By Mark Weyermuller –
Democrat Andrew Yang visited Chicago Thursday to make his pitch to become president of the United States. He did a live taping of the “The Ax Files with David Axelrod.” The event was attended by about 300 people, mostly students. It was held at Mandel Hall on the campus of the University of Chicago. Axelrod runs a group there called The Institute of Politics. Here is a clip from the show: https://youtu.be/9yHQWz-flZs
Andrew Yang made national news when asked about the impeachment of President Trump. He said he supported it but it was a mistake for the Democrats to pursue it. He later in the interview said he wanted to be the nominee against Donald Trump. With that he appears to show that he expects President Trump to remain in office through November 2020.
Later in the evening, Yang spoke at a rally at the Pavilion on the campus of the University of Illinois, Chicago. There is some irony here, as Donald Trump held a rally at this same location in March 2016 which was cancelled due to security concerns and violent protesters. There were no reports of any protesters yesterday at the two Yang events. Here is a clip from the Yang UIC rally: https://youtu.be/1GHrdc22LIc
Yang spoke about his idea of a “freedom dividend” of giving every American over 18 years old $1000 a month. He indicated it could be paid for by taxing tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook. He also talked about a value added tax (VAT) which is similar to a national sales tax. These are a little different yet basically more taxes and more money for the federal government to spend. Some might also say more redistribution of wealth or socialism. When he mentioned this, he got a huge ovation from the crowd. It appears giving away “free stuff” is very popular.
Many people in the crowd wore the MATH baseball caps which stands for Make America Think Again. This is a take off of the famous Donald Trump MAGA caps which stands for Make America Great Again. In some ways he is copying Trump’s style of being an outsider since he has never held elected office.
After the interview with Axelrod, Yang jumped off the stage to take shake hands and take selfies. I spoke to him briefly as he exited. After taking photos with the young student crowd, I asked him if he could take a photo with an old guy. He said “You are the vote I’m looking for.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’m a Trump supporter.
As an editorial footnote, I try to attend speakers and events from all sides. I wish more people in general would do this. There are just 59 days till the Iowa Caucus and 333 days till the general election on Tuesday November 3, 2020.
