FLASHBACK: Brian's interview with Biden challenger Dean Phillips on NH Primary day

The Democratic National Committee has said that the primary, the Democratic primary here is not relevant or real, and I think that's just nonsense. You're disappointed this year not to have the Democratic primary, and that's why we're doing this, because it's not meaningless like the DNC says it is. I'm annoyed that the Biden and the DNC people did this, because I think they're going to rue the day. That is just some random voters in New Hampshire, Democratic voters who are really upset that they don't have a chance to have a primary, you know, or a coronation even for the sitting president of the United States.

Dean Phillips is also equally upset, a congressman from Minnesota who thought that his party would be better off being led by somebody else. For about two months ago, I watched you, was it Meet the Press or was it, it was Meet the Press? You came out and told your story, said that the president is not electable or you're really concerned, I don't think he's going to win, you don't want Donald Trump to win, and you said we need somebody to step up. And they kind of indicated, what about you?

Well, I don't think I want to do it. After it became clear, no one was stepping up. You said, I am in.

Since that time, what gains have you made? And first of all, not only that, I invited others in. I mean, called them directly.

And you were going to support them? Well, sure, because, you know, in this in this business, name recognition means a lot. You know, we started this journey 10 weeks ago, zero name recognition, zero in the polls. And I think tonight we're going to surprise. So they expect you get about 10 percent, it says in the polls. I think we're going to do better.

But I like to under promise and over deliver. I think what's really important is the polls show Biden very weak. And this is the first time that American voters will actually opine. Ironically, he chose not to be on the ballot here.

I mean, we're just hearing that it's nonsense. The DNC literally sent a letter to Democrats in the state calling this event today meaningless. You know, this is my party. And by the way, this is a state both both parties need to win the presidency.

Well, darn right. And I cannot believe my party in this case is saying to Democratic voters that it's meaningless and your vote doesn't count. Won't see your delegates. In fact, the New Hampshire secretary of state just a few days ago had to send a cease and desist letter to the DNC for the unlawful suppression of voters. That's what's going on.

So four years ago, right before the pandemic, we were at this very building. And not only did Joe Biden not win, he didn't even stay around for the result. He was already gone. So they thought he was done.

You want proof? SNL did a cold open where Jason Sudeikis played Biden as an old man, totally detached from reality. When he became the nominee, they suddenly put somebody normal with them because they were afraid of even showing what they used to do with Reagan and make fun of the fact that he was old. Things dramatically changed. What were you thinking when that happened, when it seemed like the DNC hand selected him and put him there just like they pulled Hillary away from Bernie?

Well, look, we everybody listening knows this. Our country was founded, founded on the notion that we would not have coronations. Our founders wanted no more kings or queens.

They wanted voters to choose their leaders. So when a party coronates a candidate, as mine is doing right now, I'm going to call BS and I'm going to stand up and I'm going to participate because that's the responsibility of all Americans. I mean, talk about patriotism and why my colleagues lacked the courage to do so is deeply troubling.

And there's such a distinction between those Americans willing to stand in harm's way physically. I lost my dad in Vietnam, for goodness sakes, one of a million Americans to give his life to our country. How old were you at the time?

I was six months old. My mom was 24 and widowed and we had nowhere to go. Was he drafted? No, he needed, he couldn't afford college, Brian. He wanted to be an attorney, could not afford the price of college, went to the University of Minnesota Law School by earning an ROTC scholarship. I mean, really a great example of how our government can be helpful in getting people a start in their lives and then send them halfway around the world to a battle that in hindsight seems really meaningless, where he lost his life.

So my point is, we have so many Americans who stand in harm's way, first responders, those who join the military, but then we have a political class that shows no courage at all. And I'm just disappointed and I'm trying to lead by example and no, it's not easy, it's not supposed to be, but it's the most important journey of my life. Just on a personal story, how old was your mom at the time? 24. She's 24. Was she working?

She actually did. She was ironically in the radio business in Philadelphia. My dad was stationed outside of Philly for a while. She was a reporter for a Philly AM radio station. So your whole life has been almost like the time you were cognizant of five alarm fire, you know, your mom trying to do two roles, right?

Yeah, that's right. But you know, I'm unlike most kids, Gold Star children, those who lost their dads in Vietnam, kids who lost their moms or dad in Iraq or Afghanistan. I can't imagine, Brian, that there's anybody who got as lucky as I did. My mom remarried when I was three. A wonderful father, Eddie Phillips, brought me into an extraordinary family.

Many blessings. You know, I just don't think it should take a stroke of good luck or being born in the right zip code that really gives people a chance. And I know I'm lucky, fortunate, I've worked my tail off, but I think it's a responsibility of people like me to lead by example and give others a chance. How did you begin to break out and make the money and have the success you had right now? So I was raised in a family that had high expectations of me. Actually, my grandma was Dear Abby and my aunt was Ann Landers, the advice columnist.

Are you kidding me? In fact, you'll appreciate this. I became a Democrat. Well, subtly, I should say, in 1980, I go to middle school.

I'm 11 years old. And who shows up at our school auditorium for assembly? Then Congressman John Anderson, running as an independent, the Republican from Illinois, running as an independent for president. And it was the first time any of us in school had seen a presidential candidate. And that night we had a family dinner, four generations of my family, downtown Minneapolis, sat next to my grandmother, Abby. She asked about my day. I said, grandma, it was amazing.

The next president of the United States came to speak to us. And she said, honey, if he's speaking to middle schoolers this close to the election, he ain't going to win. And then she says, are you a Democrat or Republican? I said, grandma, I'm 11.

I don't even know what those are. She said, you're a Democrat. So 1980, she anointed me a Democrat. So I grew up in a family like that of great, great blessings. I had a grandfather who told me that, Dean, money is like manure. If you stack it up, it stinks.

But if you spread it out, it fertilizes. That was kind of the family ethos. By the way, I've never heard that in my did you guys write that? I mean, I've never heard that. I've never heard that before. I should probably write it down before you take it. I don't know.

You could trust me just because Nikki Haley says I don't tell the truth, doesn't this? But but so it's so spread out. That's it. That's a great thing. And it's kind of a nice you know, that is that's how we ran our businesses, our philanthropy. And now in Congress, I act and you asked about I went to college and I graduated, worked at a startup business, which, by the way, which was it was called in motion. It was a bicycle apparel business.

A great, great experience for what I'm doing right now. Talking about starting from scratch and the ups and downs of a upstart enterprise. Then entered our family business, which is distilled spirits. We introduced Belvedere vodka in 1994. Ended up selling it to Louis Vuitton, Maude Hennessy, applied the same template to disrupt a category to the ice cream category. Introduced Tolenti gelato, established by my colleague Josh Hochschuler in Dallas, built that, sold it to Unilever.

Then I opened some coffee shops. And then that's kind of the rest is history. If nothing else, people can't say I don't know what Americans want. Absolutely. Or the mistakes you made and how to get regulation out of the way, how to how to live up to a lease, how to handle a patent and all these all these little nuances and also the stress of knowing I got a payroll. Exactly. And I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to pay it this month.

I hope my bet works out. Brian, that's why I'm a Democrat who's trying to create this bridge between hardworking entrepreneurs who are actually trying to help others pursue the American dream. There's there's this lack of understanding and listening to one another. I know how hard it is to start a small business. I mean, it is it's harder to run and start a small business than it is a big business. For goodness sakes, our regulations, our our systems. I think I think every city should have a an office dedicated to reducing the barriers to entry for small business owners.

We should have raising them, but you have to know how to do it in order to know what they need. And I'll give you an example that I think would works well with this. And that's Phil Nice book he wrote. Oh, yeah. I went and did in a whole day with him and he wrote the book Shoe Dog. And he said, you know how I started my business? I filled in an application, asked my sister to drop it off.

And he started a shoe business. Five hundred dollars. Five hundred.

Five hundred dollars. And he brought it down and he said, I don't remember the day, but my sister reminded me. He goes, yeah, you just asked me to drop it off the town. So he drops it off at the town or the city or the county, whatever he did.

Didn't think of it. He goes, now I would I need a lawyer. I need a lawyer started.

And then people are going to challenge me and things are going to happen. And banks only loan money to people who don't need it. Yeah. And he also said to me, too, he says, you know, back then, banks were like, OK, you're going to pay me back every month. There was no financing and things to that nature.

So every month it was a it was everyone pulling their hair out to try to get the money to keep Nike alive. But I said, how were those days? He goes, unbelievably invigorating. I miss them. Wow. You missed the stress. I go instead of this luxury that you're living in and this campus that you're on.

He goes, no, those were the days. And he's absolutely. But it's analogous to what I'm doing right now.

I mean, we're 10 weeks into a brand new campaign started at just two weeks before I declared my candidacy. And that's what it's like. It's not luxurious. It's darn difficult. And it's beautiful. And look, we all know if you don't go through some trials.

Right. If you don't if you don't walk through the rain, you're never going to get to the rainbow. Well, I'll tell you. Oh, wait, you did got you guys to give me a clock. Oh, you took it downtown. You didn't yet. I don't have so much fun. We're going to get the only time I asked for is a clock. Oh, there you go. But you were watching it.

I can't see it real quick on this. So what makes you a Democrat today? Because a Democrat today, I think of green energy. The Democrat today, I think of electric cars. Democrat today, I think of open borders. A Democrat today, I think of somebody who feels as though the wealthy like you aren't taxed enough. Where do you fit in this? Well, first of all, I'm a Democrat for a number of reasons.

My family's a Jewish family. You can imagine very much influenced by mid-century, last century America after the Holocaust. Hubert Humphrey. Why am I a Democrat? Hubert Humphrey is a perfect example. Someone who did some extraordinary things. One of the nicest men people say that ever walked the earth.

A happy warrior, a gentle man, a smart man, a strong man. And it was his line, his quotation is the moral test of a government is how it treats those in the dawn of life, the dusk of life and in the shadows of life. And if you think about that, that is that's why I'm a Democrat. Now, do I think that many policies over the years, as they build up on each other, have gone way too broad and way too far?

Possibly. But I don't think we've achieved that objective in my estimation, which is to have equality of opportunity. We may not have equality of outcome. That's socialism and communism. And I am a Democrat. I'm proud of that. I want to give people opportunity so that they can seize it and do with it what they can. But look, I've been to the southern border twice.

It's a disaster. I believe in fiscal responsibility. I believe in term limits. I believe in a strong national defense.

I support our police officers and our military. That does not make any and nobody in this country is a purist. In fact, I can't really understand sometimes which each party really stands for. And I think most of this country, I would call us the exhausted majority somewhere center right, somewhere center left. Do you consider yourself center left?

Yeah. Well, I consider myself centrism is seems like it's a dirty word. It makes you like milquetoast. But actually, I think it's actually strong because it means I have the courage to believe some things that may not be my party orthodoxy. And yet I also have some empathy, obviously, as someone on the left. But the absence of a party, I guess you could say that really represents the broad cross section of this country, which, by the way, is overwhelming now.

Independent is part of the problem. George Washington warned us against factions. And I think our factions are two political parties are pulling us in different directions rather than identifying problems, coming up with solutions. And that's why I serve on the Problem Solvers Caucus. I was the vice chair.

32 Democrats, 32 Republicans. We love each other. We work together. We if if our Congress was just comprised of people like us, we could be getting to work and solving problems, many of them using a combination of perspectives. And I believe in conservation.

I believe in conservatism, but I also believe in some progress and progressivism that I think we can match. Democratic congressman from Minnesota, Dean Phillips, is running for the presidency. He hopes to win the primary today against the righting candidate named Joe Biden and not pro Palestinian.

Evidently, there's some type of right in a cease fire, cease fire. He was in the Brian Kilmeade show. Back in a moment with the big question that Dean might not want to answer. Both sides, all opinions.

It's Brian Kilmeade. And I want to say one thing to your children. I know some really great ice cream places. And I choose ice cream, chocolate chip. I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream.

By the way, I have a whole refrigerator full upstairs. I think I'm kidding. I'm not. So that's the president of the United States talking policy. But the policy, ice cream policy.

Right. But Congressman Phillips, you've made some of your great successes come with gelato, a form of ice cream, according to experts. Would you offer the president of the United States has been speculated a lifetime subscription to your gelato fortune? Not your money, but your actual gelato to drop out and not run for reelection.

And then then you'll have a better chance at the end. Well, let me tell a story and I'll get to your question. There's actually a great Biden ice cream story. I can tell you right after we killed bin Laden, which was obviously about 12, 13 years ago, Joe Biden came to my home. I hosted this is well before I even would have considered running for Congress. I was enjoying my business career back in Minneapolis and I hosted a fundraiser for Joe Biden. My first big event. I had to introduce him. I was nervous. I had Walter Mondale in my house and he sat, spent some time with my kids, was very cordial, friendly.

Guests started gathering. And lo and behold, 15 minutes later, nobody could find the vice president. Nobody could find him. Secret Service couldn't find him. I couldn't find him.

And we were looking through the whole house. Lo and behold, I walk into my garage and he is sitting with the catering people who had come to cater this event, sitting on a car chair, eating ice cream, shooting the breeze. Are you kidding me? And I share this with you and I share this with you because I do want listeners to know he's a nice man. He's a good man. He's a friendly man. He would have rather spent that whole time with the catering team in the garage, not with the donors in the house. And I share that about him just because I do want you to know what kind of heart I do believe he has. But to answer your question directly, yes, I give him.

In fact, that's what I tried to do, Brian. In July of 2022, I was the first Democrat to simply call for him to step aside. He had inferred he would. His decline is obvious. His poll numbers are terrible. His approval number is even worse. And I think it's really an egregious affront to his own legacy, I think, to my party and ultimately, I think, to the country.

So, yes, I would give him some ice cream, some Belvedere and some coffee just to incentivize retirement. And I say that thoughtfully and respectfully. But I believe in competition. This is my contention. We've seen a really spirited GOP competition the way it should be. You know, most have dropped out now. Now it's just Haley and Trump. But that's what creates interest, excitement.

People get engaged. I went to the Trump rally the other night. I told you it was it was fascinating.

Brian was my first one. It was across the street from where mine was. Saw the huge line of people waiting for hours in the cold. And I thought, what the heck?

I'm the kind of leader that goes to the fire. I didn't know how I'd be received. I'm telling you, we spoke with maybe 50 people, every one of them cordial, friendly, welcoming Americans, diverse group. Many of them there for the first time.

And I got to tell you, it actually made me really psyched to pursue this. Because you think you could win people over and you're not much different than them. By invitation. And that's my contention that we've got to do this differently. I just don't think Joe Biden has restored the soul of the nation. And I don't think Donald Trump has that ability. I think we're off the script.

I think that with an older president and at 80, clearly lost his fastball and his sinker. And then you have another president who's looking at four indictments and 91 charges. We don't know what these next months going to be.

Exactly. From your perspective, what scenarios are you prepared for besides running? Are you prepared for that dramatic announcement? We're making a change.

I made another decision. And what are you proud? Do you have a plan for that? I'm going to pursue this is this tonight is a beginning, not an end. I think we're going to do better than most are suspecting. I like to under promise and over deliver.

I know that's novel in politics. We're going to continue. I need to introduce myself. Most of America does not even know me.

So if you don't know someone, how can you trust them enough? Are you getting on the other shows? Are you getting on the other network? Why? I will be forthright. Fox News Nation has been much more generous than MSNBC, from which I have not received a single invitation since I declared my candidacy. And Brian, I'm the ranking member of the Middle East Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs. Are you kidding? And a former member of House Democratic leadership until I resign.

So, you know, there is a clearly some intent to deplatform. Two things you have in common. Number one, Harvey McKay is a great guy from Minnesota. Number two is Fran Talkington walks on water in my house.

Oh, I love you. And Hubert Humphrey was the person that my dad looked up to most, so did my mom. We've got so much more to talk about.

Even though we're from New York. I've got a good Viking story for you next time. Congressman Phillips, thank you. Listen to the show at free on Fox News podcast, plus on Apple podcast, Amazon music with your prime membership or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.