My latest in PJ Media was written just before Yang dropped out of the New York City mayoral race.
With all due respect to Kamala Harris and Howard Dean, it is Andrew Yang who holds the crown for the most awkward presidential campaign of the twenty-first century (so far). Or have you forgotten when he declared, “I’m the full service presidential candidate,” and gleefully squirted whipped cream into the mouths of kneeling supporters, until he was pulled away by a mortified aide? Yang is now running for mayor of New York, and he seems to have learned his lesson: asked Sunday what he thought about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Gaza) likening the U.S. and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban, Yang offered neither whipped cream nor a single word in response. Instead, he just turned and walked away. Ignoring this problem, however, will not make it go away for him.
Yang was caught in the dilemma of the modern Democratic Party. Ilhan Omar and her fellow to-the-Left-of-Mao-Zedong Squad members represent its base, far more than Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer ever did, and Yang knows that full well, as does every Democrat on the national scene today. Omar was expressing the general views of the party’s base when she tweeted: “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. I asked [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] where people are supposed to go for justice.”
The worst part of Omar’s statement was not that she lumped together forces that work hard to avoid civilian casualties with those that target civilians and glory in their deaths, but that so many online Leftists leapt to her defense in the ensuing furor and insisted that she was right.
In the face of that, what was Yang to do? He could have joined them and declared that Omar was indeed right, and that America is not great, was never great, and can never and will never be made great again. He could have echoed actor John Cusack, who is slightly to the Left of Joseph Stalin, and who recently tweeted: “We aren’t great – we aren’t even mediocre – we’re f**king awful.”
If Yang had done that, however, he would have alienated the dwindling number of Leftists who think that maybe America is not entirely evil, and that national suicide may not be the best policy. There may even be a handful of such people in New York City itself. He would also have drawn the ire of conservatives and patriots, who still exist in sufficient as-yet-uncanceled numbers to cause him some public discomfort if he had decided to become the successor of Gotham’s worst mayor by promising to be even worse still.
There is more. Read the rest here.
David M says
Andrew Yang wants to give all Americans $1000 a month universal basic income. I believe the relevant quote here is Margaret Thatchers: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
I’m guessing the Democrat left will go the way Islam went, with Sunni Muslims turning on Shia Muslims for not being Muslim enough. The far left will turn on the centre Democrats for not being radical enough.
Robert thinks Andrew Yang had the most awkward Presidential campaign, but I think Marianne Williamson had him beat in that race.
“Williamson described herself as a “pretty straight-line progressive democrat”. Her policy positions include $100 billion in reparations for slavery, a “Medicare for All model” for healthcare, a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants without a “serious criminal background”, establishing a “Department of Peace” to greatly expand the use of diplomacy and mediation, and support for the Green New Deal.”
I think Marianne confused the White House for a meditation & wellness headquarters.
Infidel says
True. Someone who held Jacinda Ardern as her role model definitely deserved to have her head examined
On the UBI proposal, to be fair to Yang, he did sit down w/ Ben Shapiro and explain how it would work in good detail, and also, the amount – $1000 wouldn’t be anything like what the stimulus payments that people are getting right now are, since they’d barely cover rent in certain places. Problem w/ his proposal is where he plans to source the money: he thinks that taxing Amazon is the way to do it. That for a company that wouldn’t have the remotest difficulty relocating to Aruba if that’s what they needed to do to go under his tax radar
abad says
The other problem is, this COVID-19 pandemic has turned maybe too many otherwise hard working people into being lazy, more and more companies are hiring now, but why bother working when you can get those “free” stimulus checks from the government. Granted, not everyone is privileged (and talented) enough to work from home like I do and not lose a penny in their paycheck…but things are getting back to normal, people are getting vaccinated, let’s try to get this great nation back on its feet.
gravenimage says
Does Andrew Yang Hate America Enough to Please the American Left?
……………
Clearly not…
wpm says
Now that Yang has lost the NYC democratic primary race for Mayor of NYC ,maybe President House Plant Biden can have his handlers find a job where he can screw up the government on a federal level. Maybe Putting him in charge of the IRS so they audit anyone who is register as a republican ,or just people who make large donations to Christian churches ? Or people who write “hateful” opinion pieces on line? Maybe anyone wearing a maga hat ?There seems to be alot of room for “Progressive” or I should say communist in Lying Biden,s government appointees. A Jihadist ,or an elected Moslem official has free rein to threaten violence promote terrorism here and aboard in their speeches with not one democratic official calling them to task ,or calling them anti-Semitic or anti-American.