 What the fuck do you think this is? My beef is this. I got more Instagram followers than you. How are you gonna win? He's not a good man. And I don't quite understand why Democrats are not broke law enforcement. Are the books clean on your companies? You are not defund the police. No, I'm not proposing some revolution. I'm proposing an evolution. Saying that we should not have a secure border is like saying, What's the worst thing someone can say about you? Large numbers of Democratic voters want to see someone challenge President Joe Biden. Are you running for president? I am. I have to. Two months ago, I was a darling in the Democratic Party and now I'm the devil. America wants change. We're gonna be facing an emergency next November. There is no political reward in the United States right now for simply speaking the truth. Hey, you guys. How are you? How are you doing? Good to see you, man. You've had dim sum before? Oh, damn right. Are you kidding? What? You are a Jewish man. All right, everybody. We are here at Dim Sum Palace with Dean Phillips. He is running for president. You're also, you're running for the primary candidate of the DNC. You're going up against Joe Biden as there doesn't seem to be that many other people in competition for Joe Biden's space. Except you. You're like the main one. Is that kind of crazy? That you're the only one stepping up to Joe Biden. You know, I thought it was crazy until I realized what the Democratic Party does to those who step up. And now I understand why people don't want to go through and that's exactly why we should be doing it. All right, so to all of you listening out there, when your time comes, stand up and shout loud. Don't let them tell you what you can and cannot do, period. All right, and we're going to get into so much stuff because we got to get into your policies, obviously. People want to hear that. Also, why are you running? Why am I interviewing you? What interests do I have in all this? And maybe we got some hot seat questions. Oh, I like it. So I'm glad you're sitting down with us at Dim Sum Palace. You're a Jewish guy, no stranger to Chinese policy. Especially on Christmas Eve. And that's a stereotype, but yeah. No, but it's true. It's true. I love it. No, I'm psyched. I heard you know how to use chopsticks. I'm going to bring you guys to a good deli next time. That's how we reciprocate. Let's do it. I'm down with the pastrami. But real quick, Dean, first of all, let's grab a food. What have you here? Have you had before? Let's just grab something. And then I'll go into the first question. No, no, man, I'm loving it. Oh, man, I was going to say Kanji with the chopsticks would have been an expert move. That would have been pro move. I'm not there yet. Okay. I got the shrimp dumping in the hog out. You're going for the most difficult stuff right there. Yeah, you got to go deep. Fresh rice rolls. Let's take a bite. Let's just take a bite first. Mm. Let's talk about who you are. Let's talk about who the f***ing film is. Oh, are you on here my story? Yeah. Because you're kind of coming out of nowhere. So let's have the people get to know you real quick. Sure. You're from Minnesota. From Minnesota. Your family does a distillery business? Well, I'll tell you my story. I'm here. You want to hear it? I'll tell you the story. Let me throw out this one first. Yeah. You do ice cream, gelato. You do a distillery. You like hockey, baseball. How are you a Democrat? I don't know. But go ahead, tell your story. I know you asked me right when I take a bite. Ha ha ha. It's like hot ones except with hot dim sum. Yeah, you got to. I lost my dad in Vietnam. I grew up very poor in Minnesota. Couldn't afford college. So he earned an ROTC scholarship. I was killed in July of 1969, just three days after the U.S. landed on the moon in a helicopter crash that was a Mosaic of America. And my mom was 24 and widowed. We didn't have anywhere to stay. So we lived with my great grandparents for three years. And then I got lucky. And if there's anything you need to know about me is that that's what illuminates my whole life. I was adopted by a new dad. My mom remarried right into an amazing family of business and philanthropy and opportunity. And a family that said, Dean, money is like manure. You stack it up, it stinks. If you spread it out, it fertilizes. That's my whole philosophy. Sharing, providing opportunity. And why should a kid like me, just because of a stroke of good luck, have such great opportunity? And when so many kids in this country don't have those blessings. That's why I'm running for president. That's why I'm running for president. It's my life story. I got lucky. Entered our family business. We built Belvedere Vodka. Sold that. Built Talenti Gelato, the ice cream brand. And then I woke up the morning after the 2016 election and my daughters were in tears. And I promised them I would do something. I ran for Congress to resist Donald Trump. And here I am doing the same thing five, six years later because he's coming back. And I just think that this country is going to be a big, big trouble if we cede the White House to that man. And this is a country of competition. Not coronations. That's why I'm running. So you eat. Oh, look who's here. I have a seat for you right here. Mike DeMutter. Hey. It's a family affair. I love it. Everybody. Oh, and we got some smaller. This is my real boss. I see you. Have a seat. Yeah, yeah, please. This is the real boss, the honorable Daniela Phillips. Yeah. But no, I think your story's cool. And I think the reason why I want to talk to you is not really because I'm a hardcore Democrat. I'm not. I know I'm not a Republican. I'm a confused person just like anybody else. Like most of us. I'm sick of a lot of things that I see, like anybody else. I'm a concerned millennial. I know that sounds very interesting. I'm actually a millennial that wants to vote. But if it's Joe Biden and Donald Trump, I might not vote. And no, by the way, I'm not going to vote. Everybody's telling me the same thing. Yeah, so because, and that's why I want to know your story because you seem like a common sense guy. And by the way, I'm not telling you to vote for him. I'm not paid by anybody. I'm paying for this dim sum myself. I just wanted to talk to cool, sensible people that I think can make a change. And that's what it means to do this video. I think what you just said is that what I call us is the exhausted majority. Center-left, right, center-left Americans who are sick of the nonsense don't understand why these are our best two candidates of a country of 340 million people. And if you're like me and probably like you, I believe in fiscal responsibility. I believe in keeping communities safe. I believe in helping people with opportunity. I believe that we should have a secure border. These are not that complicated issues. I believe in freedom, I believe in liberty. I believe in people being able to pursue the lives they want and I believe in love and decency and respect. Is that that strange? Yeah, that's true. Neither party kind of seems to allow that combination. No, it seems like every party is on the extreme and very divisive. And we're going to talk about that. I want to talk about why you think America is so divided in a little bit. But I do want to touch on a little bit of, going off of your background. So you're a guy, you know, you come from a good family or you did well for yourself as well. And you want to step up and make a change. You kind of sound like Bruce Wayne. You're like a guy with some money, but you're like, you know what? I got to do something. And I got to help people out. And I got to step up when no one else is stepping up. Look, we're sitting here with my daughter. And like a vigilante. You're trying to disrupt the system with one box of gelato at the time. Bingo, it's disruption. By the way, what's the best flavor up to lychee gelato? I think pistachio. That's kind of it. What's yours? Well, but the funny thing is that you usually pronounce it pistachio. Oh, stop it, stop it. Which is an inside joke, but. I think caramel cookie crunch is up there too. Oh, caramel cookie crunch. What's your favorite beverage on your distillery list? Philip's Peppermint Schnops was the first Schnops in America. 1934, made in Minneapolis. It's like the essence of a Minnesota winter, but I'll tell you my favorite. It's called Snowshoe Grog. Snowshoe Grog. Combination of brandy and peppermint schnopps. It is, talk about warming the soul in a cold winter day. We should have some Snowshoe Grog right now. I want to ask you, if anybody's going to dig anything up about you, are the books clean on your companies? Oh my God. Are they clean? They're going to look in there and say, oh, hey, the Philip's Company, they avoided taxes in 2018. Like, you're going to find that? I'm going to tell them to check you out. Good, please do. We've never declared bankruptcy. If I was taking care of our employees, we had one of the first profit sharing plants in America in the 1940s. We've never had our family foundation shut down like Donald Trump, right? I care deeply. Our coffee shops paid $15 an hour before anybody else did. So you're saying you're like Donald Trump except just a better, more humble version. I'm not like Donald Trump at all. I'll tell you, he gave business people a bad name. I'm a sucker for him. What is it about this new wave of business background politicians, whether it's, if you make Rama Swami, whether or not we agree with what he's talking about, he seems like a sharp guy. He's making waves. You're out there making waves. Donald Trump obviously was president, very famous guy. Do people believe in business men in America? Is there some sense that like, hey, if you ran a big business, maybe you could run America. Is there some truth to that? I think there is. And that's why Donald Trump gave business people a bad name. He's not a business man. He's a developer and he's a crooked developer who lacks character. Business people know two things. You can't demean half of your customers and they think you're gonna build your business. That's one. Secondly, they know how to manage, right? And create a strategy and bring people along and appeal to broader numbers of people. Because in business, you want as many people as possible coming into your tent, right? In politics, you just want 51% of the people coming to your tent. So when you think about that tug-of-war between business and politics, that's the disruption that we're talking about. And yes, now does someone who only comes from businesses has never spent a day in public service? Is that the person? No, that's what we got with Donald Trump. I'm an interesting combination. He'll businesses, chaired the board of a nonprofit charitable organization, was the chair of a health system, a region to the university, and now I'm a third term member of Congress and former member of House leadership. So my experience is different than most and that's the complementary notion that I think we need. I really think we need. You call yourself a pragmatic progressive. Is that the same as a moderate, centrist? Why does moderate and centrist never sound sexy to people when nobody knows what that means versus progressive or pragmatic progressive? It's like vanilla ice cream. It tastes really good. Actually, it's what most people buy. But it's not exciting, right? And moderation, first of all. Oh, I just got the spice, hold on. Yeah, you were packing the chili oil. By the way, you just had breakfast with the Breakfast Club before you came to get dim sum lunch with the phone brush. But they didn't, I love the Breakfast Club, but they didn't serve me breakfast. That's why I love you guys. You see, you're serving me dim sum. That's why I'm here. We do things the Breakfast Club is not doing. I'm telling you, our journalistic integrity on this channel, it's high. Anyways, go on, continue. Oh, we're just saying. Pragmatic progressive, why? So the word moderation, which should be when you consume alcohol, but in terms of politics, I think it's a bad word, centrism. I am a pragmatic progressive because I think everybody should have healthcare coverage. I think everybody should have a home. I think everybody should be able to have an education without being burdened with debt. Does that make me a leftist, communist, socialist? No, in fact, I think that makes me a centrist and moderate because that should be a basic expectation of a country like ours. Equal, the equality of opportunity is not the same as equality of outcome. And the whole promise of the United States is not that everybody's going to succeed, but the promise that we're going to fulfill is that everybody should have a relatively equal chance. And if that's not centrist, if that's not pragmatic, if that's not moderate, I don't know what is. Think about it. Let's talk about one of the reasons why people are sick of the Democratic Party. You even released some Instagram videos recently, kind of going against the DNC. We're talking about the DNC. We're talking about the organization of powerful Democrats that are supposed to get behind you. Let's say you beat Joe Biden, right? What's your beef with them? And why does nobody like what they're doing? Even Democrats, like whether I voted Democrat in the past, I have a bunch of friends who voted Democrat in the past, they're tired of it, they're ready to switch. Literally, there's a bunch of people that are ready to switch sides or not vote. I get it. Why, what's up with the Democrats? And by the way, I hear them and I get it and I understand. So Democrats, first of all, let's talk about Democrats versus the Democratic National Committee. The Democratic National Committee, the party is what you just said. It's a handful of people that essentially believe they are the ones that should control who you get to vote for. So my beef is this, they are not Democrats. They are a handful of people who are trying to protect their power, their privilege, their prestige. And what they do is this. Remember January 6th, Donald Trump inspires a riot, a mob, an insurrection at the Capitol. Remember what the objective was to prevent the counting of ballots, right? What the Democratic National Committee is doing right now as we sit and talk. They've taken me off the ballot in Florida. They've taken me off the ballot in North Carolina. By the way, not just me, Mary Ann Williamson and me. They're not giving a chance to Democratic voters to even vote in an election. They said there's no need, Joe Biden won. In New Hampshire, they sent a letter to the New Hampshire Democratic Party just last week saying your election is meaningless and you're violating our rules. Telling New Hampshire voters their votes don't come. What is the difference between stopping the vote of the counting of ballots and stopping the opportunity for voters to actually vote in an election? It's the same thing. So why am I mad? It's voter suppression, it's candidate suppression. And Joe Biden will not even consent to doing a single debate in the United States of America. Against you? Against me, and right now, I don't know if there'll be a debate in the general election if it's Biden and Trump. So those are the three hallmarks of democracy. Voters, candidates and debate. And there's some suppressing all three of them. It's wrong, I'm gonna call attention to it. And I ask that everybody, no matter who you vote for, no matter your politics, do not let the parties undermine all of us. And I'm telling you, they hate me now just because I'm telling the truth. So the DNC hates you. Yeah, but not Democrats. The DNC, the organization hates you. You got less than 10K followers on Instagram. Joe Biden's got 17 million. I got more Instagram followers than you. How are you gonna win? My daughter has more Instagram followers than me. How are you gonna do it? How does this even mathematically, and let's use our, you know, I'm sure we all have basic math guys. How does it happen? Here's the deal. I'm sitting with you because you have a big community of people. And I wanted to introduce myself. MSNBC doesn't want to have me on, of course. So that's why I'm sitting here. Here's how we do it. People don't know me, that's a good thing because two thirds of the country doesn't hate me. I'm gonna introduce myself every single day for the next number of months to every American I can come and say hello to. We're gonna build our brand. We're gonna build our community. I need everybody watching and listening right now to give it some thought. If you want to change this nonsense, if you really do, I want to be your guide. It's not all about who's got the most Twitter followers. It's who gets the most. And I promise you in New Hampshire on January 23rd, anybody watching right now, if you want to help me shock the world, help me win in New Hampshire on January 23rd, or any way, winning, all we have to do is show up and surprise. And if we show up and surprise, watch what happens. The invitation start, people start recognizing that they attention. But I can't do this without you. New Hampshire. That's the whole point of America. I don't think we have the biggest following in New Hampshire in our lives. Most of California, Texas and New York and Washington, but New Hampshire, you got any friends or family in New Hampshire, at least give Dean a look. Think about it, that's all I want. Here's the bigger thing. I didn't say vote for him. I just said give him a vote. Vote in primaries. Don't give the keys to the very people you're angry with. They don't want you to vote in the primary election. They want you only to vote once they've chosen the candidates, you see? Don't let them do that. Go out and vote in the primary for someone that's going to disrupt the system. By the way, whoever it is. How do you disrupt the system? I'm doing it right now. Like you're a small name. How do you just, how do you go in there in Washington, this big gigantic monster that's been going and going and going and all these scandals, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, getting through and you're going to sift through and then you're going to just shake it up. First of all, you're going to shake it up like this bottle is small. The smallest names have created the biggest change in history. And it's not me. I don't even care if you don't know my name. What I care about is working together. I'll be your messenger. I'll be your man. It's not about me. It's not about my name. It's about trying to change this nonsense. And the fact of the matter is we can do it. We can do it. It's not the party that makes the decision unless you want them to. So don't complain. Don't say I'm not going to vote. Do the opposite. Go and vote and affect the down change. And that's why I'm trying to inspire people because young people do not like Trump. They don't like Biden. They're sick of the nonsense. They're giving up. I say, let's try one more time. Come on, let's try one more time. Let's just say this guy behind the camera, Fred. He wasn't planning on voting. He's not a registered voter. What can you say to him? What I'm going to say is, Fred, don't have them force you to believe that you have to only decide between what they want you to decide between. Go out and vote. And get some friends together and have a little party and get people to start paying attention because I'll tell you, if you don't vote, and I'm telling you, anybody who doesn't vote right now, who are handing the keys to people who do not have your best interests in mind and let's not give up, this is America. I believe that. I do. I'm one of my friends who wants to vote because I still believe, even though I don't like the system in the institutions, and we're going to talk about the distrust of institutions, is that it's one of the only ways to still make a change. It's the only way. Not one of the only ways. It is the only way. Well, why don't I just sit there and just worry about my own life and just build followers and get these, live this life? Why, but I don't really care. The system's messed up. It's all f-ed up. It's all f-ed up with the boomers. The Republicans are f-ed up. Democrats are f-ed up. Everybody's f-ed up. So. Because there's going to come a day if you hand over the keys, we're going to go off the bridge and we're going to go into the woods. And you won't be able to do this. And our children, anybody's children, are not going to have a future. And I'm telling you, you watch what happens to us. Well, what if I don't want children? I'm not. Then your own life. You guys are going to live into the 22nd century perhaps, right? It's a long time. And if we're going to turn over the keys to people like Donald Trump, or concede even to the Democratic Party that wants to do it their way, I'm telling you guys, we're giving up. And look what happens to democracies when people stop participating. Or they don't resist when someone's trying to take it over. And guys, I look at it. I don't have all the answers. What I do is I have a plan. I'm going to have a bipartisan cabinet, meaning a team of rivals. I'm going to have Democrats and Republicans and Libertarians in the White House. I'm going to have a youth cabinet, a high school or college student from every one of the 50 states on a cabinet to share ideas with me. I'm going to have common ground dinners, meaning we're going to have great everyday Americans from all around the country to dinner in the White House. Maybe we'll have dim sum. Maybe we'll have latkes at home in Tasha. And we're going to talk. And we're going to listen to each other. And it's not going to be just black Thai dinners with foreign heads of state and whatnot. It's going to be Americans actually seizing control back from parties that are trying to protect their interests. And it's totally achievable. Imagine how fun this would be if we overcame all this by starting something really right now. We still got eight, nine months to get our act together and completely throw it back in their faces in a way that's principled, progressive, meaningful, and common sense. DP, you're trying to DP America. DP, I like that. Yeah, I don't know if it's okay if you don't know what. No, I know it. I just, I didn't change my name. So real quick, I'm going to get, I just have one hypothetical idea. Wouldn't it be so much better? You know how we can do everything off our phones? Like, I can... Change the world. I can change, I have God-like technology in the palm of my hands. I can make money. Who's that by the way? It's my nephew, my mom. I can do all the... Don't be so nosy. I'm just kidding. It's all my fault. I can go to my bank. I can trade crypto. If I could do all this crazy stuff, I cannot vote off my phone. We have three, we have two, three-step authentication. I cannot vote on my phone. How much would that change America if everybody could actually just scan their faces, scan a couple of documents, and then vote off their phone? Okay, I'm glad we're doing this. This is not hypothetical, and this is how the future should be. So between with blockchain, you know, with Web3... Oh yeah, you're a crypto guy. We can change this. Now, the parties don't want that. They'll tell you that, oh, it's not secure. We can't trust it. I trust it with my entire life savings. That's my whole point. They don't want it though, because they don't want to give too many people the opportunity to vote. You guys got to understand this. They don't want everybody to vote. They just want the handful of chosen people to do so so they can try to win. That's why we have this nonsense. They don't want you to vote. They don't want you to win. They don't want you to have it. So what, they don't want democracy? That's why they don't want democracy. Not in the way that we're taught about it. They want to protect their power and privilege. And look it, there are a lot of good Republicans or a lot of great Democrats. I'm not saying that this is a huge conspiracy theory. I'm just saying that there are a handful of people that want to protect their interests and deny so many Americans theirs. So when it comes to, listen, I haven't even thought about this. We should actually pursue the idea of testing a pilot program where we actually use digital voting. And you know what? And we don't make, let's not do it nationally right away. Let's do it in a municipal election. In a small town. Let's see if we can test a system whereby the blockchain technology allows us to have a secure election. The problem with it is without. I think that's SF. SF, it's on you guys. Same procedure with all the tech guys. There you go. By the way, if anybody's out there wants to open me up, let's test it because if we don't do that, we will always only have 50% of the country voted. Can you imagine? We would probably have 90% turnout in an election. Is there a more pure form of democracy than letting everybody with a phone vote? So what they'll tell you is that, oh, no, no, no, no, no paper ballots. We can't track it. What if somebody gets behind the system and they're lying and it's now, it's an affair, right? Russian hackers, North Korean hackers. Chinese hackers, what do I think? I'm a person who believes the more people who vote, the better. The more access you give, the better. And the more easy to do, the better. The best, the worst states in the country, the most anti-democratic states. One of them is the one we're in right now. They make it hard to vote. You gotta register way in advance of elections. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars for me to get on the ballot here. And this is a blue state of New York. They don't want you to vote easily. New York City gotta do better. I'm gonna switch gears because I want to dive into a little bit of the top three main issues that I think a lot of Americans are concerned about right now. You don't mind if I eat while I'm eating. Listen, it's a long question. And I don't think they're exclusive to Asians, but I can say that knowing a lot of Asians, I'm so sorry, you don't have a bowl. That's crazy. That's right, that's right. You're eating kanji with chopsticks. Hey, you got it. I don't think any candidate has ever done that before, even mildly successfully. Not even something I would do. You decide here first. It is very thick though, yeah. Anyways, listen, there's the three main things that I think a lot of, I'll just speak on Asians, not that I can speak for every Asian person, but this is the things I think about. Crime and safety. And you've said that there is a crime and chaos problem in America. Why does this seem like the Democratic Party or a lot of Democratic leaders seem to not care about that? That's the narrative out there. Where everybody's like, yo, Democrats soft on crime, soft on crime. Are they soft on crime? Are they just letting all these, you know, multi felony criminals with violent ass on the street when they shouldn't be? Like, what is going on? Is that true? And is there any truth to this? So here's what happens. I love my Democratic colleagues because when there's an attack on the Asian community, and we all know there's been a lot of them, when there's an attack on a Jewish person, on a Black person, on a Latino person, on an LGBTQ plus person, a queer person. Every time that happens, Democrats surround and express love and dismay and we do resolutions to attack the anti-Semitism, the anti-Asian hate all that. But then we don't do anything to actually stop it. Thoughts and prayers and words on paper, that's great. The best way to stop it is to have safety and security in neighborhoods. And I don't quite understand why Democrats are not pro law enforcement, pro safety. I don't understand it. And I think we're speaking out of two sides of our mouth and I gotta tell you that the communities that I speak with that are the most concerned about a lack of safety or actually communities that have been disenfranchised and are struggling and have been oppressed and they're surprised that we have a lot of frankly white folks like me, liberals, thinking that they're representing these communities, they're not doing it. So I'm just saying that why don't we just be reasonable and common sense? Let's attract great police officers who are well trained and well prepared and well compensated and hold them accountable. And we also have to let them do their jobs. And let them do their jobs but in principle. But also to your point, why do we let people who've been committing crimes for their whole lives go through the system time and time again, let them out, they come right back in, it costs tens of thousands of dollars a year to incarcerate them. Why don't we be a country that when you commit your first crime, you have to go through a program to be educated, rehabilitated and then provided opportunity. Look at our system. How could you go to prison, pay your dues, get out and then you can't even get a job because you're a felon, right? So what are you gonna do? It's not rocket science. We invest upstream, give people a chance. If they break up, if they break the law, they make a mistake, they go to prison, they serve their time, we should be repairing them while they're giving them opportunity and then we'll reduce crime. But we, there's not a police department in our country right now, not a one that is fully resourced. They can't attract and hire great police officers because so many have been so demeaned and there are people spit on them. If you're a black person, you wanna become a police officer. Many in the community say, you know, you're a traitor and that's really heartbreaking and we're causing the very problem that we're trying to solve. So you, coming from Minnesota and a lot of controversial stuff has happened in Minnesota in the past six years, you are not defund the police. No, that was the stupidest, craziest, most painful and hurtful slogan I've ever heard. The notion was, let's afford resources so that police departments have social workers and mental and emotional healthcare providers, which makes perfect sense. But you know, I come from the city in which George Floyd was murdered and there's no better example of how we always mistake quiet for peace. Think about that. As long as it's quiet, everything's fine. But just below the surface, there's anger, there's oppression, there's racism, anti-semitism, anti-Asianism, I mean, you name it misogyny. It's just below the surface, always waiting to erupt. And we should be investing in law enforcement because how can you live a life of prosperity if you're worried about your kids getting to school, worried about if they're driving out one night, if they're gonna come home? You know, I've never had to have that talk with my daughters. And I know that people are suffering for so many reasons and we should provide safety first. And that's why I think Joe Biden is gonna really poor job. Our border is a mess. Our cities are chaos, San Francisco looks like a disaster. Let's, I love your answer. I think you answered my question. Let's talk about the border. You're a Democrat who says we gotta secure the border. Why does that already sound controversial? What's up with the border? What's your plan? People wanna know. I think the crime and safety chaos, border control, there's also education, fair admissions, all that other stuff we're gonna get to. Borders, what do we do? Saying that we should not have a secure border is like saying nobody should like pizza. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. I mean, I just, I don't understand when the responsibility of the American president is to keep our country secure and safe. We spend a trillion dollars on our military. And yet we have a porous border where tens of thousands of people a day are coming across. Many of them never even documented or approached. It's nonsensical. And I believe in America that welcomes immigrants. I mean, we have to actually be a more attractive country for immigrants. But our systems, our structures, our infrastructure, our policies are disastrous. And we just don't have leadership that is doing anything about it. And I do believe my Republican colleagues are recognizing a real deficiency. Now I don't think their solution is great, but I think that's where progressives and conservatives should be coming together and fix this. I, as president, will do it very quickly because two things can be true at once. We can be secure and we can be humane and decent and welcoming. Why is that incompatible? Why is that incompatible? You know, why? And right now, just so everybody knows, if you want to declare asylum, which is what the migrants are doing, you have to save $10,000. You pay it to a Mexican cartel that brings you across the river because our law says you have to cross into America to declare asylum. Under my presidency, we will change the law so you declare asylum in your home country. You hold on to your money. If we approve you, then we bring you to America. And then you have a $10,000 nest that you can start your life with. Right now, we are making people give it to the Mexican cartels, starting here with nothing. They can't work. And then they're told to show up for a court case in three or four years. It's the stupidest policy you can possibly imagine. And it's fixable. To fix those things, does it require more people to work in government and to be part of these systems and doesn't have to pay better? Or is there some sense in America that's like, working for the government is wack? I don't want to do it. Well, look, you know who the highest-paid public employee in every single state in America is? Football or basketball coach for the public university? You got some great athletics. Yeah, million, we are paying the public, all of us are paying football and basketball coaches millions of dollars a year in every state, right? Right, because you're saying the university's Yeah, public, they're public employees. They are public employees, right? Now, how much are we paying teachers? How much are we paying police officers? How much are we paying social workers? It is the craziest, most ridiculous strategy you can possibly imagine. And all it takes is people that have a little bit more of a thoughtful perspective to start attracting people. So everybody watching right now, I would hope at some point in your life you do something for the public, you know? Give a little back, pay a little bit forward. It's not easy. This job in Congress, let me tell you, it's not easy. Running for president, not easy, but we have got to pay it forward. I wanna talk about education. This is another thing that a lot of Asians care about. Fair admissions and colleges, Asians just want, anybody who studies hard, gets the grades, deserves to not be discriminated against at the high level on education. Discriminated for any reason, because you got the grades, you put in the work. That's what you care about. You spent your whole life trying to get this 4.2 GPA. And then somehow it feels like you're getting discriminated against in colleges. And this may seem like a trivial issue to some people, but to a lot of Asian families, it's a very big deal. What's your take on it? I believe in a meritocracy, but that means by the time you're 18 years old talking about college applications, it's way too late. Our country has oppressed communities from the very beginning. Our indigenous community, of course, our black community by slavery. So two things again can be true at once. We need to be a country that is a meritocracy, that people thrive based on their own self determination and their ambitions. But how can we expect people to get to that point if they are oppressed and can't even get to that stage, right? So I think two things can be true at once again. We should be investing in communities that we have oppressed and we have. And then what I call the equality of opportunity, that's the basis. That does not guarantee the equality of outcomes, right? So that's where we can convert them to a meritocracy, but we can't be that country until we make sure that every young person is coming to that stage prepared, able, and nourished, if you will. And I just don't think we're there yet, but I have empathy for people who work their tails off of all colors, of all races, religions, geographies, who are then somehow punished for the very reason and challenge we're trying to solve. You know what I'm saying? If you come to America, if anybody comes to America, it's because if you work hard, you can make something. But I also know that, look, and I'm a white man of privilege, you know? I've never walked in anybody's shoes that's white. Not yours, not anybody here. And I know my life is very different. I've been really lucky. Now I'm a Jewish man and there's some challenges right now about being Jewish, but nothing like what so many communities feel because, you know, I look, I look stereotypically just like a white man, right? Listen, you look like David DeCoverney from X-File. Oh, I thank you. Have you ever been told that? Yes, I have. Mulder. I've been told the worst too. Oh yeah? I'm not. I get that. My brain doesn't go there. It just goes to media. So David DeCoverney, Mulder, from X-File. I get David DeCoverney. I get Richard Geir, young Richard Geir. I get Bill Maher. Oh, you're Bill Maher times David DeCoverney. That's the X. You should go on Bill Maher's show, Dramastop like him. I did. I did a whole schtick back. You should watch it. I didn't watch it. Oh yeah, you should put that on the clip. Anyways. Uh, something that is a very divisive issue that there's a portion that are like, ah, this shoot, this is a deal, but it's not the most divisive identity politics. It seems to be especially fueled by social media, which I believe social media to be this great tool that people have created, but it's just like carrying like a big hammer around and you're like a carpenter or you're like a contractor. You need that hammer. It's gonna be very useful to you. It helps you do your job, but you got to be careful on where you swing in, where you're walking around. You can't just bring it everywhere. Or it's like carrying even, you know, a loaded pistol if you're a law enforcement, that's a tool that you're gonna possibly use that's gonna help you do your job, but you got to know how to use it in the safety. So I feel like that these issues are fueled partially by social media, by identity politics, man. Like, what does it even mean? And is it the thing that you're running on or do you feel like you're like, hey, that is a thing for sure, but it's like we do have to take care of all this other stuff. Okay, look at this table. Let's say these were different communities, you know, we got the Jewish community, the Asian, first of all, we're not monoliths, but you know, Asian community, black community, Latino community, Jewish community, right, you know, white folks, how boring would life be if all we had is just one, just that, right? So the whole notion is identity politics are actually, I think, the very root of this problem because by definition, they're dividing. And why are we not putting together a nice buffet of everything? Why are we not celebrating the differences? How boring is life? How boring is life? And I'm really frustrated with my own party by making that what seems to be the deciding foundational element of the Democratic Party because the whole point of the Democratic Party is that we are welcoming and we are respectful and we're a big tent, but we don't treat it like that. We treat it based on dividing into separate tribes. But it seems like when you celebrate someone else's culture and identity, whether it be LGBT, whether it be the Asian community, Lunar New Year's coming up, when you celebrate that so hard, it seems like you're taking away from someone else. Usually people refer to it as a placement theory, you know what I mean? Like there's these things where a lot of, and I feel for a lot of white Americans, honestly, when they constantly get made fun of all the time, and they're like, yo, I didn't do anything wrong. Like, I've been cool, you know? And I'm like, yeah, as minorities, obviously we want to make jokes on everybody because we're not the dominant group. But I guess like it seems like every time you celebrate one person's thing, it seems like it's playing down someone else's. I don't think it has to be like that, you know? And I just, I'm really growing. First of all, there aren't a lot of white people in America that are afraid of being replaced. There are, I think it's true. And I think a lot of them are people that just have not had yet the life experience where they get to share in the mosaic of America, right? Maybe they haven't had great experiences with minorities. Or they live in an area where everybody is the same. And it's scary to be with other people, right? Now look, I'm Jewish, you know, a hundred years ago we dressed a lot differently. You would have known right away just based on how I looked, right? Now we're kind of assimilated and I think people are afraid, but I'm just gonna get to the very basic point. If you're afraid of being replaced, it's not about what you look like, it's about your values, right? And we all look different, if you're an American and you're in the same values, that's what should connect us. Right. And I'm just someone who just says, I believe that life is really boring. If all you do all day long is eat vanilla ice cream, you never try caramel cookie crunch, or you never try pistachio or chocolate chip or chocolate because a lot of people want to live like that. That's a really good case for generation dating. Yes, exactly. Blend your ice cream and blend your families. Right. But that's the analogy. But when you mix it all together, it's still ice cream and it's still gonna be kind of tasty even though, yeah. It's like, look, you don't want to eat hamburgers every day. You want to, you know, here's the other cool thing about America and the world. You go any street here, you see 10 different ethnic restaurants. Clearly, people love to go different places, experience different cultures. So I think Democrats right now are actually causing more of the problem and we're solving, I'm being honest. You're hard on the Democrats, man. You're like looking at your own party, not that you identify with everybody, but you're like, you guys do better. It's on us. Is that some sense of like that self-responsibility philosophy you have here? You're like, listen, everybody has equal opportunities, but like, it's in my own party, like we have to do better because we're fucked up. We don't know what we're doing. I think we are. And I think that we have a beautiful recent history. I think we've got wonderful people. I think that most are people with good principles and values, but I think we're a little lost right now. And I think we're actually causing many of the problems that we think we're trying to solve and we're not solving many of the problems that we've committed to. So that's the truth. And I'm getting a little tired of it and that's why I thought, you know, I can either shush up and be a sheep and get in line and do and say what they want me to, or I could say the quiet part out loud. And that's what I'm doing. And they hate it. And frankly, the rest of the country is starting to say, you know what? There might be a there, there. And I'm not proposing some revolution. I'm proposing an evolution, you know? I'm inviting Republicans, libertarians, independents, Democrats, to kind of start something new. Now the only way to start it is from the inside. And I'm an insider, but I'm an outsider. And that's some kind of special sauce. I want to switch it to your daughter here. Daniela. Sit here, Daniela. What is it like to have your dad run for president? What's the pros and the cons? Let's start with the pros that I get to be hanging out with the fun bros right now. It's literally like the coolest thing that's ever happened to me. I'm a huge fan. Shout out to Smala. I actually am ordering some today. So here we go. Some more pros, let's say, are it's cool to see your dad who you're really proud of doing what he's best at. I think for a lot of people in this position, it's hard because you might see your parent and get the money, but it's been really cool because my dad is always the same example. Like ever since we were young, he knows everyone when we walk in the restaurant. He knows all the servers and he writes down everyone's name, humanizes people. So I just think it's cool to see him do what he does best and be able to talk to everyone. Like he talks to me and my sister every day. What's the least favorite thing about it? I know what you're saying. Just because your dad is a good business man and running for president, there's, I know there's constant, but what is it? Cons would be if you're a more private person, putting yourself in the public eye is obviously a little uncomfortable. I don't like when people say bad things about my dad because I know him so much, but you know, it's what we're doing. We are putting ourselves in this situation, but another con, the dad jokes are constant. But yeah, I mean, I'll end it on a pro. He's been coming to New York more often than me. I get to hang out and eat dim sum with him, which is what we do all the time at home. So I'm psyched. I'm happy that we all get to be here and hang out, eat dim sum, eating smaller, hanging out with the fun bros. We're just a family now. So. I did not tell her to say any of that. She's totally plugging us in. And Daniela, by the way, Daniela and her sister, Pia, are the only reasons I ran for Congress. The only reason that I'm sitting right here running for president is because of my daughters. They were so upset after the Donald Trump election in 2016 that it shocked me. What were some of the main issues that sparked the outrage in the family and what made you step up? Was it abortion rights? What was it? Well, it was waking up the next morning and Daniela's younger sister, Pia, was crying in her bedroom. And she had just overcome Hodgkin's and called my cancer. She's a gay woman. I did not know that when she was 16. And she was really fearful. And it was seeing my daughter with fear in her eyes. And look, I know my privilege. I was not accustomed to my kids looking afraid. And I know a lot of families wake up every day like that, no matter who's in the presidency, right? But that really affected me. And I felt that it was my opportunity, my time to stand up and do something about it. I'd spent my whole life essentially thinking we're in good hands. You know, I took it for granted that we have good people in Washington. And then Donald Trump was elected. And he's not a good man. But he represents a lot of people who are angry for reasons I understand. And that's why I thought, you know what? He said a complaint about it. I'm gonna try to do something. Have some work. What's the... What's the worst thing someone can say about you? Let's be a little self-aware. I think a lot of politicians or a lot of people who step into the public eye, they're not self-aware. You seem very confident in yourself. You seem like, I feel like you wouldn't step up and put yourself in this position unless you knew you were a solid guy. But what's the worst thing someone can say about it? I think what most... First of all, what the worst thing people say about me is they look at me and they say, oh, there's a wealthy, out-of-touch white guy from suburban Minnesota. Another rich Minnesota white guy, huh? Yeah, and I understand, but they don't know my story. They don't know my background. They don't know the shoes that I've walked in. And I wish people would just maybe dig a little bit deeper. But I think that is probably the pervasive, articulation of who I am. And it really bumps me out, to be honest with you, because I'm more than that. You're more than the fun grows. I mean, we're all more than what meets the eye. I'm not perfect. I learn more every day. I've learned more in the last five years in Congress than I ever imagined possible, and I will continue to. I'm not telling you I have all the answers. And I just wish more people had humility. I wish leaders would acknowledge they don't know it all. And I wish we would lead with courage. The root of courage is literally the French word, la cour, the heart. I think it's time we get back to strong leaders, courageous leaders, being leaders of the heart. And that's who I am. And if people took the time to maybe get to know me a little bit, they might be surprised. I think I'm gonna end it right there. You know, I feel like you answered my questions, Dean. You made time in your busy schedule. You came here after talking to the Breakfast Club, Charlemagne, DJ Envy, you were just there. What a day. And it's a go. I mean, this is like a three-year. You're here at the legendary Dim Sum Palace, a great New Yorker. I didn't get to ask you a question. All right, what are some questions you gotta ask me? You're putting me in the hospital. If you had a magic wand, and you could change anything in this country right now, I got two questions. This is the first one. What would you change? I'm not the one running for president, man. If I had magic chopsticks, and I'm not supposed to be doing this with chopsticks badly, but for this exercise, flip it. If I had a magic chopsticks, and I could change one thing in America, like drastically, I would just say like, I wish people, I really think people are too divided and in their own echo shadows. I think when it comes back down to human-to-human interactions, and I know you've witnessed this on your own, people are a lot more cool than they are on the internet. I don't know if it's the Russian boss. I don't know if it's the, whatever bad actors are out there. I don't know if it's his fake accounts, but they're fueling social media. And one thing is, I'm on social media. My career has been made by social media. I love social media, but it's a dangerous tool that I do think we need to start looking at and being like, yo, there's need to somehow, we gotta filter it better. We gotta regulate it a little bit in some way because, yeah, I think it's starting to backfire on us. That's what we're doing. We're breaking bread, you know? Got to break it. What's your second question? Did I answer that? Yeah, I thought you answered that pretty well. It's a simple thing. It's really not that hard. It wasn't like magical. So now you asked me about my favorite dim sum. What's your favorite Jewish food? Oh my gosh. Well, I think there's a lot of, does the root, see, my favorite sandwich in the world is the root sandwich. Oh, the root sandwich. Now I think it was started by a Jewish guy, but it's not by nature. You think it was by nature? I think it was. I bet it was. Someone Google that. It was like North Dakota or something. Some weird place in Nebraska. I don't know. No, no, I'm serious. So, root and sandwich, if you count that, it's on rye bread that has a lot of Jewish elements, corned beef in it. I love latkes, potato pancakes. Those are great. And, I mean, anything at Cat's Deli. Oh, you're a Cat's fan, okay. All right, the root and sandwich. Everybody wanna hear this? The history of the root and? All right, by the way, you are reading that off Wikipedia. Can we trust Wikipedia for stuff like this? No, let's just be real. We're gonna trust Wikipedia. Yeah, we're gonna trust Wikipedia. It's a North American grilled sandwich. The place of origins of the United States. Possible origins. Ruben Kalovsky, a Lithuanian born grocer residing in Omaha, Nebraska, asked for a sandwich made of corned beef and sauerkraut at his weekly poker game at the Blackstone Hotel around 1920 to 1930. The participants nicknamed themselves the committee, including Charles Schimmel, who worked in the kitchen, his son did, and then he made the first Ruben adding Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing to his order and put the whole thing on rye bread. How about that? But you gotta grill the rye. That's one of my gripes about cats is that they don't grill or toast bread. And the last thing to let you all know, in Omaha, Nebraska, March 14th is proclaimed as Ruben Sandwich Day. We should all go to Omaha. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Omaha. You just, I didn't even know the origin of the Ruben and you knew. And I'm giving you a heart. It's my job. It's my job, D.E. All right, everybody, that wraps up our interview with Dean Phillips. You're running against Biden, New Hampshire, and if you're, if you usually, but only registered Democrats can vote for you first, right? Registered Democrats. Because they can only, registered Democrats can only vote in the primary for the Democrat. Or, and in most states, independence can as well. Most states, not all. But watch New Hampshire on January 23rd. Tell your friends and please go vote in primaries and if you wanna learn more, go to dean24.com, follow me on social media, give me a little love and watch what we can do. And literally, I'm gonna do a little test. Everybody watching right now, if you go do something online, watch what happens to this campaign right afterwards. You literally can move the needle. More than anybody I've ever seen. All right guys. Let's test it. That was Dean Phillips, self-proclaimed, pragmatic, progressive, common sense Democrat. A guy who's just stepping up, wanting to make a change, be a disruptor, do something interesting. I'm gonna pay close attention to what's going on with you. You're bold. You are not afraid to say things, especially your Instagram clips. I say, check them out and just see what you think about the guy. If you don't like them, if you like them, leave it in the comments down below. I wanna know what you think. And thank you so much for watching and thank you for having us on the Facebook. Hey.