Steve Phillips

NYT best-selling author. Columnist: @guardianus & @thenation. Host: @DemocracyColor pod. Author of, “How We Win the Civil War,” out now!

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

My new book “How We Win the Civil War” will be out in less than a month!

My team & I put together this trailer to explain why I wrote this book & why its messages are so important to this moment in history.

Check it out & pre-order your copy! #HowWeWin https://t.co/vk4ozpkdeS

[Cheyenne Hunt @CheyenneHuntCA]

It's becoming clear that the manosphere doesn't understand how journalism or the legal system works on a fundamental level. These women provided corroborating evidence strong enough to overcome the legal review at major publications, which could have been sued for printing unsubstantiated claims. If Platner truly believed these claims to be defamatory, he could have sent cease-and-desist letters or sued 1) me 2) the outlets or 3) the women. None of that has happened. If you're upset that we're back in a world where we fight for women and refuse to elect predators, you're going to have to get used to it because we're just getting started.

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

@CheyenneHuntCA is a hero who deserves the thanks of a grateful nation. The work she is doing with Reckoning Action is extraordinary and extraordinarily important.

[Cheyenne Hunt @CheyenneHuntCA]

Our statement on Graham Platner finally dropping out:

[Sam Weinberg @SamJWeinberg]

Resigning from the Maine Democratic Party but not the Platner campaign is crazyyyyyy

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

Putting this here to make it easier for @matthewstoller to apologize when he comes to his senses. The number of “progressive“ men losing their minds over Platner and throwing around words like “political attack” in response to a woman saying she was raped is . . . disappointing.

[Matt Stoller @matthewstoller]

Since lots of gossips are now gunning for me, I'm redoing this thread. It's clear something messed up happened in Platner's relationships, and he hasn't hidden that. But there's a big difference between 'normal people in bad relationships who hate each other' and 'crime.'

So let's be adults. This is a political attack.

Top Maine Democratic Party donors in recent years are Reid Hoffman, Haim Saban, and David Ellison. David Ellison! As in the Trump ally who fired Stephen Colbert and is taking over TikTok, CBS News, and CNN. These names should mean something. Saban may be the single most important AIPAC donor in the Democratic Party.

Another big donor to the Maine Democratic Party is the founder of Zynga, Marc Pincus, who said in 2024 that "an attack on Amazon is an attack on America." It goes beyond big tech and Wall Street. Crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried’s partner Nishad Singh at FTX gave $100k to the Maine Democratic Party in 2022.

The insiders running the party are the people funded through these streams of revenue, they are the ones dealing with the donors and currying favor with them. And while I will not speak out of school, the Maine Democratic establishment simply cannot be trusted and that is well-known.

Platner may be a fatally weakened candidate, that is for others to decide. It's a wave year in a blue state, but I get that Susan Collins is a strong incumbent. Winning this Senate seat matters, so I get why people might see value in ditching him. I generally think that polls and electoral guesses are mechanisms to get ordinary voters to focus on anything but policy. It's a disciplining mechanism, since no one can tell the future. But it's not crazy to see Platner as a poor candidate.

Let's be clear, the goal of pushing Platner aside is to destroy the agenda on which he was elected, which is about taming oligarchy and reorienting us from endless war. That is why the Maine Democrats aren't saying 'let's respect Platner voters and transition to someone else,' they are taking a sanctimonious 'he gets NO say in ANYTHING.' Those are not the actions of people who want to win a Senate seat, those are the actions of nasty insiders claiming factional power for themselves.

If Platner steps down, he will be characterized as a deviant, and that's just how it'll be forever. True or not. And everyone will be tarred as supportive of immoral behavior. It doesn't matter if you are a liberal, centrist, young, old, whatever. People are saying the Bulwark, a centrist outlet started by ex-Republicans who were skeptical of Platner, are tarred by this. Punchbowl is reporting that Senate progressives will never have credibility going forward. The ploy here is obvious.

That is, even though the actual immoral behavior at issue here is the genocide in Gaza, the corruption of DOGE and Musk, and the neoliberal turn in American politics for 40 years that has destroyed our faith in society and each other.

Platner has been consistent about his platform, and there's no reason to assume that will change. 70% of Maine Democrats picked him as their candidate, and he has the right to represent their views. So he should stay in the race or, if he feels he cannot win, leave on terms that will ensure his platform, and not that of Maine Dem Party oligarch donors, is the one on the ballot in November. The Maine Dem establishment cannot be trusted.

And frankly, this kind of ugly scenario is how power works. They make ordinary people pick among ugly scenarios, and then they make it seem like the obvious path is the one that accords more power and wealth to oligarchs. And if you don't choose that one, you're a bad person who deserves approbation and scorn. That's why I had to delete the original thread and rewrite it, because endless numbers of reporter gossips - who don't report on government policy - are using this extremely obvious ratfucking to try and destroy people like me telling you the truth.

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

This is not going to age well

[Cenk Uygur @cenkuygur]

This is what I know for sure about Platner - every legacy media outlet is trying their hardest to make sure he loses. They are investigating every minute and every facet of his life. They never do this for insiders. They despise outsiders who challenge power.

The minute a candidate says he's not going to listen to the donors, especially AIPAC, he is set upon 24/7 by people posing as reporters. They are the attack dogs of the wealthy and powerful people who run this country - and they hate it when their orders are not follwoed.

So, no, I don't believe any mainstream media story. I think they are agents of propganda and not real news. And to my knowledge, they haven't investigated a single component of Susan Collins very long and very corrupt life. Because that's precisely the type of corruption that national media loves and wants you to think is normal.

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

As MLK said, there comes a time when silence is betrayal. It's time for us all to speak up, support the survivors in Maine and call on Graham Platner to withdraw from the race. My latest in @thenation

[The Nation @thenation]

The credible allegations against Graham Platner mean he must go, argues Steve Phillips. We can defeat Susan Collins without telling another generation of women that their pain is an acceptable price for power. https://t.co/FUAPUx9W1x

[Ro Khanna @RoKhanna]

I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line. These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

A humble suggestion to journalists. Frame your coverage w/the following facts:

•CA billionaires tax is a one-time 5% tax on their wealth;

•S&P 500 was up 17.88% in 2025

•Meaning most investors got 18% richer

•Is getting “just” 13% richer for 1 yr enough to make u move?

[Teddy Schleifer @teddyschleifer]

Reid Hoffman says "I personally know 15 people who have moved" from California because of the billionaires tax.

Newsom says he himself is "at 12."

Hoffman calls the billionaires tax proposal a "disaster."

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

Happy to answer any questions anyone has. I’m an employment lawyer and am informed by that experience and background.

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

There’s some confusion abt our efforts to educate voters abt @fionama’s conduct that resulted in $350k taxpayer-funded settlement of sexual harassment lawsuit. Swalwell withdrew after credible allegations. If u want Fiona Facts & news clips, go here https://t.co/E6qRG24SKs

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

@stevenmaviglio @MichaelDTubbs @fionama @sfchronicle “Ad hominem” [autocorrect]

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

@stevenmaviglio @MichaelDTubbs @fionama As hominem attacks aren’t very persuasive. Ma’s sexual harassment settlement — paid for by the taxpayers — is one of largest public settlements by a CA constitutional officer EVER. If facts are of interest, the @sfchronicle breaks it down

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

@stevenmaviglio @MichaelDTubbs @fionama Incorrect. And highlights need for the voters — and tweeters — to be informed. As an employment lawyer I know this realm. Sexual harassment claim was NOT dropped and judge allowed to go to trial. Evidence was so strong Ma forced CA to pay $350k to settle. THEN claim dismissed

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

@teddyschleifer If any CA major donors are disillusioned by our leaders, want to get behind an inspiring candidate we can be proud of, and want to make a smart, long-term (and big) investment, call me
https://t.co/dNskQmYUrJ

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

@staceyabrams is back on the pod!

She joined us to discuss her latest initiatives, why DEI is in our country's DNA, and what she would change first if she was in charge of Dems' political strategy.

As always, I'm grateful & inspired by all she's doing!

[Texas Tribune @TexasTribune]

New: U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett has a double-digit lead over state Rep. James Talarico in the final days of Texas’ Senate Democratic primary, according to a new poll released Wednesday. https://t.co/ZfQMOBVhG0

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

After weeks of Talarico’s SuperPac hammering Crockett, it looks like the PAC backing Jasmine is now leveling the playing field

https://t.co/9yobhPlJT1 via @YouTube

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

When confronting racial inequality, too often those benefiting from inequality (even in WH) think they are the real victims.

@nytimes WH correspondent Erica Green joins us to talk race, power, and why truth-telling journalism matters right now.

https://t.co/OaEFMYHSUg

[Steve Phillips @StevePtweets]

Oh look. Just days after @rolandsmartin and I discussed the deep flaws in the outlier Emerson poll, here comes a @HITStrat poll TWICE AS BIG as Emerson showing Crockett leading 46-33. In line with Every. Other. Poll.
https://t.co/w8EHmiWN7P