Andrew Yang accuses Democratic Party of 'patronizing' Americans ahead of DNC speech
'If we're not standing up for the trucker, the waitress or the retail clerk, who are we standing up for?' former candidate asks
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang accused the Democratic Party of "patronizing" his fellow Americans at times during an interview on Wednesday ahead of his Thursday speech at the Democratic National Convention.
“If we're not standing up for the trucker, the waitress or the retail clerk, who are we standing up for?" Yang told The Washington Post. "Democrats have this tendency to have a message out there and then if you don't like the message, it's like, well, it's your fault. …There's this patronizing element to a lot of what we say and do, and it's hurting us, and it's wrong, unproductive, it's a great way to not win."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But Yang did say that some of the party's problems relating to working class voters are mitigated by having former Vice President Joe Biden as the Democrats' presidential nominee.
“I think the concern is alleviated in large part by who Joe Biden is," Yang noted. "Joe Biden comes across as the guy he is. He grew up in Scranton and has lived a life that many, many Americans can relate to.”
Yang also weighed in on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who nominated Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during her Tuesday night speech. The populist senator was the running up to Biden in the Democratic nomination race.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“She was asked to nominate Bernie, which I thought she did very effectively, but I thought that was a misuse of AOC," Yang told The Washington Post. "She is one of the people who can cut through this medium and deliver a message very powerfully, so I feel like the DNC just missed one on that."
Unlike some of his Democratic primary rivals, Yang openly wooed President Trump's supporters and was reluctant to blame the nation's problems on Trump alone.
In this Feb. 7, 2020, photo, Yang speaks during a Democratic presidential primary debate at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
"You are missing the lesson of Donald Trump's victory," he said during a February presidential debate. "Trump is not the cause of all of our problems and we are making a mistake when we act like he is. He is a symptom of a disease that has been building up in our communities for years and decades. And it is our job to get to the harder work of actually curing the disease."
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Yang is scheduled to speak between 9 and 11 p.m. ET on Thursday, during the convention's final night. He was added to the speaker lineup last minute after tweeting about his disappointment at being left out.