How to interpret the staying power of a long-shot presidential candidate.
By Wesley Yang, The Washington Post, October 25, 2019
I winced — just a bit — the first time I heard Andrew Yang deploy what would become his most reliable applause line. We were in the warehouse of a newspaper in rural New Hampshire in February, and, in front of several dozen white folks, he delivered his now-familiar refrain: “The opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math!"
As a wave of laughter rolled through the room, lingering a few beats longer than the joke probably deserved, I watched the faces in the crowd exude relief, even gratitude, over the permission they’d just been granted to treat the good-at-math-Asian-guy stereotype as benign, even funny. For the crowd, the joke was cathartic, releasing a tension most would not have quite known they were feeling before he dispelled it. By leaning into the stereotype, Yang effectively said: Remind me — why should I be on the defensive about this?
Wesley Yang is a columnist for Tablet and the author of “The Souls of Yellow Folk.” Follow @wesyang
The line is now shouted in unison by the boisterous crowds he draws to his rallies. Members of the #YangGang, as his admirers are known, are among the most energized factions supporting any presidential candidate on social media: They wear blue hats and shirts emblazoned with “MATH” — an acronym for the slogan Make America Think Harder. They chant “PowerPoint,” and they pumped $10 million into Yang’s coffers in the third quarter of this year, putting a once-unknown candidate who’s never held elective office ahead of multiple governors and members of Congress in fundraising, and he’s tied for sixth place with 3 percent support among those planning to vote in the 2020 primaries and caucuses, according to the most recent Economist-YouGov poll.
Click to see the entire article in The Washington Post
From The Washington Post
As a wave of laughter rolled through the room, lingering a few beats longer than the joke probably deserved, I watched the faces in the crowd exude relief, even gratitude, over the permission they’d just been granted to treat the good-at-math-Asian-guy stereotype as benign, even funny. For the crowd, the joke was cathartic, releasing a tension most would not have quite known they were feeling before he dispelled it. By leaning into the stereotype, Yang effectively said: Remind me — why should I be on the defensive about this?
Outlook • Perspective
Wesley Yang is a columnist for Tablet and the author of “The Souls of Yellow Folk.” Follow @wesyangClick to see the entire article in The Washington Post
From The Washington Post
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