![]() ![]() Andrew Yang is in many ways a Third Way-style technocrat. Looking at the actual content of his policies, however, it’s hard to see why we should treat him differently than most other Democratic Party candidates. As The Outline wrote last month, “Yang’s praise for the main media format”-memes-“fueling his problematic base only fuels the racists’ fandom.” Still, for some, the nature of the attention he’s attracted raises serious questions about his candidacy. And Yang has made a point of talking to a wide range of media outlets, including an interview with The Root earlier this week. Yang denounced this sort of imagery in a statement to The Verge, and it’s possible that the average Yang fan doesn’t even know that these less-than-savory memes exist. It’s not all innocuous, though while researching this piece, this author spent enough time on 4chan to conclude that a large number of memes about him-either in favor or against-are highly toxic, perpetuating truly grim racist stereotypes that I won’t bother to describe here. Some of this support seems harmless, or even positive as Vox reported, a number of the Yang memes are quite wholesome, illustrating how former rabid Trump fans can be transformed into peaceful members of the Yang Gang. Support for the unlikely candidate has built through podcast appearances and irreverent memes. The Yang Gang is, to put it mildly, extremely online. Vox described Yang’s base as the “young, predominantly male, and, in their unique way, socially conservative audiences of people like Joe Rogan and Sam Harris.” The Verge highlighted the role of online communities like Reddit and 4chan in his growing popularity. The “Yang Gang” has no parallel with any other Democratic candidates. ![]() ![]() In the last few weeks, a slew of articles have come out detailing Yang’s support among far-right figures like Richard Spencer, along with a slew of fans on the alt-right or adjacent to it. So why has he received a groundswell of support from the alt-right? Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur whose most notable policy plank is a universal basic income of $1,000 a month, seems like an otherwise fairly staid candidate from the moderate wing of the party. In a field as crowded as the Democratic Party’s 2020 primary, it’s surprising that a candidate with little name recognition or political experience has already drawn so much controversy. If Andrew Yang’s fans are this excited about UBI, imagine how they’ll feel when they learn what socialism can do for them. ![]()
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