Biden challenger Dean Phillips: ‘Irresponsible,’ ‘wrong’ and ‘dangerous’ for 80-year-olds to be president
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips has unloaded with his most brazen criticism of President Biden to date, telling The Post his re-election would be “dangerous” for the country.
“We’re human beings, and I think it’s irresponsible for Americans to place in the White House presidents who are in their 80s. I think it’s wrong, I think it’s dangerous,” Phillips, 54, said Thursday during an interview at his campaign office in New Hampshire’s largest city.
“He’s a good man, he was a good president, but I do not think the country is looking for 80-plus-year-old presidents,” added Phillips (D-Minn.), who cited polling data showing a majority of Americans have concerns about Biden’s mental capabilities.
Phillips went on to say that a “crisis is always around the corner” when “you reach your 80s” and reiterated that America can’t “take that risk in an era like this.”
Biden, the oldest president in US history, would be 86 at the end of his second term if he wins re-election and serves all four years.
Biden’s age and his lackluster levels of both personal popularity and electoral support have buttressed Phillips’ longshot campaign, which takes as its premise that the incumbent cannot defeat 77-year-old GOP front-runner Donald Trump — whom the congressman also sees as a threat to the US.
“There’s danger in an initiative that Donald Trump seems to wish to pursue, which I think is to undermine the very foundations of institutions of democracy,” Phillips said.
However, the congressman — who would be the first Jewish president if he pulls off a miracle win — took issue with the Biden campaign comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler over recent comments the former president made about illegal immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country.”
“I think Donald Trump is a very dangerous man,” Phillips said. “I think he’s a man who lacks character and he’s a narcissist. I do not believe he is analogous to Hitler whatsoever and I think people who say that are causing worse problems for the country than they’re solving.”
Phillips has focused his campaign on New Hampshire, where Biden will not be on the ballot due to a scheduling dispute between the Democratic National Committee and Granite State officials.
The DNC officially lists South Carolina as the first primary contest Feb. 6, but New Hampshire defied that edict and set its primary for Jan. 23.
Biden’s absence from the ballot is a sign of disrespect for voters, maintained Phillips, who called the situation “absolutely ridiculous.”
“A sitting American president chose to not be on the ballot in the first-in-the-nation primary state,” he said. “I think it’s a symptom of a much broader disease, and that is a lack of respect for voters all around the country, including here.”
Phillips faces an uphill battle getting his own name on the ballot in all 50 states. He missed the deadline to register in Nevada and has been omitted in several states that are choosing not to hold Democratic primaries due to Biden being the incumbent.
The Democrat accused the president of “clearly ignoring signs of his own party that is disenfranchising voters, disenfranchising candidates and is stifling debate.”
While Trump poses a “greater existential threat” to America, Phillips argued, Biden’s ignorance “will be a threat down the road.”
The White House did not directly respond Friday to Phillips’ comments, but directed The Post to a statement by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Oct. 31, days after Phillips entered the race.
“We are very proud of — or very thrilled and thankful to — to the congressman for voting with the president almost 100% of the time in the last two years,” Jean-Pierre said at the time, “and I’ll leave it there.”
