Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang promised he would give 10 American families a “freedom dividend” of $1,000 a month for a year — or $120,000 — during his opening statement at the Democratic debate on Thursday in Houston, Texas.

“When you donate money to a presidential campaign, what happens?” Yang asked. “Politicians spend the money on TV ads and consultants and you hope it works out.”

“It’s time to trust ourselves rather than our politicians,” Yang said. “That’s why I’m going to do something unprecedented tonight.”

“My campaign will now give a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month for an entire year to 10 American families — someone watching us at home right now,” he continued.

“If you believe you can solve your own problems better than any politician go to Yang 2020 dot com and tell us how $1,000 a month will help you do just that,” Yang said.

Yang’s platform includes his “freedom dividend” idea, or a universal basic income of $1,000/month, $12,000 a year, for every American adult over the age of 18.

“This is how we will get our country working for us again, the American people,” Yang said.

Candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg responded to Yang’s proposal when he concluded, saying, ‘It’s original, I’ll give you that.”

Yang implied on social media ahead of the debate that he was going to make history on the debate stage but he did not, as he implied, “crowd-surf in sandals.”

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