2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang joined ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday. The very first question he
"I want to start with your campaign slogan. It's 'Not left, not right but forward.' What does that mean?" host Jon Karl asked.
"Well, Jon, to me it's clear the reason why Donald Trump is our president today is that we automated away 4 million manufacturing jobs that were primarily based in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Missouri and Iowa, the swing states he needed to win," Yang explained. "And what we did to those jobs we are now going to do to the retail jobs, the call center jobs, the fast food jobs, and, eventually, the truck driving jobs."
According to the entrepreneur, how America deals with technological advancements should be something "that works for all Americans independent of your political affiliation."
"These problems are technological and apply to us all," he said.
Karl followed up by asking Yang if he believed the Democrats have been too ideological, too far to the left, and the Republicans have been too far to the right.
"I was an ambassador in the Obama administration but, to me, the Democrats have still not asked themselves the hard questions as to how Donald Trump won in 2016," he said bluntly. "If you look around the country, you see 30 percent of stores and malls closing, you see record high levels of stress, financial insecurity, student loan debt, even suicides and drug overdoses."
"The Democratic Party, unfortunately, is acting like Donald Trump is the cause of all of our problems," Yang explained. "He's a symptom and we need to cure the underlining disease."
2020 candidate Andrew Yang to @jonkarl: "The Democratic Party, unfortunately, is acting like Donald Trump is the cause of all of our problems. He's a symptom and we need to cure the underlying disease." https://t.co/P6iz1j1VA4 pic.twitter.com/TkNG5rVnIY
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 29, 2019