Former presidential candidate and businessman Andrew Yang took the virtual stage at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night and told Americans that now is the time to act.
“We are in a deep dark hole and we need leaders who will help us dig out. I know many politicians promise and then fail to deliver. If you voted for Trump or didn’t vote at all back in 2016, I get it,” Yang said. “Many of us have gotten tired of our leaders seeming far removed from our everyday lives. and we despair that our government will ever rise to the challenges of our time. But we must give this country, our country, a chance to recover. And recovery is only possible with a change of leadership and new ideas.”
Andrew Yang: “42% of the jobs that have been lost — millions of jobs — will never return.” #DemConvention pic.twitter.com/B9a0EBXBmQ
— The Hill (@thehill) August 21, 2020
Yang went on to say Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris are “real people” who understand the problems Americans face and can help solve the issues facing the nation, like those arising from the pandemic.
Yang was not originally slated to join Thursday’s lineup and was only added to the list of speakers after tweeting about his disappointment.
I’ve got to be honest I kind of expected to speak.
— Andrew Yang???????????? (@AndrewYang) August 11, 2020
Yang’s tweet immediately sparked the hashtag ‘LetYangSpeakDNC’-and it appeared to work. Yang announced Aug. 13 he was added to the lineup.
And it’s official – we have been added to the DNC Convention speaker lineup! Thank you #YangGang and everyone else who made this happen! ????????????????#YangIsSpeaking
— Andrew Yang???????????? (@AndrewYang) August 13, 2020
Yang said that Democrats were “patronizing” Americans during a Wednesday interview.
“If we’re not standing up for the trucker, the waitress or the retail clerk, who are we standing up for?” Yang told The Washington Post. “Democrats have this tendency to have a message out there and then if you don’t like the message, it’s like, well, it’s your fault … There’s this patronizing element to a lot of what we say and do, and it’s hurting us, and it’s wrong, unproductive, its a great way to not win.”