I think just about everyone who reads Daily Kos or participates in Daily Kos polls has at least one thing in common: We all want to remove Donald Trump from office.
I know DK staff want Trump removed from office because a lot of Daily Kos emails to me have been about Trump, specifically, the impeachment inquiry.
We are going to have a repeat of 2016, and Donald Trump will easily win re-election if the left doesn’t start listening to people they have never listened to before. .
That means former Trump voters and current Andrew Yang supporters. And it’s no mere coincidence that Andrew Yang has been able to attract a lot of former Trump voters, and it’s a good thing. He speaks to their concerns about job loss when no other Democrat does, and Yang is offering solutions, and that is why a lot of former Trump voters are enthusiastically supporting Yang. But I guarantee you these former Trump voters will not support any other Democrat, particularly Sen. Warren, who is on record as saying automation of jobs is a good story, but not true. I know with certainty that these former Trump supporters won't support any Democrat other than Yang because they tell us YangGang all the time. The YangGang welcomes ideological diversity, so we are listening to these folks, and you should too.
People are quick to dismiss Yang, largely because of his low polling numbers. That seems fair enough, but consider a few things:
First of all, consider how accurate the offline polls were in 2016; the online polls ended up being more accurate.
Secondly, it's pretty remarkable for a political outsider with no name recognition and not much personal wealth to be able to rise to sixth place in the polls in a very crowded field, and raise $10 million in one quarter through grassroots efforts, and to consistently rise above sitting Senators and governors. He and Sen. Warren are probably the only two who have consistently risen in the polls.
Thirdly, there are specific reasons the polls likely do not reflect how much support Yang has: Yang has been attracting lots of Independents, former Trump voters, and disaffected liberals, all of whom are unlikely to be contacted by offline pollsters as “likely” voters in the Democratic primary. He’s also attracting a lot of young folks who do not have land lines, and it’s my understanding that most polls contact only or mostly landline users; so the pollsters are probably not an accurate gauge of support from young people. And millenials, Generation Zers, and Generation Xers (who support Yang in spades) are now a bigger part of the electorate than Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation.
When Yang recently went on stage at a Rich Brian concert in a crowded New York City nightclub, filled to with 3,000 young people, the audience immediately recognized him and went wild with enthusiasm. Do you think that enthusiasm among young people is reflected in offline polls? Do you think the pollsters are calling these 18-year-olds on their cell phones and considering them likely voters?
It’s been very disappointing to see the staff at Daily Kos would rather see Donald Trump re-elected than open up its echo chamber to outside voices. The behavior the staff have displayed to Yang supporters is truly childish, petty and shockingly unprofessional. But worse, it’s dangerous. Because it’s going to help Donald Trump stay in office. My feelings will heal, but the country won’t.
Today, I’ve decided to let the babies have their bottles, and I’ve decided to unsubscribe from Daily Kos emails, because it couldn’t be clearer that dissenting voices simply are not welcome here unless maybe you have had a Daily Kos account for years and you spend several hours a day on here commenting and creating diaries. If Daily Kos readers and staff ever decide to leave the hermetically sealed echo chamber that is Daily Kos, the YangGang will welcome you with open arms, because that’s what we do.
But I want to leave you with a final thought: of all of the fascinating things Christopher Hitchens said in his lifetime, I find this statement among the most interesting: when asked what he judges people by the most, he said the thing that he judges people’s character by the most is how well they deal with someone’s disagreeing with them.
I imagine the DK staff will promptly remove this diary entry. If they do so, they will prove that they are childish beyond words and that they fear dissent more than they fear Donald Trump’s re-election.
#YangGangLove