He admitted it must seem far-fetched. In fact, John Phillips kiddingly said he may need to “blow into a breathalyzer, take a drug test and get psychologically evaluated.”
But the CNN commentator attempted to make a serious argument that “radical congresswoman” Maxine Waters could be the Democratic nominee for president in 2020, in an opinion piece published Wednesday in the Orange County Register and L.A. Daily News.
Check out my column in today’s @ladailynews & @ocregister: LA Daily News; Could Democrats Nominate Maxine Waters for President (Answer: Yes) https://t.co/SBfJqJq17R
— John Phillips (@Johnnydontlike) July 12, 2018
Acknowledging that flew in the face of conventional wisdom, Phillips asked how Democrats could nominate a politician “who was just called ‘un-American’ by the leadership of her own party for encouraging viral confrontations with Trump administration officials?”
“It’s easy,” he asserted. The Southern California lawmaker could be a genuine contender because she is the de-facto leader of the resistance against President Trump. Or, as Phillips put it: “Mad Max is the only one dancing to the beat of the ‘Resistance,’ and her album is about to go platinum.”
Phillips even used the example of Trump, of all people, as evidence of Waters’ viability as the future leader of the Democratic party.
The CNN pundit noted that Trump’s “salty language” and his “challenging Republican orthodoxies” did not matter. What mattered was “he understood the mood and frustrations of the electorate better than anyone in the race.”
Phillips portrayed Waters as having her finger on the pulse of her own party in the same way as did candidate Trump when he rose from long-shot in a crowded field to capture the GOP nomination for president.
The commentator noted how Trump did not need “overpaid consultants” to recognize Americans’ fury over illegal immigration and bad trade deals. “He just knew it.”
Similarly, Phillips observed, “I challenge you to find a politician or media personality who has better expressed the anger, frustration and rage of the ‘Resistance’ better than Maxine Waters.”
Because of that, he disdainfully dismissed the viability of such possible contenders as Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton.
“Nope, the woman who is the biggest rock star with liberals right now is Auntie Maxine,” Phillips concluded.