In a lakeside park in Seattle, Washington, where the ruins of an old gas works have been carefully preserved as a kind of industrial memorial, an unusual political rally is taking place that might just help decide America’s industrial future.

Andrew Yang, standing in the fading evening light with the city skyline behind him, explains how he plans to save the country from disintegration using the magic of statistics. “I’m going to be the first president to use PowerPoint!” he declares. “How do you feel about that?” The crowd, improbably, goes wild, and begins to chant: “PowerPoint! PowerPoint! PowerPoint!”

It is a truly bizarre thing to hear on the campaign trail, but it might not actually be the weirdest thing about Andrew Yang. In recent months, the 44-year-old former tech entrepreneur and self-confessed “math nerd” has gained a loyal following in the bewilderingly crowded Democratic primary, bringing in enough donations to qualify for this summer’s TV debates.

Now, on the doorstep of Amazon and Microsoft, which are based in Seattle – and with many of their employees around him – he expounds his central message: that Big Tech is screwing up the nation, and that only he can stop it.