http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/AndrewYang

— Yang at the July 2019 Democratic Debates "I am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump because I am his opposite, and the opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math!"

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Andrew Yang is an American entrepreneur and politician who rose to national attention during the 2020 Presidential Democratic primary cycle. Born in upstate New York to Taiwanese immigrants, he started his career as a corporate attorney before moving on to the healthcare industry, taking over a small test preparation company called Manhattan Prep, and finally starting his own non-profit organization called Venture for America. Eventually, Yang filed with the FEC to run for President of the United States in 2017 despite having no prior political experience. Initially considered a long-shot candidate, Yang surged in popularity after several appearances on Internet podcasts, including some unconventional sources such as The Ben Shapiro Show and the Joe Rogan Experience. This attempt at creating a bipartisan coalition, in addition to his subsequent Memetic Mutation, caused Yang to shoot upwards in the polls and allowed him to meet the qualification criteria for every single Democratic Presidential Debate as of December 2019, eventually resulting in him being the only top-tier minority candidate to regularly appear on stage.note After other top contenders like Kamala Harris and Cory Booker dropped out of the race.

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Yang is known for his signature policy of Universal Basic Income, which he calls the "Freedom Dividend", a guaranteed one thousand dollars a month for every American over the age of eighteen. Initially seen as a fringe ideology at best, Yang has successfully made a decent argument for it over the course of his campaign, and the concept has now become a real policy talking point as opposed to a complete unknown. Although UBI is definitely his best-known policy position, numerous other notable policy ideas can be found on his website, including a healthcare program stated to be "in the spirit of Medicare for All" and a more moderate version of the Green New Deal proposed by progressive rivals like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. He also supports some more unique policies, such as eliminating the SAT and abolishing the penny as a unit of currency. Perhaps because of this, in addition to his Memetic status, he was one of the most popular candidates among Generation Z (the generation after the Millennials). On the foreign policy front, Yang is essentially a moderate Democrat, supporting a two-state solution to the ArabIsraeli Conflict with preference towards Israel, and the 2019 Hong Kong protests (the latter being another reason he is perhaps popular among America's youth).

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On February 11th, 2020, Yang suspended his campaign after failing to win any delegates in either Iowa or New Hampshire. Despite this, Yang's impact is notable for introducing the concept of Universal Basic Income to American mainstream politics at all, regardless of whether he is able to implement it right away. His popularity among young people rivals only Bernie Sanders, and it's clear that Yang's candidacy heralds a new era of American politics that will continue to have an impact long after the 2020 primary cycle is over. Initially declining to endorse any of the remaining candidates, stating that he is a big fan of seeing the democratic process play out naturally, Yang thew his support behind Joe Biden after the latter's decisive victory in the Michigan primary. On endorsing Biden, Yang said "The math says Joe is our prohibitive nominee. We need to bring the party together, we need to start working on defeating Donald Trump in the fall."

On February 19, 2020, Yang became a political commentator for CNN. On March 5, he announced that he is starting an organization called Humanity Forward which is meant to further the ideas of his campaign, in particular by aiding congressional candidates who support universal basic income, piloting his Freedom Dividend program in small towns, and starting a podcast in which he interviews like-minded people from celebrities to ordinary Americans. Yang is also rumored to be considering a run for mayor of New York City.

In March 2020, Yang decided to use his Humanity Forward project to give a universal basic income to people in need in the Bronx, whom he thought would be most adversely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. He has also given payments of $250 to struggling people who messaged Humanity Forward.

Tropes pertaining to Andrew Yang's appearances and portrayals in media