
I was today years old when I found out about this guy.
But apparently, Andrew Yang is a thing. And he’s a thing running for president, joining like 34,526 other people.
The sourcelink describes him as the “Ross Perot for millennials.” He wants universal healthcare and free financial counseling for everyone. His priorities include things like paying college athletes, and a European style VAT tax. He also wants (get ready for this one) a “news and information ombudsman” – which would serve as basically a government fact checker who would issue fines against publishers for fake news. That’s not scary at all, right? I mean, just look at what Putin just did. Putin just signed legislation that issues fines to people who spread fake news or show “blatant disrespect” for the government. This is the logical conclusion of the kind of fact checking that Facebook and other media platforms are already engaging in, for example. Yesterday, they fact checked a freaking MEME we put up, and rated it false. IT WAS A MEME, you guys. Fast forward a few years? You’re looking at the Chicks going to jail for disagreeing with a Democrat president. Does it sound crazy? It shouldn’t. Because that is the path we’re on.
Andrew Yang wants a universal basic income of $1000 a month for everyone, only he calls it a “freedom dividend” because as we all know, liberals love renaming things for the lo-fos. Abortion? Nope – that’s “reproductive rights.” Taxes? Nope – that’s government revenues. It’s all bullsh*t.
According to The Week, Yang’s current base seems to be young dudes who are super social media savvy – and they call themselves the Yang Gang. Many of them, apparently, are conservatives, which blows my mind. He had a campaign-style event in San Francisco this past Friday, and three thousand people showed up to listen to him.
Yang is 44, he’s the son of Taiwanese immigrants, and is a tech entrepreneur. He’s reached the magic 65,000 donor threshold, which is amazing given that he’s unheard of in many circles. I mean, I consider myself fairly well plugged in, and only just found out he existed this morning.
But expect to hear more about this guy in the coming weeks. Because clearly we need more candidates.
Here’s Yang’s appearance on the Daily Show: