In another political age, Andrew Yang’s bid for the White House would have been a fairytale that captivated pundits and Hollywood scriptwriters.

But after 2016, the idea of a man with no political or military experience running for US president is no longer novel. If anything, outsider status is almost an advantage.

Even so, Yang, 45, who has never held public office, pulled off something remarkable, outlasting numerous Democratic senators, representatives and governors, featuring on all six of the first debate stages and gaining a cult following from the so-called “Yang gang”.

The son of Taiwanese immigrants, his departure on Tuesday night makes him the latest candidate of colour to withdraw from what had begun as the most racially diverse field in major party history.

Yang’s long-shot campaign, launched in November 2017, is likely to be remembered for a signature promise – giving every adult a monthly check for $1,000 – and self-description: “The opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math.”

Such quips prompted criticism that he was leaning into Asian American stereotypes, and were probably a factor in him winning the endorsement of comedian Dave Chappelle, a critic of perceived “woke” culture and political correctness.

“I’m not running for president because I dreamt about being president of the United States,” Yang told a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier this month. “Trust me, those were not the conversations in the Yang household. My parents were not telling me, ‘You’re going to be president some day.’

“They were more like, ‘You’re terrible, clean your room.’ But I’m a parent and a patriot who has seen the future that lies ahead for our kids and it is not something we should accept for them. They deserve better, we must give them better.”

Andrew Yang greets supporters in Keene, New Hampshire. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

That dark future rested on a diagnosis of America’s ills that acknowledged Donald Trump had been on to something in 2016 with his simple slogan, “Make America great again”, and held that Hillary Clinton was wrong to protest America is already great.

Yang had an answer for the ultimate question of life, the universe and why Trump won the election: the country automated away 4m manufacturing jobs that were concentrated in the rust belt states that switched from Democrat to Republican.

“I have been to those towns where the manufacturing jobs dried up,” Yang said in Iowa. “After the plant closed, the shopping district closed and then people left, the schools shrank and that town has never recovered.”

He warned that the worst is yet to come, as robots take over truck driving and much else. Amazon hovers “like a spaceship” over shopping malls which can go “from cheery to spooky awfully quick”. Trump, he contended, was a symptom of this disease, and the 2020 election can be the cure.

Yang explained that he decided to run for president after visiting Washington and asking politicians for answers only to find none forthcoming.

Yang’s most radical solution was a universal basic income in the form of a $1,000-a-month “freedom dividend” for US citizens. He argued that Thomas Paine, Martin Luther King, Richard Nixon and Milton Friedman all backed similar ideas, while oil-rich Alaska pays an annual dividend to citizens.

It would actually work, unlike the trickle-down economy which was sold to us Andrew Yang

He proposed that Amazon and Google would pay a value added tax to generating hundreds of billions of dollars for the scheme. He argued that universal basic income would pump money back into the economy.

“This is the trickle-up economy from people, families and communities,” he told the Guardian last year during an interview conducted in the public area of a low-key Washington hotel. “It would actually work, unlike the trickle-down economy which was sold to us.”

Along with the bleakness, and a lack of sure-footedness on foreign policy, there was eccentricity and quirkiness that many found a breath of fresh air. He challenged celebrities to pickup basketball games and crowd-surfed at a candidates event.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who has endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders, tweeted on Tuesday night: “You ran a great race, Andrew Yang. Your campaign focused on the future, and looked like you were having a lot of fun doing it. Thank you for bringing up ideas like UBI and opening a discourse on how we better value undervalued work like caregiving.”

Yang was best known for his proposal of a universal basic income. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

The author and social activist Naomi Klein wrote: “Andrew Yang forced a national debate on UBI and GDP as a measure of economic health. Those are big ideas we need to keep discussing and it was a major contribution.”

The fact he was difficult to pigeonhole ideologically attracted interest from dark corners of the internet but also worked to his advantage. At his final Iowa rally, he asked for a show of hands from 2016 Trump voters who would now support him.

Among them was Grayson Feist, 22, a student in Kansas wearing a “Math” hat. “I voted for him because he was against the party, not with the system, but through and through Trump hasn’t united America. He hasn’t made America better. He’s really divided America, especially with our allies abroad. What I like about Yang is he’s so transparent.

“He talks to anyone and everyone. He’s a businessman and he’s smart. The first time I went to his website he has over a hundred issues and it tells you exactly what he stands for and believes in. The way he can get anyone and everyone interested in politics, especially people who hated Trump or hated the Democratic party, people are flipping faster than people can actually count.”

Meanwhile, at the same event, Frankie Chyi, 26, a dental student, said: “I was actually a Bernie supporter but I just went on to YouTube and started watching his videos. The more I listened to him talk, the more I was like, this guy sounds very genuine. He’s thinking about our future.

“His ideas about automation: it’s true. A lot of our jobs have disappeared and nobody’s really doing anything to help us with it. Also, everyone’s going to love $1,000 more each month, and it’s going to help a lot of families, people who are in poverty. I really like his messages.”