At this point, skateboard riding Andrew Yang has every right to wonder why news outlets like MSNBC refuse to take him seriously.
Yang raised $10 million, but MSNBC shows Booker in fourth at $6 million. https://t.co/N1tf7NBI9q
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) October 4, 2019
This presidential hopeful has never been treated quite like his political counterparts. Maybe it’s because he’s a businessman, not a politician. Maybe it’s because he has held sweepstakes for voters, which other candidates have done. And who ever thought a non-politician could get elected to the highest office in America? When could that possibly happen? (RELATED: Yang Lands Spot In September Debate)
The false graphic didn’t get a huge rise out of Yang, who was pretty calm and polite about such a dumb error. Under the circumstances, that MSNBC was effectively trying to cut off his oxygen, he had reason to rage.
I’m pretty sure I should be on this graphic. @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/fDlFmGpHXn
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) October 4, 2019
Yang has expressed complaints about the political process.
Back in August, he suggested that the debate was more like scripted reality TV.
“You know what the talking heads couldn’t stop talking about after the last debate? It’s not the fact that I’m somehow number four on the stage and national polling, it was the fact that I wasn’t wearing a tie,” he said in the closing statement of a debate. “We’re up here with makeup on our faces and our rehearsed attack lines, playing roles in this reality TV show.”
During a debate in Miami in June, Yang had reason to bitch when it appeared that his mic was not working.
“There were also a few times, FYI, where I just started talking, being like, ‘Hey, I want to add something there,’ and my mic was not on,” Yang said after the event. “And it’s this sort of thing where, it’s not like if you started talking, it takes over the [conversation]. It’s like I was talking, but nothing was happening. And it was like, ‘Oh f—.’ So that happened a bit too.”
NBC denied his claim.
Yang had the least amount of speaking time in a debate that was broadcast on NBC over two nights with 20 candidates.
His total speaking time: two minutes and 60 seconds. This compares to, say, self-help author Marianne Williamson who got four minutes and 49 seconds or the verbose Joe Biden who got 12 minutes and 53 seconds.
Yang realizes that NBC and MSNBC seem to screw him more than the other networks. In September, MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian went on air and called him “John Yang.” (RELATED: MSNBC Host, Chyron, Call Andrew Yang Wrong Name)
Like President Trump, Yang isn’t afraid to tweak the media.
In September, he wanted to direct CNN’s control room, saying CNN should have the candidates discuss Hurricane Dorian instead of climate change. (RELATED: Yang Give Orders To CNN Ahead Of Climate Change Town Hall)
Yang isn’t imagining things when he senses that media organizations like MSNBC are continually cutting off the blood vessels of his candidacy. In September, Axios reported that Yang was “getting the media cold shoulder.”
The site reported that despite polling, he was being treated like a “bottom tier” candidate.
Axios obviously explained why that matters.
“The discrepancy between demonstrated voter support and the level of media coverage — both on cable and in the online world — shows that the press is in unfamiliar territory in covering a candidate from outside the political world who keeps a low profile.”
