. So I get the nuts and bolts of the business of politics, at least on the blogging end of it. But preaching daily about what’s necessary to save democracy, which is what Steve Schmidt does, and then running a spoiler campaign against Joe Biden, at a point in our history which is crucial, is fundamentally dishonest, in my view.
Dean Phillips, if he was a real Democrat, would be backing the incumbent, not only so that we can win this election, but because losing this election, i.e., letting Donald Trump back in the White House, is the death knell of democracy in this country.
And Steve Schmidt knows this as well as you and I do. And so does Dean Phillips.
Representative Dean Phillips announced Thursday that he’s opening a bid as President Joe Biden’s Democratic primary challenger. But as the election landscape shapes up to be another razor-thin rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump, the effort begs the question: What the hell is Phillips thinking?
Phillips, a multimillionaire former chairman and co-owner of Talenti Gelato, and heir to one of America’s largest liquor dynasties, was elected to Minnesota’s 3rd congressional district in 2018—the first Democrat to win the seat in nearly 60 years.
And for the last 15 months, Phillips has been campaigning for “prominent young Democrats” to challenge the 80-year-old president, reported The Atlantic, believing it’s time for Biden, who he has described as a “president of great competence and success,” to “pass the torch.” Failing to find that candidate, the 54-year-old Phillips has apparently decided to throw himself into the race.
“Democrats are telling me that they want not a coronation but they want a competition,” Phillips said during an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation.
He might be onto something. Although the self-described eternal optimist’s chances of unseating the incumbent president are slim, they’re not zero. A recent poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 77 percent of Americans believe Biden is too old to be effective for another presidential term.
That same poll found that Democrats thought both Biden and Trump, age 77, were too old for the gig, while just 28 percent of Republicans felt that Trump’s age would make him ineffective for another term.
I don’t think Trump’s age is the main issue here, the fact that he’s stark, raving mad is a salient factor to be considered, however. Also, with respect to physical age, which is a subject I know a little about, being only seven years younger than Trump: a person’s mental age when they get up in years is keyed in to whatever their mental development was as a younger person. I have literally known lawyers, writers, college professors who were sharp mentally until the day they died. It’s the doctrine of use it or lose it. Trump never had much to begin with and he didn’t use what little he had. So he’s got next to nothing left right now. The same cannot be said about President Biden.
Dean Phillips isn’t concerned about passing the torch, his goal is to throw the torch into the dry brush and start a conflagration. He’s not a Democrat and he’s not an American. And neither is Steve Schmidt. Once a Republican, always a Republican, seems to be the lesson here. Let me be clear: Schmidt is no longer associated with the Lincoln Project. LP is still dedicated to Biden’s reelection.
Phillips and Schmidt can both get phuqued, in my humble opinion.
The alt-left is being conned by Qatati money into US college campuses: ISGAP dossier. Pro-Hamas election interference. No Labels has a better chance of getting more votes than Phillips. But both could f us all.
That is my point, precisely. Politics is now a game like baseball. It’s a game won in inches. We lose a few inches (votes) and that could decide the whole game. I hope Dean Phillips enjoys his new commentator position on MSNBC if Trump decides to take over the airwaves and appoint Steve Bannon permanent FCC Czar. It may sound extreme but that is what he’s vowed to do, destroy the media.
Damn. Does anyone in politics have any ethics at all? Steve…if I could talk with you…let me ask…what if the fascists get all three branches of government…what good will that money do you? How did the rich Germans make out? How about the oligarchs in Russia? I wonder how the high level folks in China or Saudia Arabia do when the tyrant decides their time is up? How in the world, since you’re ALREADY wealthy, does more money make sense in a destroyed planet? Got any children? Damn. The road to hell is wide and many will go that way, according to what the gospels said Jesus said. You think he was kidding? Damn. After listening to Steve and his rants about saving democracy for these past years, I didn’t figure he would sell out like this with so much at stake. I wonder how long Jesus knew he had a traitor in his midst? Damn. What’s the old gospel song say? I won’t be turned around. Damnit.
If this is all true, I am feeling very disappointed & betrayed by Steve Schmidt. It was his little speech below that made me believe he was truly concerned for democracy & had given up his support of GOP. I think we need to start referring to him as JUDAS Schmidt, betrayer of Biden & democracy. He’s going to be hearing from me over twitter/ X.
for over 40 years we’ve seen the proof that the ‘pubes do not care a tittle about democracy. They have been on the Norquist bandwagon of de-funding the government until you can “drown it in a bathtub”. That is NOT defending democracy. When one of the first things a pol party takes federal funding away from is education you will, and we know this now, have an ignorant populace eager to lap up all the sewage available if it allows them to hate and blame others for their circumstances. Schmidt has been on that defund ride for all these years which makes him no better than any other pube: they’ve all been the lapdogs of the wealthy and continue to be so.
Schmidt got buy-in from way too many democrats. This does not bode well for the party or for our country.
Schmidt is defending this in his newsletter today (which I get for a few more days until the subscription expires) and saying “I believe in choice.” Phillips is not a choice, he’s a spoiler campaign. I’m beginning to wonder if Schmidt is on Trump’s payroll. Or No Labels.
The rich people in Russia do alright as long as they cut Putin in on whatever got them rich. Putin is riches guy in Russia and there’s some talk about him and Musk being at least tied.
I’d love to see articles on this. I detest them all. I will never forgive for 2016. Ever…. We’ve lost our rights because of spoiler campaigns and Russian influence. Now it’s Qatar, Saudi Arabia,China, North Korea (yes and apparently very effective)& always Russia and the dirtbag left.
As always. Follow the money.
Yup, and following the money always leads to already-filthy-rich money-grubbers who just want more more more.
Don’t know how this phillips person made all his money but I’m wondering if he’s another trust fund baby. Why? So far the dipshit has missed the window to file to run for prez in NV and unless I heard wrong SC also. Not a particularly intelligent start. Reminds me of former guy and space karen in his lack of anything approaching good sense.
I wonder which wealthy, pube interest put this guy up to it???
Yes he is. He owns Gelati ice cream and he’s heir to one of the largest liquor dynasties in this country, which the New Republic did not name. Trust fund baby he is.
This is beginning to remind me of the plot line in Succession where the eldest Roy son decided to run for president and his sister warns him about the political strategist “This guy can soak you for $10,000,000.”
Well, at least while he’s part of a campaign, Nicole Wallace won’t have him on “Deadline White House” to pontificate about this, that, and the other thing! Schmidt has made some of the stupidest choices in politics in the past few decades (Sarah Caribou, for one) and still acts as some sort of elder statesman when people let him! He can yada, yada, yada with the best of ’em! For now, I’ll stick with Rick Wilson…he told Phillips weeks ago not to do this to himself or the country!!
I cancelled his Substack. Very disappointing.
Well I made comments on this about three times I think. Then my internet farted or whatever and I lost it. Seems to be working today. Stevie baby is pretty much a turncoat. He did his duty taking down Trump. That was a decent thing. Should’ve known it was bullshit. It is going to be forever ingrained in me the fight we have taken to the people. I wrote for another newsletter in 2020. We did our part to go after Trump and the rest of handy dandy aholes. I do believe we did our part in this war on Democracy. Now we have the clowns that are trying to stop the revolution. Many of us from long ago should remember the revolution. It had many forms from our music to what people thought should be in politics. Today is no different you have the different factions. Don’t much care about the republicans in this writing. In the Democrats you have the center and the left and the progressive or as some say the extreme left. Same as the republicans basically. Now the progressives made a lot of noise so Joe Biden listened and he actually moved towards their side somewhat. But to some that wasn’t enough. Then you have several groups that harp on his age. Now I think that on this newsletter we got the age thing covered. We know what we can do and he just isn’t that much older than some of us. Hell, I got Chuck Norris on instagram. He’s got some new workout formulas. He’s 82. I sure as hell wouldn’t smart off to him because you would probably find his foot in some very inappropriate situation. What we otta do is connect the two up.
Now here’s my problem. All these fcking idiots are going around complaining about everything on Joe Biden. His age, the way he walks downstairs, the fact that he wears tennis shoes when he knows he’s going to be walking up and down stairs. The way he talks. Hell given the chance they would probably complain about how he relieves himself. So I ask you, who have they got to replace him. Idiots that couldn’t lead a Boy Scout troop. Hell, they got some clown from the House that’s sneaking around and hasn’t even talked to the press. And you got Manchin that him and the lady from Arizona that screwed us on the biggest bill of a century and there wouldn’t be any arguments now. I never did like Manchin and the other one, well someone is running against her that will probably have her drawing unemployment benefits or whatever ex senators do. If you don’t have something good and positive to say about Joe Biden, keep your dam pie hole 🕳️ shut.
And, if Trump wins, Schmidt will monetize that as well.
If Biden wins and Trump goes away (fingers crossed), then he’s got nothing to grift off of.