The disconnect between Candidate Trump’s promises and President Trump’s implementations leaves parts of the Trump base unsure.
Candidate Donald Trump contrasted Hillary Clinton on immigration and foreign policy, among other issues. While many will speculate why the Obama swing voters moved to Trump, my estimation assumes that Candidate Trump persuaded independent voters to make a leap of faith.
For so long, Washington politicians ignored workers in the middle of the country. Tapping into their frustrations, Donald Trump made a successful offer to stop illegal immigration and end wars. In all fairness, the president has tried to push strategies in order to address said issues. The results, however, appear to leave key parts of his base, particularly swing voters, unsatisfied.
Enter Andrew Yang, a Democrat candidate for president. I recently endorsed Andrew Yang for the primary election. Attentive organizations such as Wikileaks noticed early on that Yang attracted support from influential and disgruntled Trump supporters.
Did Trump just lose the 2020 meme war? Memers flock to @andrewYangVFA’s campaign centered around AI mass job loss requiring universal basic income (UBI) after mentions on @JoeRogan and @WikiLeaks. See #Yanggang and #yanggang2020 for thousands of examples. pic.twitter.com/n7vxeMN4l2
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 8, 2019
According to NPR, roughly 1 in 10 Bernie Sanders voters switched to Trump in the general. Furthermore, while wages have risen and unemployment has fallen, workers in Middle America expected a full-scale immigration solution. Lastly, the president has vetoed a bipartisan withdrawal from support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.
The key parts of Trump’s base consisted of white working voters, young Bernie supporters who opposed Clinton and the antiwar crowd. These constituencies overlap to form a large swing vote that Andrew Yang successfully addresses. If President Trump continues to neglect their demands, Yang will continue to grow.
Deaths now outnumber births among white people in more than half the states in the country. Much of this is low birth rates and white men dying from substance abuse and suicide. Our life expectancy has declined for 2 years. We need to do much more. https://t.co/zFRAkFY7FU
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) June 22, 2018
Andrew Yang directly addresses white voters without care for how it plays in media. Andrew’s blunt recognition of white birth rates, depression and suicide demonstrations a real understanding of white voters.While Trump rallies the same crowd with emotion and directs that energy towards immigration issues, Yang proposes a universal basic income. Workers worried about losing jobs to automation may find security in Andrew’s platform.
One can observe the worry in right-wing outlets loyal to Trump as they attempt to call him a pro-white extremist. Yang potentially being the nation’s first Asian American president does make these attacks obvious and hilarious. Moreover, Yang released explicit statements condemning support from political extremists and specifically denied requests for their votes.
Immigration
Yang is forming a cleaner run for the same problems Candidate Trump assured he would resolve. Andrew has a common sense stance on immigration, stating that border security should exist and that undocumented immigrants should have a path to citizenship. Polling data shows this stance represents most of the country. Furthermore, Trump’s failure to build a wall leaves key supporters such as Ann Coulter wondering if they should remain loyal to the president.
It should be noted that Donald faced an unprecedented amount of resistance from his party’s legislators in this effort. However, as the leader of his party and the nation, it is Trump’s responsibility to enact reasonable change. His government shutdown strategy failed and demonstrated a lack of long-term consideration for his agenda.
Related to immigration are the issues of human trafficking. While the current administration has made strong efforts to end human trafficking, Yang has been more intense on other problems. Yang’s support for border security paired with a call for justice regarding the illegal activity of major pharmaceutical companies signals a serious approach to a true plague in America.
Antiwar
Andrew Yang has recently exhibited a friendship with his competitor Tulsi Gabbard. Representative Gabbard of Hawaii stands out as the strongest antiwar advocate in Washington. She has even defended Julian Assange and Wikileaks on cable news outlets.
When questioned by antiwar journalist Cassandra Fairbanks of The Gateway Pundit where Andrew stands on regime change and endless war, his answer was direct:
Against both
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) March 7, 2019
President Trump has danced around this issue as well. His administration seemed strong at first, fostering dialogue with North Korea and Russia despite media backlash. As the administration progressed, however, the once clear stance became blurry. An announcement was made of a full pull out of troops in Syria, but American boots are still on the ground. Candidate Trump condemned regime change whereas he now potentially supports regime change in Venezuela. President Trump also brought on John Bolton, a Bush appointee whose mustache and hawkish foreign policy both imply a lack of judgment.
Ultimately President Trump’s instincts on foreign policy are less hawkish than Clinton’s. The issue is who Trump surrounds himself with, particularly establishment hawks like Bolton.
The Base
I know the Trump base very well and I know how disappointed they are with the current state of the administration. The president has time to change the narrative, but time is against Trump as automation looms over a low labor participation rate.
Middle America, young voters, and antiwar advocates can all agree on their disapproval for Clinton and neoliberalism. If Trump continues to push a status quo, neoconservative agenda, he will certainly leave room for Andrew Yang to grow.
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Article by Thomas Bastasch
