Andrew Yang’s Bipartisan Message Earns Mockery on Twitter

What would you do if you were a multi-millionaire? Would you travel the world and broaden your horizons? Would you create charities help those less fortunate? Or would you flush your money down the toilet on a series of ill-advised and ego-driven bids at political office? If you’re Andrew Yang, Howard Schultz, Michael Bloomberg, or Tom Steyer, you’re choosing what’s behind door number 3. But while many of these men are taking a break post-2020, Andrew Yang is still hard at work, cranking out out-of-touch takes and bad opinions for all the world to hear.

When he’s not railing against porn, dismissing mental health, or enjoying a slice of Sbarro’s pizza (NYC’s best!) in Times Square‘s subway station, the failed presidential and New York City mayoral candidate continues to beat the drum of “bipartisanship” in an effort to win over voters while simultaneously alienating them. Yang wrote, “Lincoln won the presidency on the brand new Republican ticket in 1860 with 39.8% in a four-way race. He took a Democrat, Andrew Johnson as his running mate in 1864.”

Ah yes, Andrew Johnson, one of our worst presidents of all time! Johnson owned enslaved people and was against allowing Black people to vote, and he made a wretched mess of post-Civil War Reconstruction. He was also the first president to be impeached. And it needs to be said every time this sort of false equivalence emerges that the Republican and Democratic parties were completely different entities with wildly different values in the 1860s than they are today. Unsurprisingly, Twitter was ready to school Yang on American history:

An hour (plus plenty of twitter roasting) later, Yang elaborated with a follow-up tweet, writing “Andrew Johnson was unfortunately a terrible, destructive President. It only heightens the tragedy of Lincoln’s assassination. It doesn’t mean a unity ticket is a bad idea.”

(image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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Chelsea Steiner

Chelsea was born and raised in New Orleans, which explains her affinity for cheesy grits and Britney Spears. An pop culture journalist since 2012, her work has appeared on Autostraddle, AfterEllen, and more. Her beats include queer popular culture, film, television, republican clownery, and the unwavering belief that 'The Long Kiss Goodnight' is the greatest movie ever made. She currently resides in sunny Los Angeles, with her husband, 2 sons, and one poorly behaved rescue dog. She is a former roller derby girl and a black belt in Judo, so she is not to be trifled with. She loves the word “Jewess” and wishes more people used it to describe her.

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