Andrew Yang, the 44 year-old New York tech entrepreneur running for the 2020 Democratic nomination, has one distinction he might want to lose: He is the preferred presidential candidate of white nationalists.
“[Yang] is not white, but he is the only Democrat who opposes anti-white identity politics,” Greg Johnson, editor-in-chief of the white nationalist site Counter Current Publishing, wrote in a post Monday. “He is also the only Democrat who has talked about the problems afflicting white America. I will vote for him in the Democratic primary, and I will vote for him as President if he goes up against Trump.”
Yang, who has recently seen his profile rise with the help of Reddit and 4chan users, has denounced white nationalism and says it is laughable that they would be supporting an Asian man.
“I denounce and disavow hatred, bigotry, racism, white nationalism, anti-Semitism and the alt-right in all its many forms. Full stop,” Yang said in a statement. “As one of the first Asian American candidates for President in our history and the son of immigrants, I see racism and white nationalism as a threat to the core ideals of what it means to be an American.”
Andrew Anglin, editor of the Neo-Nazi commentary site the Daily Stormer, wrote Yang’s denunciation of white nationalism will not deter the community from supporting him.
“The Jews are already going at Chairman Yang and his Royal Gang,” wrote Anglin. “He has repeatedly said ‘white people’ and talked about how we aren’t breeding and are dying of drug overdoses. This is a clear electoral strategy, and you journok–es know this and YOU are trying to sabotage him by getting him to stop saying these things.”
Anglin and other white nationalists routinely point to a 2018 tweet from Yang in which he noted that white men are dying of suicide to argue he secretly supports their movement. Alt-right leader Richard Spencer joined the discussion this month by retweeting, out of context, part of a thread from Yang in which he said that America will be going “majority minority by 2045,” which will in part cause “social polarization and violence.”
Trumpism was the fantasy that America can be we saved. Yangism is the awareness that it can’t. https://t.co/H3rUe3FZIZ
— Richard ? Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) March 8, 2019
Spencer ignored the point of the thread, in which Yang says he is “terrified for my Jewish friends. So many have lost family members to violence and anti-Semitism.” Yang concluded the thread by stating his call for a universal basic income, or UBI, could ease the tensions that are exacerbating antisemitism in the first place.
I know it’s true for everyone but I feel terrible and terrified for my Jewish friends. So many have lost family members to violence and anti-Semitism. It hits home for them like for very few others because of their history of persecution. Imagine having your worst fears realized.
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) October 28, 2018
Also underlying white nationalists’ support for Yang is a belief that the country is beyond repair and that Yang’s call for $1,000 for every adult every month is better than nothing.
“If America is going to hell,” wrote Johnson, “why not America going to hell plus a thousand dollars a month?”
Alt-right personality Nick Fuentes, who attended the Charlottesville rally two years ago and hosts a white nationalist podcast, summed up the sentiment:
Understanding Yang Gang:
1. The country is doomed
2. The rules don’t matter
3. We might as well get $1,000 a month— Nicholas J. Fuentes (@NickJFuentes) March 13, 2019
YANG GANG pic.twitter.com/Pm29To3Cg8
— Nicholas J. Fuentes (@NickJFuentes) March 26, 2019
Yang’s proposal for a UBI has found popularity online in parts of the 4chan and gaming community that call the UBI “NEETbux” after the term NEET — Not in Education, Employment, or Training — and support the idea of gaming or trolling online instead of working.
Some have suggested the alt-right support for Yang is meant to divide the Democratic field, but white nationalists like Johnson say that their support is unironic.
“I think that quite a few White Nationalists sincerely support Yang because he has better policies than anyone else in the race. Others support him just as a protest, because they are heartily sick of Trump,” Johnson wrote in the post. “Others are just enjoying the Yang memes and the new sense of excitement, purpose, and unity Yang has brought us.”
