Andrew Yang for President

Humanity First. $1,000/month for all.

The Joe Rogan Experience

by

Thanks for the support—we appreciate it a great deal!

I just got back from LA where I was on the Joe Rogan Experience.  Joe hosts one of the most popular podcasts in America.  We landed in LA on Monday and went to his studio on Tuesday.

Joe’s studio is very impressive.  It has a full gym, a flotation sensory deprivation tank, a couple of cars, a life-size werewolf, a mixed martial arts facility, and tons of art and memorabilia.  I called it a “man-hangar.”

Andrew Yang discusses his presidential run and UBI on the Joe Rogan Experience

Joe and I sat down for a nearly two-hour conversation.  We discussed many of the main ideas of the campaign, including automation’s effect on the economy and Universal Basic Income.  You can see the whole thing here.  At the end, it was hard to believe that it had been almost two hours.  Afterwards, he said to me, “You could go really far because you don’t seem like a politician.”

Andrew Yang and Joe Rogan stand together after their conversation

Since then, our conversation has already been viewed almost one million times on YouTube.  We’ve gotten thousands of new supporters and received tens of thousands in new donations.  One friend of mine joked that there will be a “BR (Before Rogan)” and “AR (After Rogan)” phase of the campaign.  He’s likely right.

It’s not just Joe.  Time, CBS, and Fox all ran stories on the campaign this past week.  The Daily Show segment and an Esquire profile are upcoming, and I’m scheduled to appear on Neil Cavuto’s Fox News show this Friday at 4 p.m.  We have another half-dozen press requests on the way as well.

People are waking up to this campaign in a big way.  We are only going to grow from here.  Thank you for making it possible.

Wednesday morning, something unusual happened to me that I think is relevant.  I was standing on the curb in Santa Monica, waiting for my car to the airport.  Suddenly, a homeless guy in his mid-50s ran across the street full speed and shoved me. He yelled, “Don’t you say that to me!” I was obviously startled.  By the time I reacted, he had run back across the street yelling.  People on the other sidewalk were giving him a wide berth.  Those on my side of the street looked at me, and I gave them a thumbs up to indicate I was okay.

My car got there a minute later and I got in.  I reflected on the homeless guy in LA—he seemed like he had mental health problems.  What could be done to help him?

One of the things my wife loves about Universal Basic Income is that it would create an incentive to help the indigent.  Everyone becomes a potential dividend recipient—so an organization that helps a homeless man get back on his feet would have an economic incentive to do so.  Though we all have intrinsic worth as human beings, you know that orgs and businesses would react differently if each person had $1,000 a month in income coming to them.

The Freedom Dividend wouldn’t solve everything of course—the guy who shoved me would still have problems.  The human condition is not easy.  But $1,000/month might make things a little easier for all of us, and make it a little easier for those who want to help others.  It might help keep more of us functional.

I have a couple days in New York with my family before heading to Washington, D.C., this weekend for some meetings and press.  We’re holding a public rally in Baltimore on Monday and speaking at Georgetown University on Tuesday.  Our path ahead just gets better and better.

I’d been looking forward to sitting down with Joe for quite some time.  I’m happy to say the experience was even better than I’d hoped.  It felt like history in the making.

Let’s make it count.

Andrew Yang's signature

-Andrew

Our First National Poll

by

Hello and thank you for your support!

I am writing this from New Hampshire where I have been campaigning the last few days.  I spoke at Phillips Exeter Academy—where I went to high school—this morning.  You can read the full text of my speech here.

Andrew Yang on stage shaking hands with a student after Assembly at Exeter, with other students in the audience

This week started with some huge news—I am polling nationally!  On Monday, Monmouth University came out with a national poll that included me.  I showed up as the top choice of 1% of voters—I was tied with Kirsten Gillibrand and Julian Castro.

This is a big deal—national polls are going to be one of the key determinants of whether I make the Democratic primary debates in June.  The fact that we are at 1% nationally at this stage means that I have a great chance of making the debate in 4 months.

Support will only grow as more people find out about my campaign.  I filmed a Daily Show segment this week that will air in a few weeks. I will be on the Joe Rogan Experience on Tuesday the 12th at 3 p.m. EST.  NBC, Esquire, and others are preparing pieces on me.

None of this would be possible without you all supporting this campaign.  Thank you.

The other big news from this week has been the reception in New Hampshire.  I met with the vice chair of the Democratic Party here and had 8 house parties and meet-and-greets around the state.

The enthusiasm was palpable.  Among the things I’ve heard here:

“There’s a lot of buzz around you in the state.  Two different people told me I needed to come see you speak.”  

“You can compete here.” 

“We’ve needed a visionary like you for a long time.”  From a senior Democratic official.

“You’re the only candidate I’m excited about.”  

“I went to summer camp with you!”  (It’s true, she did)

You can tell when you speak somewhere whether they are truly jazzed about you.  The rate at which people have been signing up to volunteer for the campaign in New Hampshire is sky-high.

I’ve learned some new things, too.  Today, I met a group of union workers in the construction industry.  I was curious whether they’ve seen technology impact their industry.  They all said something similar to, “Oh yeah.  Technology is constantly changing our job.”

Andrew Yang stands with a number of union workers in front of their sign

Mike, a metalworker, told me, “It used to take 5–8 guys a whole day to bend rebar to reinforce a bridge.  Now, they bring in a robot to do it in one night.  They talk about it like it’s helping us, but that means less work for us.”  They are organizing a bigger event for me.

The people in New Hampshire can see what’s going on around them.

I can see the path ahead taking shape.  Let’s do the work and take advantage of this opportunity.  Together we can change the course of history.

I’m popping up in national polls—and they haven’t seen anything yet.

Andrew Yang signature

-Andrew

Andrew Yang Keynote at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire (Full Text)

by

yang_cleveland_006.jpg

Speaking at his alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy, Presidential Candidate Yang discusses his time in high school, how the school helped his career as an entrepreneur, and how he made the decision to run for President.

Exeter, New Hampshire; February 8th, 2019: Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang will deliver a keynote address to the student body of his alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy, today at 9:50 AM EST. He will also take questions about his presidential run, the future of work and his plan for a Universal Basic Income of $1,000 per month for all American adults.

The full text of his formal speech can be found below.

Complete media kit is available here. For media inquiries, please contact press@yang2020.com.

Text from Andrew’s Speech:

Hello everyone.  It’s a privilege and an honor to be back here at Phillips Exeter.  This place shaped me in fundamental ways.  I learned so much here.  I can honestly say I would never be running for President if not for my time at Exeter. 

That said, I didn’t really enjoy my time here.  This is my first time back in 27 years.  

Most of that was on me.  I arrived here as an Upper and you all know that’s a difficult transition.  I didn’t really fit in.  There was, however, something here that may still be true today.  This place was very competitive.  And we somehow knew things about each other that we’re going to determine where we went to school. “This kid has quadruple legacy to Harvard.  That guy’s family literally built Brown University. That guy has a set of restaurant guides named after his family.  That guy was going to get an athletic scholarship to Yale.”  The subtext was always that our value and stature was going to be determined by where we got into college.  

I did well here.  I got into Stanford and Brown and decided to go to Brown. That too was a minor source of controversy.  People here were like, “Stanford is better than Brown.  Why would you go to Brown?”  I visited Stanford and thought it was too nice a place to go to school. Their acceptance brochure had been a picture of a football crowd saying “Yes Stanford!” and I didn’t like football. But I mainly went to Brown because my brother was going to school nearby at Wesleyan.  

Brown allowed me to grow up. I felt things very strongly throughout my adolescence, probably one reason I didn’t enjoy it here.  I had a serious college relationship that, when it ended I took it hard.  But it helped me mature.  I was pretty depressed and Brown let me get away with that.  

After Brown, I still didn’t know what to do.  So I went to law school.  I spent 5 months as an unhappy lawyer at Davis Polk.  And I said, this is a terrible job.  My quote at the time was, “This firm is like a temple to the squandering of human potential.”  So I quit and started a dot-com.  

I’m now thought of as a successful entrepreneur.  Some of you read my book ‘Smart People Should Build Things.’  And I’m going to share the secret to entrepreneurship:

Tell everyone you know that you’re going to do something.   That way, you don’t have a choice but to do it.  

I started Stargiving.com, but it unfortunately flopped.  Everyone I knew was aware that I had failed.  That hurt too.  I worked at another startup that ran out of money and then a healthcare software company. I spent my twenties working at startups that didn’t work out.  

Meanwhile, most of my friends at Exeter were bankers, consultants, and lawyers living in very nice apartments in Manhattan.  I was living with a roommate, teaching classes and throwing parties on the side. It was hard to stay positive.  

During this time, a friend from Exeter, Fiona Smith, called me up and asked me if I would meet with a friend of hers.  That meeting changed my life.  

Her friend, Zeke had started an education company, Manhattan Prep, and asked if I could help.  I later became CEO of that company when I was 31 and Zeke stepped away.  The company eventually became number one in the country and was acquired by the Washington Post in 2009.  

This is one reason why I know that Exeter shaped my career.  If Fiona hadn’t introduced me to Zeke, I never would have wound up running that company. 

I was still haunted by the sense that we had so many of our talented people doing one of six things in six places:  finance, consulting, tech, law, medicine or academia in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, DC or LA.  This was true of most of my friends at Exeter.  

Now, you can’t be negative about something without offering a solution.  I thought about what I believed more people like you should be doing 5 or 6 years from now.  And I thought you should be starting businesses in places that need it – places like Detroit, New Orleans, Baltimore, or Birmingham.  We needed to create a path for people to do that.  

So I quit my job and started Venture for America.  I donated $120k and started calling rich friends and asked them, “Do you love America.”  Classmates from Exeter helped.  Another Exonian introduced me to a Foundation that became one of our first funders.  

This place is a magical, wonderful, difficult place to come of age.  You are around people constantly, yet it is easy to feel alone.  You are among the most successful high school students in the country, yet you feel your success to be challenged at all times. You are taught to do good in the world, yet it is your own success that remains the way that you are judged.  

In my experience, if you want a career you will be proud of, you are going to have to fight for it.  The market will not help you.  Instead, the market will drive you to do certain things that may or may not be what you’d imagined.  And here in America in 2019, the market is the most powerful force in our society.

Venture for America has a credo, that I hope some of you find useful.  I confess that this place very much influenced it.  It is:  

“My career is a choice that indicates my values. There is no courage without risk. I believe that actions are the proper measure of one’s accomplishments. I will create value for myself and others. I will act with integrity in all things.

Thank you, students of Phillips Exeter.  You will shape the future of this country.  Use your power wisely.  

 

About Andrew

One of the most exciting and unique candidates to enter the 2020 US Presidential Race, Andrew Yang is a New York and Silicon Valley entrepreneur running as a Democrat.

In 2011, he founded Venture for America, a national public service fellowship that places recent grads in struggling communities to help local businesses revitalize the economy. Over 6 years running the organization, Andrew helped to create more than 2,500 jobs in cities like Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. His work at VFA saw him recognized by the Obama White House as a 2012 Champion of Change and a 2015 Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.

When Andrew realized that artificial intelligence and other automation technologies threatened to eliminate one-third of all American jobs and current politicians weren’t even recognizing the problem, he knew the nation needed a leader with a vision on how to enter this radically different future.

Andrew’s innovative platform focuses on solutions to problems being faced by normal Americans, including the implementation of the Freedom Dividend: $1,000 a month for American adults, no strings attached. See his features in the New York Times CNBC, and Rolling Stone, his keynote speech at Progress Iowa; his podcasts with Freakonomics and Sam Harris; and his campaign video.

About The Freedom Dividend / Universal Basic Income

Universal Basic Income (UBI) guarantees a certain minimum income to every citizen within a given governed population, without having to pass a test or fulfill a work requirement.

Andrew Yang’s Freedom Dividend is a universal basic income set at $1,000 per month, or $12,000 per year, for all U.S. citizens between the ages of 18 and 64, paid for by a new tax on automation. Yes, that means you and everyone you know would get another $1,000/month every month from the U.S. government, no questions asked. You could use that money to pay down debt, start a business, go back to school, or shop at local boutiques. For more information, visit our campaign’s UBI explainer.

Join the fight