Who is that guy? Andrew Yang's presidential campaign draws crowds, money and an expected spot

[IronLionZion]

Who is that guy? Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign draws crowds, money and an expected spot on the Democratic debate stage.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/who-is-that-guy-andrew-yangs-presidential-campaign-draws-crowds-money-and-an-expected-spot-on-the-democratic-debate-stage/2019/05/09/c1bf788c-6c5e-11e9-8f44-e8d8bb1df986_story.html?utm_term=.2e8d104e1607



STUART, Iowa — Andrew Yang knows that most Americans have absolutely no idea who he is. Even before he makes his expected debut on the presidential debate stage next month, he has a good guess what viewers will be thinking when the camera shifts to him.

“‘Who the hell is that guy?’ ” said Yang, 44, speaking between stops during a recent campaign swing through Iowa.

He’s not wrong. A Taiwanese American entrepreneur, lawyer and philanthropist from New York who launched his long-shot bid for the presidency more than a year ago, Yang is barely a blip in most national polls, where his support ranks between 1 and 3 percent.

But Yang has become something of a below-the-radar phenomenon in the crowded field of candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination. Some candidates far better known than him have been struggling to catch fire on social media and are playing to smaller audiences; Yang has been packing in some of the largest crowds in the race — an estimated 3,000 in San Francisco; 2,000 in Los Angeles; and 2,500 in Seattle, where he paused the rally to point out a pair of bald eagles soaring overhead.

“It’s a sign!” Yang declared, as supporters broke into a chant of “USA! USA! USA!”

Our party is diverse not just in demographics, but in policy proposals. It's beneficial for our party to liberally explore and debate new ideas that may seem too radical now but could become policy when our party gains enough power in the future. Still the only candidate proposing universal basic income as more folks are left out of an evolving economy that would require less human labor. Workers may find that automation is a bigger threat than immigrants. Good luck building a wall against the invading caravan of robots coming for your jobs.

[Lucky Luciano]

1. Probably a little ahead of his time, but he is one to watch. nt

[paulkienitz]

2. regular politicians are utterly oblivious to the challenge of automation

I believe we are within one lifetime of a world in which it is pointless to treat a paying job as mandatory, because the world will be automated to the point that the majority of ordinary people will no longer have economically valuable skills. Yang is the only one running for office who is even acknowledges that changes like this could possibly ever be an issue.

The big myth of automation is that it only affects blue collar jobs. With AI, it's going to affect every job from customer service to CEO. Even the most privileged of executives are, unbeknownst to them, at risk of being replaced by machines. It behooves us to start thinking of a world in which all these smart machines are working for us, not for investment portfolios.

[PoliticAverse]

3. He's the "universal basic income" guy. That's what he will be known for in this campaign. n/t

[WeekiWater]

4. Horrible sales pitch.

“Workers may find that automation is a bigger threat than immigrants. ”