Andrew Yang is an American entrepreneur and politician who rose to national attention during the 2020 Presidential Democratic primary cycle. Born in upstate New York to Taiwanese immigrants, he started his career as a corporate attorney before moving on to the healthcare industry, taking over a small test preparation company called Manhattan Prep, and finally starting his own non-profit organization called Venture for America. Eventually, Yang filed with the FEC to run for President of the United States in 2017 despite having no prior political experience. Initially considered a long-shot candidate, Yang surged in popularity after several appearances on Internet podcasts, including some unconventional sources such as The Ben Shapiro Show and the Joe Rogan Experience. This attempt at creating a bipartisan coalition, in addition to his subsequent Memetic Mutation, caused Yang to shoot upwards in the polls and allowed him to meet the qualification criteria for every single Democratic Presidential Debate as of December 2019, eventually resulting in him being the only top-tier minority candidate to regularly appear on stage.note
Yang is known for his signature policy of Universal Basic Income, which he calls the "Freedom Dividend", a guaranteed one thousand dollars a month for every American over the age of eighteen. Initially seen as a fringe ideology at best, Yang has successfully made a decent argument for it over the course of his campaign, and the concept has now become a real policy talking point as opposed to a complete unknown. Although UBI is definitely his best-known policy position, numerous other notable policy ideas can be found on his website, including a healthcare program stated to be "in the spirit of Medicare for All" and a more moderate version of the Green New Deal proposed by progressive rivals like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. He also supports some more unique policies, such as eliminating the SAT and abolishing the penny as a unit of currency. Perhaps because of this, in addition to his Memetic status, he was one of the most popular candidates among Generation Z (the generation after the Millennials). On the foreign policy front, Yang is essentially a moderate Democrat, supporting a two-state solution to the Arab–Israeli Conflict with preference towards Israel, and the 2019 Hong Kong protests (the latter being another reason he is perhaps popular among America's youth).
On February 11, 2020, Yang suspended his campaign after failing to win any delegates in either Iowa or New Hampshire. Despite this, Yang's impact is notable for introducing the concept of Universal Basic Income to American mainstream politics at all, regardless of whether he is able to implement it right away. His popularity among young people rivals only Bernie Sanders, and it's clear that Yang's candidacy heralds a new era of American politics that will continue to have an impact long after the 2020 primary cycle is over. Initially declining to endorse any of the remaining candidates, stating that he is a big fan of seeing the democratic process play out naturally, Yang thew his support behind Joe Biden after the latter's decisive victory in the Michigan primary. On endorsing Biden, Yang said "The math says Joe is our prohibitive nominee. We need to bring the party together, we need to start working on defeating Donald Trump in the fall."
On February 19, 2020, Yang became a political commentator for CNN. On March 5, he announced that he is starting an organization called Humanity Forward which is meant to further the ideas of his campaign, in particular by aiding congressional candidates who support universal basic income, piloting his Freedom Dividend program in small towns, and starting a podcast in which he interviews like-minded people from celebrities to ordinary Americans. By that time, Yang was also rumored to be considering a run for mayor of New York City.
In March 2020, Yang decided to use his Humanity Forward project to give a universal basic income to people in need in the Bronx, whom he thought would be most adversely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. He has also given payments of $250 to struggling people who messaged Humanity Forward. He also launched a podcast called "Yang Speaks" at the end of that same month, which can be found on most podcasting platforms as well as here
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The rumors that Yang would enter the NYC mayoral race proved true, as he entered the crowded field for the Democratic nomination on January 13, 2021. After his unsuccessful run, he left the Democratic Party, becoming an independent.
On July 27, 2022, Yang was announced as co-chair of a new centrist political party, the Forward Party.
Tropes pertaining to Andrew Yang's appearances and portrayals in media
- Asian and Nerdy: As Yang himself says, he's an Asian man who likes math. He has described his favorite childhood activities as being Dungeons and Dragons and video games.
- Breakup Breakout: More like Dropout Breakout. After announcing the end of his campaign, he received more media coverage than he ever had while running. Shortly afterward he began working as an occasional commentator for CNN and started his Humanity Forward organization.
- Celebrity Endorsement: Yang received several, perhaps the most high-profile of whom were Elon Musk, Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino), Nicolas Cage and Dave Chappelle.
- Deadpan Snarker: Yang's jokes often fall under this label, though he has demonstrated that he is not averse to goofy humor as well.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Was never considered a 2020 frontrunner by any means, but was the preferred Democratic candidate for a non-negligible base of deeply committed supporters that includes quite a few people who are independents, libertarians or Republicans. That many of these supporters are still completely committed to him even after he dropped out (particularly with Yang dropping hints that he'll give it another shot in 2024) speaks to this.
- Everybody Hates Mathematics: Averted, he is fond enough of math that a blue hat with the word 'MATH' on it is one of his most recognizable supporter symbols.
- History Repeats: A previously little-known presidential candidate embracing ideas that are on the fringe of American society draws a surprisingly dedicated following largely made up of young people thanks in part to Memetic Mutation and a willingness to work outside the left-right dichotomy. This description (albeit differing on the specifics of those ideas) could easily apply both to Yang and to 2008 and 2012 Republican candidate Ron Paul.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Yang very strongly believes in "Human-Centered Capitalism", which he considers to be a free market that doesn't leave anyone behind.
- Insistent Terminology: It's rare for him to refer to his UBI program as anything other than the 'Freedom Dividend.' He chose the term because it polled the best amongst conservatives (left-leaning people generally reacted positively no matter what it was called).
- Jack of All Trades: As mentioned above, he has been a lawyer, a healthcare industry worker, the CEO of a small company, the head of a nonprofit, a politician, and most recently a political commentator.
- Job-Stealing Robot: One of the reasons he supports UBI is because he feels that automation has replaced many uneducated American workers, and that a value-added tax on machine owners is necessary to ensure that people whose jobs have been replaced by Automation are compensated. He believes President Trump was able to win by redirecting anger at this job loss towards immigrants, which may or may not be true.
- Memetic Mutation: He's been described as "the Internet's favorite candidate."
- No Social Skills: His early appearances and speeches were generally marked by a purely fact-based focus, a robotic, unemotional tone, and some ill-advised profanity. Yang worked on this substantially in the following months.
- Pursue the Dream Job: A complete unknown, with no previous political experience, attempting to get the most important job in the country certainly qualifies as this.
- The Smart Guy: Regarded as this by his supporters. The Freedom Dividend has roots in Yang's own assessment of the issues of automation involving quite a bit of data analysis and math.
