2020: Andrew Yang is the Democratic nominee

[Blow by blow, the passion dies]

You choose the running mate

[Adjective-Statement]

President Donald Trump (R-FL) / Vice President Mike Pence (R-IN) ✓
Businessman Andrew Yang (D-NY) / Fmr. National Security Advisor Susan Rice (D-DC)

Yang takes off early in the primaries with the UBI concept getting more positive media attention, and establishment candidates coalesce behind him before Super Tuesday as they did behind Biden to stop Sanders. Yang then chokes at the debates, UBI gets a lot more scrutiny, and both his ideas and race get smeared in tandem with the anti-Chinese sentiment that peaked in 2020. His VP pick might aim for government experience over coalition-building, like Obama with Biden, which may hurt the ticket in such a close race. His suggestible, moderate, technocratic approaches to police brutality (a proposal for a Police Misconduct Division in the Department Of Justice) and COVID lockdowns sell well enough, but his positions on the environment are particularly damning in Pennsylvania. All in all, not enough Democrats coalesce behind him for a win. As with Warren, I see him actually getting a lot more scrutiny from progressives than Biden for claiming to be a solutions candidate, while many liberals would still be uncomfortable with his big government solutions designed to save liberalism. He would bleed POC voters about as much as Biden, IMO, except Chinese-Americans. Still a lot closer than some users will guess either way.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

Yang would win in a landslide. He had an unmatched ability to appeal to everyone from progressives to centrists to conservatives to libertarians to populist right-wingers. He comes off as friendly but also an ideas man. Democrats lost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by not nominating him.

[NewYorkExpress]

I think Yang would win back a lot of 2016 Trump Democrats from Trump, but lose a lot of Progressives to Howie Hawkins. We'd get a very odd map as a result.


Yang, like pretty much all of the other male candidates, picks a female running mate (and probably picks Harris).

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

I think Yang would win back a lot of 2016 Trump Democrats from Trump, but lose a lot of Progressives to Howie Hawkins. We'd get a very odd map as a result.


Yang, like pretty much all of the other male candidates, picks a female running mate (and probably picks Harris).

I mean Yang is more progressive than Biden on literally every issue, and Biden won most progressives. And prior to his failure of a mayoral run and Biden, Yang was viewed as a leftie and was liked by a lot of Bernie supporters.

[Adjective-Statement]

I mean Yang is more progressive than Biden on literally every issue, and Biden won most progressives. And prior to his failure of a mayoral run and Biden, Yang was viewed as a leftie and was liked by a lot of Bernie supporters.

Not really, there's a lot of criticism for UBI in particular on the left- it was proposed as a replacement for the more equitable social welfare programs, and before that, you're already losing actual leftists for being a capitalist reformist. Yang's technocracy was very much a creature of the right-libertarian world, and the alt-right ironically (4chan wasn't actually serious about NEETbux).

Not every anti-establishmentarian will win over other anti-establishmentarians. As kindly as possible, the ideology in your bio doesn't exist and falls apart with a moment's thought.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

I mean Yang is more progressive than Biden on literally every issue, and Biden won most progressives. And prior to his failure of a mayoral run and Biden, Yang was viewed as a leftie and was liked by a lot of Bernie supporters.

Not really, there's a lot of criticism for UBI in particular on the left- it was proposed as a replacement for the more equitable social welfare programs, and before that, you're already losing actual leftists for being a capitalist reformist. Yang's technocracy was very much a creature of the right-libertarian world, and the alt-right ironically (4chan wasn't actually serious about NEETbux).

Not every anti-establishmentarian will win over other anti-establishmentarians. As kindly as possible, the ideology in your bio doesn't exist and falls apart with a moment's thought.

Even if there was some criticism in online lefty circles about UBI, Yang was generally popular with leftists in the primary and had the biggest crossover support with Sanders out of anyone apart from Warren.
And like I said, Biden had more criticism from the left than anyone else did and most progressives voted for him. There is much more reason for progressives to abandon Biden for the multitudes of anti-progressive and "nothing will fundamentally change" comments than concerns about technocracy.
Why would a "capitalist reformist" lose way more progressive votes than someone viewed as centre-right by leftists?

[Adjective-Statement]

I mean Yang is more progressive than Biden on literally every issue, and Biden won most progressives. And prior to his failure of a mayoral run and Biden, Yang was viewed as a leftie and was liked by a lot of Bernie supporters.

Not really, there's a lot of criticism for UBI in particular on the left- it was proposed as a replacement for the more equitable social welfare programs, and before that, you're already losing actual leftists for being a capitalist reformist. Yang's technocracy was very much a creature of the right-libertarian world, and the alt-right ironically (4chan wasn't actually serious about NEETbux).

Not every anti-establishmentarian will win over other anti-establishmentarians. As kindly as possible, the ideology in your bio doesn't exist and falls apart with a moment's thought.

Even if there was some criticism in online lefty circles about UBI, Yang was generally popular with leftists in the primary and had the biggest crossover support with Sanders out of anyone apart from Warren.
And like I said, Biden had more criticism from the left than anyone else did and most progressives voted for him. There is much more reason for progressives to abandon Biden for the multitudes of anti-progressive and "nothing will fundamentally change" comments than concerns about technocracy.
Why would a "capitalist reformist" lose way more progressive votes than someone viewed as centre-right by leftists?

A capitalist reformer, no air quotations because that describes Yang's approach, is the same as a status quo liberal to a leftist because neither will transfer the means of production belong to the workers that use them. And at that, his credentials as a reformer are often questioned- a monthly check of the same dollar amount to everyone while gutting welfare isn't just a band-aid on a broken system, it's equivalent to proposing a regressive tax. The leftists and progressives that voted Biden did so on the assumption that they would be able to "bully Biden" within the party into passing their legislation. The same can't be said for a candidate who already has solutions in mind, rather than one that denies systemic crises exist like Biden. At best, Yang gets some of those and those that voted for a lesser evil, but not more than Biden.

Can you share some of these "lefty circles"?

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

I mean Yang is more progressive than Biden on literally every issue, and Biden won most progressives. And prior to his failure of a mayoral run and Biden, Yang was viewed as a leftie and was liked by a lot of Bernie supporters.

Not really, there's a lot of criticism for UBI in particular on the left- it was proposed as a replacement for the more equitable social welfare programs, and before that, you're already losing actual leftists for being a capitalist reformist. Yang's technocracy was very much a creature of the right-libertarian world, and the alt-right ironically (4chan wasn't actually serious about NEETbux).

Not every anti-establishmentarian will win over other anti-establishmentarians. As kindly as possible, the ideology in your bio doesn't exist and falls apart with a moment's thought.

Even if there was some criticism in online lefty circles about UBI, Yang was generally popular with leftists in the primary and had the biggest crossover support with Sanders out of anyone apart from Warren.
And like I said, Biden had more criticism from the left than anyone else did and most progressives voted for him. There is much more reason for progressives to abandon Biden for the multitudes of anti-progressive and "nothing will fundamentally change" comments than concerns about technocracy.
Why would a "capitalist reformist" lose way more progressive votes than someone viewed as centre-right by leftists?

A capitalist reformer, no air quotations because that describes Yang's approach, is the same as a status quo liberal to a leftist because neither will transfer the means of production belong to the workers that use them. And at that, his credentials as a reformer are often questioned- a monthly check of the same dollar amount to everyone while gutting welfare isn't just a band-aid on a broken system, it's equivalent to proposing a regressive tax. The leftists and progressives that voted Biden did so on the assumption that they would be able to "bully Biden" within the party into passing their legislation. The same can't be said for a candidate who already has solutions in mind, rather than one that denies systemic crises exist like Biden. At best, Yang gets some of those and those that voted for a lesser evil, but not more than Biden.

Can you share some of these "lefty circles"?

Yang was viewed positively by pro-Bernie reddit and twitter (not hard leftist twitter but general leftist twitter). And like I said I can't imagine any leftists voting for Biden but refusing to vote for Yang.
I'm not defending Yang or saying he's a leftist, I'm just saying he's more palatable to leftists than Biden is.

[Adjective-Statement]

Yang was viewed positively by pro-Bernie reddit and twitter (not hard leftist twitter but general leftist twitter). And like I said I can't imagine any leftists voting for Biden but refusing to vote for Yang.
I'm not defending Yang or saying he's a leftist, I'm just saying he's more palatable to leftists than Biden is.

Neither is, but to the left, Biden was the devil they knew and one that could more easily be pushed around. Actually, for an actual concrete example, look at how progressives came out strongly against Yang in the NYC mayoral race.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

Yang was viewed positively by pro-Bernie reddit and twitter (not hard leftist twitter but general leftist twitter). And like I said I can't imagine any leftists voting for Biden but refusing to vote for Yang.
I'm not defending Yang or saying he's a leftist, I'm just saying he's more palatable to leftists than Biden is.

Neither is, but to the left, Biden was the devil they knew and one that could more easily be pushed around. Actually, for an actual concrete example, look at how progressives came out strongly against Yang in the NYC mayoral race.

Like I said earlier, in the NYC mayoral race Yang shifted his rhetoric extremely to the centre and abandoned the appearance of being progressive.

[Adjective-Statement]

Yang was viewed positively by pro-Bernie reddit and twitter (not hard leftist twitter but general leftist twitter). And like I said I can't imagine any leftists voting for Biden but refusing to vote for Yang.
I'm not defending Yang or saying he's a leftist, I'm just saying he's more palatable to leftists than Biden is.

Neither is, but to the left, Biden was the devil they knew and one that could more easily be pushed around. Actually, for an actual concrete example, look at how progressives came out strongly against Yang in the NYC mayoral race.

Like I said earlier, in the NYC mayoral race Yang shifted his rhetoric extremely to the centre and abandoned the appearance of being progressive.

In what way?