Former tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang said Democrats are wrongly blaming President Trump for what is wrong in the United States.
Yang appeared onstage at the eighth Democratic presidential debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Friday night. The debate is the final one before the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.
Yang broke in after former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg wrapped up an answer, with Yang criticizing Buttigieg for focusing so much on Trump as the source of the country’s problems.
“Fundamentally, you are missing the lesson of Donald Trump’s victory. Donald Trump is not the cause of all of our problems, and we are making a mistake when we act like he is,” Yang said. “He is a symptom of a disease that has been building up in our communities for years and decades, and it is our job to get to the harder work of actually curing the disease.”
“Our communities’ way of life is disintegrating beneath our feet,” Yang continued. “That’s why Iowa, a traditional swing state, went to Trump by almost 10 points. That’s why Ohio, a traditional swing state, is now so red that I’m told we are not even going to campaign there.”
