When Andrew Yang first rolled out his 2020 campaign, he not only rolled out his revolutionary UBI vision, he delivered a lot of populist messaging that was incompatible with the uniparty. But as his campaign rolled on, he became less and less populist, more and more careful in his messaging. What began as a disruptive force within the Democratic Party ended as a gimmick single issue candidacy that ultimately failed to do much for the single issue.
Yang’s attitudes about race evolved from chill and even white-affirming to the politically correct therapy speak garbage shown below. Yang’s foreign policy opinions evolved from vaguely America First to being aligned with the Israel Lobby, military contractors, and uniparty leadership. As soon as he gained enough traction to be plausibly relevant in national politics, he transformed into the useless husk he is today.
He “learned.”
Vivek is also “learning.” Just a couple weeks ago, he was putting other candidates on blast for wearing the flag pin of foreign countries (Israel) on the debate stage, and within mere days he’s managed to turn his messaging around. He’s now an even greater shill for Israeli interests than Nikki, by his own estimate. He refused to go anywhere near Elon’s campaign to defend free speech on the Internet for fear of the ADL.
Vivek found European regulations pertaining to window-mounted air conditioner units more interesting than free speech on the Internet. He had time to sit down with an agent of Israeli foreign interests and win him over to his agenda, a complete 180 from his position of refusing to pander to foreign lobbies. What matters to Vivek now is reminding American voters that he’s “been to Israel several times,” affirming his religious pilgrimage to the Mecca of conservative gatekeeping.
I’m not surprised that Vivek is going the way of Yang. You don’t realize how American politics actually work until you’re deep enough into them to get the call.
You can’t really know what a man is made of until he’s in the arena, and there’s no harm in cheering up until their behavior is no longer worthy of cheering. Trying to read the tea leaves on who may and may not be based and reliable is a waste of time. A transparent and transactional approach to our political engagement with mainstream politics is necessary, one where we cheer when they’re steering towards national populism and jeer when they’re moving away from national populism.
I’ll be as interested in the primaries and general election as they merit. Currently, things are going in a very disappointing direction. The only interesting storyline is Trump’s confrontation with Biden’s Justice Department, which promises to radicalize millions of Americans even further against the system. Trump’s not actually engaging anything in the culture war and with Vivek’s folding like a lawn chair, it’s 2012 but with the Justice Department hot on Mitt Romney’s ass.
Every major conservative commentator chimed in on #BanTheADL except for the Republican presidential candidates, and Vivek was among those who remained silent. While there’s still much to admire in much of the platform that remains, and I’ll continue to shill those parts, we’re learning that Vivek is perhaps similar to Yang and will follow a similar trajectory into establishmentarian irrelevance.
Our ongoing ability to inject national populist and identitarian ideals into the national conversation is more important than the presidential election, and more important than all of the issues raised during the lead-up to it. As we saw in 2020 and 2022, mobilization and moralization of the right is impossible with the ADL’s thumb on the scale of political discourse. If we lose, they lose, as they should.
I am not “vibing” with Vivek until further notice.