PORTSMOUTH, NH – EXCLUSIVE: Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson says Biden and the president The Democratic Party establishment is “ridiculing” him and “trying to stifle his voice” as he runs for the White House for the second time in a row.
Williamson, a best-selling author and spiritual consultant who is the first Democrat to run against the president with a national following, insisted in a nationally exclusive interview with Fox News Digital that he hopes to debate Biden if he goes ahead as expected and launches one. 2024 re-election campaign.
But Williamson, referring to Biden officials and the Democratic National Committee, said: “I don’t think anybody is excited that the president wants to share the stage with me in any way, shape or form.”
Most Democratic Party leaders, from both the establishment and progressive wings, say they will support Biden if he seeks a second term, according to Williamson — who called for reparations and a Department of Peace during his unsuccessful 2020 Democratic campaign. presidential nomination – said the US is “on the wrong track” with Biden and it was “time to move on” from the 80-year-old president.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON FACES FIRST CHALLENGE IN BIDEN
Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson is greeted by New Hampshire Senate President Jeb Bradley at the Statehouse in Concord, NH on March 9, 2023. (New Hampshire State Senate)
On Saturday, he launched his 2024 campaign at an event held at Union Station in the nation’s capital.
Asked Monday if the president was upset about Williamson’s campaign launch, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre scoffed at the candidate, saying, “I don’t keep track of that. I mean, if I had … what was it called?” A little globe here – a crystal ball, I’d tell you then. A magic eight ball or whatever. If I could feel his aura.”
During his first year in the White House, Biden told his staff that anyone he saw treating a colleague with disrespect would be fired. Williamson told Fox News on Wednesday: “I wouldn’t say anybody should be fired, because I’m not going to try to fire anybody. But I think the president will notice that hypocrisy and say something respectful.”
BIDEN DRAWS FIRST DEMOCRATIC CHALLENGE IN 2024
“I think it would be very appropriate for the president to say that he respects the Constitution, that he respects the right of the people to run for office. I would like to hear that from the president,” he added.
According to public opinion polls, Biden is leagues ahead of Williamson. Asked if he thinks the president and his team and the Democratic Party are not taking his campaign seriously, he said: “I think it’s pretty fair to say they’re not taking me seriously. But more importantly, I’m trying to get them not to take me seriously. That means that they take me seriously on some level.”
But “that kind of mockery is on purpose. This is what they did to me last time: pretend to be a laughingstock so that no one will take seriously the idea of voting for them. They know what they’re doing.” that They are the talk of the Democratic Party establishment right now. But my hope is that people won’t buy as easily as they did last time.”
In the 2020 cycle, Williamson was an unconventional candidate who preached the politics of love. He emphasized “six pillars for a season of moral repair,” including economic justice. He proposed the creation of the Department of Children and Youth and the Department of the Peace, and promoted reparations for the descendants of African-American slaves. Among his unorthodox actions was holding a meditation session while campaigning in New Hampshire.
Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson leads a mediation in Manchester, New Hampshire on September 9, 2019
But Williamson struggled with fundraising and failed to qualify for most of the Democratic presidential debates. Days after firing most of his junior staff, he dropped out of the race in January 2020, before the primaries and caucuses began.
“I have the right to run. This is a democracy,” Williamson told Fox News. And pointing to the Democrats, he said: “how can a party claim to be a champion of democracy if something in its initial process is to suppress that democracy? A way of trying to suppress my voice.”
Williamson was interviewed hours after arriving in New Hampshire, kicking off five days of campaigning in the nation’s first former presidential primary state.
TIME MARIANNE WILLIAMSON LEAD A MEDITATION SESSION ON THE CAMPAIGN ROUTE
He says he will be spending a lot of time campaigning in New Hampshire going forward. Not surprisingly, if political strategists are going to be the primary challenger to Biden, New Hampshire seems to be the state where the action will take place.
New Hampshire, with its well-informed electorate and emphasis on small-scale retail politics, has had its first primary race for the White House in a century. While Republicans are not making any changes to their presidential candidate schedule in the 2024 election cycle, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted last month to approve a new top of the Biden-sponsored schedule that upends the traditional schedule.
New Hampshire will now vote second on the DNC schedule, along with Nevada, three days after South Carolina, under the new schedule.
But Granite State Democrats warn that New Hampshire will be the first – thanks to a long-standing state law that mandates first place – and that a DNC-sanctioned primary in which Biden is not participating could spell trouble. the president
President Joe Biden speaks at the Democratic National Committee’s Winter Meeting, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) (AP)
“Your primaries are going to happen on schedule. So whether the president is involved or not, it’s going to happen here,” Williamson said. “I’m here. And I think the people of New Hampshire have a habit of weighing in and you’re going to have a chance to see if the president is here or now. I hope he’s here and I hope he’s going to debate me, but we’ll see.”
But later in the interview he admitted that there was little chance of facing Biden in the debate stage.
Williamson is once again pushing an “agenda of fundamental economic reform”. “That’s not what the president is offering. What the president is offering is stress relief. What the president is offering is to do what we can here and there to make life easier for people in an unfair system.”
Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson campaigns in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on March 9, 2023. (Marianne Williamson Campaign)
The candidate advocates for universal health care, tuition-free college and tech schools, eliminating all college loan debt, a $15 hourly minimum wage, free childcare, and paid family and medical leave. “They are moderate positions in all other advanced democracies,” he said. “The American people have been trained to expect too little.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Biden criticized his performance in the White House, “when the president says ‘give me four more years to finish the job,’ what job? The things I’m complaining about are the things he was able to do in his first four years.”
And he vowed that “much more could be done and will be done if I am president.”
Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter based in New Hampshire.