Presidential candidate Andrew Yang told Bill Maher on Friday evening that embracing “identity politics” is a “very poor way” for Democrats to try to win national elections.
At a time when the party seems intent on doubling down on every single type of identity politics and embrace “salad bowl” politics and separatism, Yang said that, as the son of immigrants, he understands “the impulse behind identity politics.”
But he said that “Democrats have to know that identity politics is a very poor way to approach winning national elections, and it’s a very poor way to bring our country together.”
Clarence Thomas chokes up as he reveals promise he made after grandparents’ sudden deaths
Ex-counterterrorism chief advocates for Trump to ‘walk away from’ Iran war, yank troops out of Middle East
Trump says he will meet with Kim Jong Un ‘later this year’
US ally on Putin’s doorstep braces for war as Russia tensions take ominous turn
GoFundMe for Lindsay Clancy Family Skyrockets as Clancy’s Mom Reveals Her Daughter Begged to Sleep With Her at Night
New York grandmother vanishes in Las Vegas as family gets mysterious texts from her phone asking for Bitcoin
Watch: ESPN Botches On-Air Tribute to Network’s Founder on the Day of His Death
Zelensky’s fired defense minister mounts political challenge by demanding new elections
Alert: Trump Resurrects Keystone XL Pipeline in Cryptic Truth Social Post, Moments After Announcing Trade Deal With Canada
They’re Back: Another Socialist Scores Upset Dem Primary Victory in Critical Senate Race
The people trying to kill Trump are kooks, resistance maniacs, and Iranians: Byron York
Lindsay Clancy described a male voice ordering her to ‘kill her children and kill herself’: testimony
Police arrest 19-year-old for deadly Great Falls stabbing of woman
Turkey accuses Netanyahu of pursuing ‘expansionist’ policies after Israeli strike on Syrian airbase
California special interest groups follow Newsom into early 2028 primary states
“We have to enact solutions that will help all americans. And when Martin Luther King championed a guaranteed minimum income in the ’60s, which is almost exactly like my and freedom dividend, he didn’t do it for any subset of Americans. He did it for all Americans and that’s again how we move our country forward,” Yang said on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) started the 2020 discussion about “identity politics” when she claimed the term is used to “shut you up” about issues dealing with race, sexual orientation and religion.
Clarence Thomas chokes up as he reveals promise he made after grandparents’ sudden deaths
Ex-counterterrorism chief advocates for Trump to ‘walk away from’ Iran war, yank troops out of Middle East
Trump says he will meet with Kim Jong Un ‘later this year’
US ally on Putin’s doorstep braces for war as Russia tensions take ominous turn
GoFundMe for Lindsay Clancy Family Skyrockets as Clancy’s Mom Reveals Her Daughter Begged to Sleep With Her at Night
New York grandmother vanishes in Las Vegas as family gets mysterious texts from her phone asking for Bitcoin
Watch: ESPN Botches On-Air Tribute to Network’s Founder on the Day of His Death
Zelensky’s fired defense minister mounts political challenge by demanding new elections
Alert: Trump Resurrects Keystone XL Pipeline in Cryptic Truth Social Post, Moments After Announcing Trade Deal With Canada
They’re Back: Another Socialist Scores Upset Dem Primary Victory in Critical Senate Race
The people trying to kill Trump are kooks, resistance maniacs, and Iranians: Byron York
Lindsay Clancy described a male voice ordering her to ‘kill her children and kill herself’: testimony
Police arrest 19-year-old for deadly Great Falls stabbing of woman
Turkey accuses Netanyahu of pursuing ‘expansionist’ policies after Israeli strike on Syrian airbase
California special interest groups follow Newsom into early 2028 primary states
“This term identity politics, people will use that term— it’s like people used to talk about the race card. They bring this term up when you talk about issues that are about race, about sexual orientation, religion,” Harris said. “They bring it up when we are talking about civil rights issues as a way to marginalize the issue, as a way frankly to try to silence you or shut you up.”
Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in recent months has also urged Democrats to triple down on identity politics, saying that identity politics is the way to win for Democrats.
“The notion of identity politics has been peddled for the past 10 years and it’s been used as a dog whistle to say we shouldn’t pay too much attention to the voices coming into progress,” Abrams recently said. “I would argue that identity politics is exactly who we are and exactly how we won.”
Yang credited President Donald Trump for realizing how much working-class Americans were hurting and said Democrats need to stop “condescending” to regular Americans who do not live in so-called “super zips” and other well-to-do liberal enclaves that have disproportionately benefited from the high-tech economy.
“When I was growing up, the Democratic party was the party of the working class, the little guy or gal. We need to get back to that. I can’t tell you how much credit Donald Trump got just for calling out the pain that many of these communities are in,” Yang added. “And so if the Democratic party stops condescending and says, ‘look, we’re here to actually work on solving your problems,’ we can go very very far with many of the people who voted for Donald Trump.”
Story cited here.
