If I had told you in 2016 that by 2019, young libertarians and fans of comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan would enthusiastically support a Democratic candidate proposing to give $1,000 a month to every U.S. citizen, you might have accused me of smoking something with the Ron Paul Revolution guys. And yet, here we are.
Presidential hopeful and entrepreneur Andrew Yang has earned his way into the first two Democratic debates, but it is his appeal to a crop of young right-wingers that might be his most impressive and important feat, inasmuch as it reinforces the way our political institutions are being reordered and redefined.
“I think Democrats have lost touch with many working-class Americans,” he tells me during a phone call while campaigning in Iowa.