Yang officially breaks with Democratic Party
Source: Politico
Former presidential and New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang announced Monday he has changed his voter registration, making official his break with the Democratic party.
Ive been a Democrat my entire adult life, Yang wrote in a blog post explaining his decision. And yet, Im confident that no longer being a Democrat is the right thing.
Yang said he had first joined the Democratic party in the 1990s in support of President Bill Clintons reelection bid. Yang wrote that doing so was a no-brainer to me at the time but says that he felt it was something of an odd fit between me and the Democratic Party.
Breaking up with the Democratic Party feels like the right thing to do because I believe I can have a greater impact this way, he wrote. Am I right? Lets find out. Together.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/yang-officially-breaks-with-democratic-party/ar-AAP7N0h?li=BBnb7Kz
Meh
ashredux
(2,605 posts)Evolve Dammit
(16,725 posts)ashredux
(2,605 posts)Evolve Dammit
(16,725 posts)joetheman
(1,450 posts)knew better than to do this at this time. We can't seem to win big for cutting off our noses to bleed on our guts!
SayitAintSo
(2,207 posts)Brace yourselves midterms are going to be ugly ...
Moebym
(989 posts)Do they realize that this exodus has implications well beyond showing their displeasure with the Democratic Party?
Cha
(297,196 posts)the Big Picture.. and are NOT Selfish.
They know we could slide into Fascism without every Dem on Deck.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)He didn't win the Democratic presidential nomination.
He wasn't elected Mayor of NYC.
Now he's forming a new political party?
Where does he think the supporters will come from?
notinkansas
(1,096 posts)of this is terrible. Democrats can't afford fractures in the party at this time. The stakes are too high in the coming elections. He may as well declare himself a Republican. Don't know what he's thinking. He can't possibly believe this will give him an advantage in future elections. It will only siphon off Democratic votes, but it will never give him a win. Is this spite?
Rebl2
(13,498 posts)exactly. Sounds like spite to me!
William Seger
(10,778 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Harold Stassen was best known for being a perennial candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States,
seeking it nine times between 1944 and 1992
(1944, 1948, 1952, 1964, 1968, 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992).
He never won the Republican nomination, much less the presidency;
but continued to campaign actively and seriously for President until just a year before his death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Stassen#Presidential_politics_(1944%E2%80%931964)
The Mouth
(3,149 posts)Moebym
(989 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Doubt they'd leave the Greens.
Maybe the Libertarians, but I think they'd lean 'right', away from Yang.
Just regular old independents?
ancianita
(36,053 posts)LiberalFighter
(50,912 posts)It doesn't work that way. Time and time it has failed.
Only from the bottom will it succeed.
OneCrazyDiamond
(2,031 posts)brush
(53,776 posts)for a lower level than the highest offices in the land first...the presidency and for the mayor of New York.
Now start you third party, get secretly funded by republican entities which will help you siphon off votes from Dem candidates so republicans win.
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt that says "Jill Stein" for president.
DURHAM D
(32,609 posts)miss-nasty
(251 posts)Texin
(2,596 posts)As far as I could determine, Yang was a single issue candidate, i.e., guaranteed annual wage (which isn't a "wage" per se). Yeah, anyone with half a brain would love that, but how does he think this can be accomplished when there is such pushback from both the Democratic and GQP. Within the Democratic party, there is a stubborn so-called conservative wing, not to mention the likes of Manchin and Sinema, who defy political characterization. Where and who does he think he's going to make an impact? On eighteen year olds? Green Party? Puzzling and his little announcement is probably a bird call in the wilderness.
relayerbob
(6,544 posts)I think he's calling it the Birthday Party
LiberalFighter
(50,912 posts)relayerbob
(6,544 posts)Mike Nelson
(9,953 posts)... that's really bad timing! Sure, I wish there were more political options, like joining or forming new political parties... BUT the current state of politics in the USA demands otherwise.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Mr. Yang recounted the strangeness of running for president and how the experience had inflated his sense of his own importance.
Id been a C.E.O. and founder of a company, but
running for office was a different animal, he wrote.
He added:
It turns out that power actually gives you brain damage.
Mr. Yang has struggled to find his footing since skyrocketing to prominence during the 2020 race.
Mr. Yang, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2020 and for mayor of New York this year, said he could be more honest about politics if he were not a Democrat.
A bid for New York City mayor this spring ended in defeat, after Mr. Yang struggled to answer basic questions about the functions of city government.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/us/politics/andrew-yang-democrat.html
Sibelius Fan
(24,396 posts)about how a city government runs, right? 🤔🤔🤔
bucolic_frolic
(43,146 posts)having graduated from Exeter, Brown, and Columbia.
I'd really like for just one of these elites to experience balancing a family budget on $12 an hour, paying rent, fixing the 15 year old Toyota, buying a used computer, and painting their own residence.
Absent that, don't let the barn door whack you on the way out.
irisblue
(32,971 posts)He had several points I agreed with, but his apparent inability to learn from the fact that he needed some learning about governance in a pluralistic society.
comradebillyboy
(10,144 posts)awesomerwb1
(4,267 posts)BobTheSubgenius
(11,563 posts)....erstwhile Democrats as being positive in the slightest, at least in terms of elections. There are some, who shall remain nameless, that Democrats could do without "emotionally," so to speak, but math is inexorable and pitiless.
In the last Presidential election, Biden's margin of victory was right around 3% of the total of eligible voters, and slightly under 5% of votes actually cast.
This has been portrayed as a big win, and given the history of national elections, it is...kind of. But we all know what a shockingly small numerical swing can do, if those votes are scattered "strategically." The "70,000 Vote Paradigm" is certainly well enough known, and understood, to be a very powerful lesson in "every vote counts."
I don't want to hear "if only" again.
MarcA
(2,195 posts)Sad decision on his part, he could have been bringing more voters to Democrats.
FM123
(10,053 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)I fully expect him to start echoing the often-repeated smears that Democrats are "Coastal Elites" and "ideologically bankrupt" and "corrupt" and "no different that the GOP".
Just like those who spread those same lies, Yang will be NO FRIEND of Democrats. He's a danger and his goal is to divide and weaken and punish Democrats for "rejecting" him in all his glorious perfection. ~~ Sigh.
Same as it every was whenever an emotionally volatile and ego-driven politician is rejected by the Democratic voters. They all think they know better and rather than accepting reality and working within the system, the want to take-their-ball-and-go-home! Whaaa!
How long before Sarandon jumps on his bandwagon?
Moebym
(989 posts)This needs to be pointed out any time he utters the phrase.
His 15 minutes of fame as a presidential candidate and mayoral candidate, despite having very little relevant experience it knowledge as to how any level of government works, has truly gotten to his head.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)... and appears to be oblivious to the hypocrisy of it all.
Mickju
(1,803 posts)What a fool! And I used to like him.
PortTack
(32,762 posts)SKKY
(11,804 posts)There's a reason he wasn't the nominee. Not sure why he can't accept reality.
relayerbob
(6,544 posts)Moebym
(989 posts)Don't come begging to be let back in after your ego-fueled hot air balloon ride ends with you hitting a power line known as REALITY.
---
This goes for all of the people thinking of breaking with the Democratic Party over its perceived failures. By doing so, you are not punishing a political party, but you are undermining the only thing standing between us and a theocratic autocracy led by a vengeful demagogue. Trump's term was just a brief taste of what is to come if there are enough defectors to cost us the crucial '22 and '24 elections.
elleng
(130,895 posts)DownriverDem
(6,228 posts)not! I'm a proud member of the Democratic Party. That's how our country is structured. Join us to beat the repubs.
hay rick
(7,608 posts)In the current American political situation there are three live options: 1) the Democratic Party for those who want a democracy, however imperfect; 2) the Republican Party for those who are willing to join the enemies of democracy and the science-denying enemies of the human race; and 3) those who want to snipe from the sidelines. They are not willing to join and improve an imperfect Democratic Party. They don't want to get their hands dirty but don't seem to mind getting their fingers sticky.
C Moon
(12,213 posts)Oh brother.
I agree with someone above, this is about his ego. It's not about the well-being of the U.S.
relayerbob
(6,544 posts)DBoon
(22,363 posts)peoli
(3,111 posts)0rganism
(23,945 posts)and now his worthwhile ideas will gather dust and desiccate as Mr. Yang drowns in a flood of media hype and unneeded campaign donations
Cha
(297,196 posts)Now he's 3rd party Egotistical RF trash.
SouthernDem4ever
(6,617 posts)just when we need you the most.
Shanti Shanti Shanti
(12,047 posts)Steelrolled
(2,022 posts)I liked him a lot, but knew he didn't have a chance.
I hope he does good for the country in whatever path he follows.
lapfog_1
(29,199 posts)never an egg timer around when you need one.
Skittles
(153,160 posts)zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz