President Biden deserves a primary because the practice of democracy is necessary for its preservation

This is a terrible time for America. Everyone knows this. There is menace in the air.

These poll numbers on political violence are staggering. They are terrifying.

There is a terrible storm gathering. It is coming.

I have made many predictions over the last seven years. Donald Trump credited me with being the very first person on American television to see that he could win, was winning and would win the Republican nomination. Truthfully, when did you first see it?

I also predicted the violence and the mayhem that would result from Donald Trump refusing to concede.

We are in the middle of an ongoing event that has been building and worsening for seven years.

The extremist movement is stronger and more powerful than it was on January 6, 2021. It is richer, better organized and absolutely committed to the project of taking power and destroying American democracy. They have a plan.

They have a leader, and he is going to be the Republican nominee. I wish that were not true. There has been no candidate with real courage who has risen up within the Republican Party to challenge him in the GOP primary. Integrity, character and a fierce commitment to the defense of the US Constitution leads to exile in the MAGA/GOP. The only thing that will defeat this rancid and un-American cause will be a call to better and a summons towards tomorrow. No one measured up in the MAGA party. They have all fallen in line, and they are winning.

If the election was tomorrow the simple truth is this: President Biden would lose.

Much is written about misinformation. Most of it is focused on social media companies and the vast billion dollar anger industry that has caused division, chaos and violence in American society. Fox News is a societal cancer and a weapon’s grade lie factory that has utterly overwhelmed the White House during these last years. The cost has been heavy. A president who has had many successes — and whose legacy of building the future infrastructure of the 21st and early 22nd centuries will rival the achievements of Dwight Eisenhower and FDR — has been smeared into the ground. He has not been able to effectively respond. The risk is too great to pretend it is not true. The truth is that what you see on television is pretend. It is make believe.

Watch what Joe Scarborough has to say about this:

Isn’t this misinformation? I think it is.

Are we ready to lose freedom in a whimper of fantasy and delusion?

A few years ago, I founded the Lincoln Project to oppose Donald Trump. It devastated him in the 2020 election. It raised nearly $100 million and accumulated over a billion dollars worth of advertising impact. It deeply destabilized Donald Trump and his team. It kept him off balance, and contributed to President Biden’s win. I will always treasure the phone call that I received from President-Elect Biden after the 2020 election thanking me for the role I played. I deeply admire the man and am appalled at the libels he has endured. I shuttered my consulting firm, left MSNBC, stepped off of corporate boards and did everything I could do to defeat Donald Trump. Should President Biden be the Democratic nominee I will do everything I can to support him against the fascist coalition headed by Trump. It will require all of us because, should they get through the barricades, we will lose the country.

I will be perfectly straight. I am going to help Dean Phillips run for president for two reasons:

1. He is going to talk about some very important things that have not been talked about in a long time. I hope you will listen. I know Dean Phillips will listen to you.

2. I believe President Biden may be the only Democrat who could run for president who will lose to Donald Trump.

There is an irrefutable truth. President Biden promised to be a transitional figure. He promised to be a bridge towards stability. He was the knight who saved us from Trump. There is no question about that. The question at hand was: could he be a George Washington? Could he walk away from power, or would he seek four more years at age 82?

My views on this issue have long been clear, and they are offered without rancor, ranting or anger. They are sincere, and I certainly appreciate that there may be disagreement. I respect it. It is thoroughly American.

We must learn to disagree and be friends again.

I am joining Dean Phillips in this urgent moment of political crisis because we must try to make campaigns big and inspiring again. We must try and bring some nobility, decency and inspiration back into the business of politics. We must engage young people, and meet every American where they are. We must talk about the real issues that people in the country are facing. I’m going to do my utmost to help him do it.

I do not know where this journey will end, but it is my sincere hope that Dean Phillips will earn the trust of Democratic primary voters, and become the nominee of the only political party left in America that believes in democracy.

Democracy is sustained by elections and the rule of law. Without either, as William Butler Yeats said in ‘The Second Coming,’ “Things fall apart. The center will not hold.”

Please understand something. People who scream into their cellphones, while running grifts that pocket 93 cents on the dollar into the pockets of scammers in the name of democracy, who threaten to kill presidential candidates for daring to run, are not pro- democracy. They are as grave a threat as the Proud Boys and Trump. They are all the same.

You deserve better. You deserve a choice. President Biden deserves a primary because the practice of democracy is necessary for its preservation.

Here is what the polling says:

The overwhelming majority of Americans do not want to see a rematch between President Biden and the convicted sex abuser and accused felon, who incited the end of the peaceful transition of power.

There is an overwhelming majority of Americans and substantial numbers of Democrats who do not want President Biden to run again. They deserve a choice, and they will have one.

The Dean Phillips campaign intends to win the New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan primaries. Congressman Phillips will campaign with integrity and toughness. He will seek to inspire and unite, while calling for every American to serve their country in the coming era of national renewal that lies ahead — if America passes the test ahead.

Here is what I told Congressman Phillips about the presidential campaign ahead:

I told him it will be hard, punishing and unforgiving.

He did not blink.

I told him it would be joyful and inspiring because the American people are so.

More than anything else, I told him that this would be a character test.

Will he measure up?

It is a simple test that is infinitely complex. Here it is: are you who you say you are?

We live in an era in which trust and faith between the American people and nearly every institution in the country have collapsed. Trust has collapsed because a powerful taker class has run amok and beggared 60% of the country who live paycheck to paycheck. Faith has been drowned by lies and cynicism. It is time to face the truth and reform this broken mess with profound change that includes ethics reform that attacks the corruption that is breaking democracy. Always remember this. Chaos and corruption are Trump’s best friend. Senator Menendez is Trump’s very best friend in the coming election. Dean Phillips is his worst nightmare.

Soon we will discover if that is true. The congressman will have to earn trust. I believe he will.

Here are some other things I believe in:

I believe in America.

I believe in elections.

I believe in competition.

I believe in choice.

I believe in the American people.

I believe in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, which beacons us to remember our one million war dead and the civil rights heroes who freed America, redeemed America, saved America, and fight in this hour to make America the shining city upon a hill that Winthrop, Kennedy and MLK saw and described.

I believe in concessions when elections are lost.

I believe in the New Hampshire primary, and I know that no matter what happens this campaign will increase the chances that America can be saved from Trump. Should he win, the result will at best be catastrophic, and at worst, apocalyptic. It will destroy any chance that the 21st century will be an American one. It will consign our great nation and all of our children to so much less than they deserve because we will be the first generation in American history to fail the test and leave the country more free, prosperous and just than when we found it.

The American people will decide if Congressman Phillips is a stronger nominee than President Biden. Let the election begin.

I plan to continue writing The Warning every day and keep it pointed at the fascists, racists and opportunists who would gladly watch it all burn down for either amusement or power.

I will also give all of you an insight into a real presidential campaign.

Though you may not like the message it will always be delivered straight and truthfully. It will always be delivered with respect towards you. I will not join the cynics and cowards who say one thing on ‘Morning Joe,’ and another at Cafe Milano in DC. I will not abuse you. Instead, I’ll take you inside and show you everything I can from the good to the bad — and everything in between.

Going to New Hampshire to stand against the most powerful man in the world in a democratic election is a beautiful thing. The concept is sublime and the tradition of the New Hampshire primary is among the most sublime in all of our American history and traditions.

There is nothing quite like a presidential campaign. It was not something I thought I would be doing, but the hour is late and the danger great.

Dean Phillips for president.