Jim Acosta Grills Andrew Yang On Self-Promoting Off Of New Political Party

Jim Acosta interviews Andrew Yang on CNN

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CNN’s Jim Acosta grilled Andrew Yang on his new political party and if it is a vehicle for self-promotion.

Video:

Acosta asked, “Let me ask you about your new forward party because you say it’s an attempt to appeal to what you say is the moderate common sense majority. It’s also the same name as your book. Is this an attempt to pump up book sales?”

Yang answered, “I’d have to say this would be a pretty silly way to go about it given the party has tens of thousands of Americans signed up co-chaired by former governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman. And the fact 62% of Americans –”

Acosta pressed, “Are you just promoting yourself, are you just promoting yourself with this?”

Yang said, “Again, Jim, there are, as you can easily imagine, there are hundreds of better ways to go about promoting a book than starting a political party to do so. I’m building this party because 62% of Americans want it. We’re more polarized than ever. The two parties have divvied up the country so that 79% to 90% of races are uncompetitive. Most of the people watching this right now aren’t even living under a two-party system. They are living under one party.”

Andrew Yang struggled in this interview. He never really answered Acosta’s question about self-promoting, and essentially whether or not his new political party is a grift.

Yang struggled to explain that he didn’t think it was ok for Trump to have top secret documents at Mar-a-Lago.

The Republican Party is on the march toward authoritarianism, so when the nation needs a unified response to this threat, starting a third political party to divide the country further feels self-serving and destructive.

Andrew Yang doesn’t have a vision for what his party stands for.

The interview was, at times, uncomfortable to watch as Yang struggled to answer basic questions. The Forward Party sounds like a vanity project at the moment and not something that should overly concern Democrats who are busy trying to save democracy in the United States.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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