Dean Phillips: Trump 'more than a passing fad'

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) argued that President-elect Trump is “more than a passing fad” who has become a “historical” political figure and created a movement that Democrats did not see coming. 

“I’m not certain that any Democrat would have won this year. We have to just acknowledge that Donald Trump is more than a passing fad,” Phillips said in an interview with The Washington Post that was published Friday morning. 

“He’s become a significant historical figure in American politics, and he built a movement that, frankly, snuck up on most Democrats,” he added about Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election over Vice President Harris. 

Phillips warned his party about the potential election outcome when he ran for the highest elected office this year, saying President Biden lacked the popularity to beat Trump one more time. He said in the interview that the Democratic Party would have had potentially better candidates for the 2024 presidential contest to choose from if it had a “competitive” primary. 

“Do I believe if my party had heeded the call to promote and encourage a competitive primary that we would have identified a candidate perhaps better positioned to win? Absolutely. No question, 100 percent,” he told The Post. 

The Minnesota Democrat, who ended his Oval Office run in early March, said that while Harris was put in a tough position by only starting to campaign in late July, she would have fared better in the contest if she presented a wider contrast between herself and the sitting president. 

“[But Harris] was not in an enviable position to have essentially 90 days to put together a campaign of such breadth and depth and cost, still serving as vice president to a very disappointed president and feeling some obligation to refrain from disparaging or even showing separation,” Phillips said. “That is another reason she lost — the unwillingness to show that separation.” 

Phillips said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) would have “been much better positioned to defeat Donald Trump, no question.” 

The House Democrat’s remarks come as some in the party are pointing fingers at what or who to blame for Harris’s loss on Wednesday. Some, like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said the party abandoned the working class while others, like Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), said the “far-left” has an outsized impact on the party, causing it to underperform. 

The Minnesota politician said the party can improve if it betters the way it messages its policy to voters.

“The only evidence you need is some of the ballot measures that passed [on Tuesday]. Almost 60 percent of Floridians [voted] to protect women’s reproductive rights, despite overwhelmingly voting for Trump. Missouri [voted to raise the] minimum wage. [So did] Alaska,” he said. 

“These red states clearly favor Democratic policies, but they voted for someone opposed to those policies. That says to me one thing: We have good product and terrible packaging and distribution.”