NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Andrew Yang

Interview

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CHUCK TODD:

Welcome back. My next guess is someone Democrats have learned they can't ignore. Andrew Yang is the child of immigrants from Taiwan. An entrepreneur, the creator of a nonprofit, a political gadfly, and most famously, an advocate of something called universal basic income, which would give $1,000 a month to every American adult. He's also surprised many by out-raising, out-polling and outlasting a succession of so-called establishment Democratic office holders that have been running for president for years. And unlike many of them, he has already qualified for at least one future debate. Andrew Yang joins me now from Urbandale, Iowa. Mr. Yang, welcome to Meet the Press, sir.

ANDREW YANG:

It's great to be here. Thanks so much for having me, Chuck.

CHUCK TODD:

Let me start with something Michael Kruse in Politico wrote about, wrote about you after following you around. "In delivering his alarming, existentially unsettling message of automation and artificial intelligence, wreaking havoc on America's economic, emotional and social wellbeing, he cracks jokes. Of his party's presidential contestants, he's the cheerful doomsayer." That's quite an interesting moniker, the optimistic pessimist I guess is another way to put it. Do you accept that description?

ANDREW YANG:

I think I'm a hard-eyed realist about what's happening in our economy, Chuck. I'm here in Iowa, they're seeing 30% of their stores and malls close because Amazon is soaking up $20 billion in business every year and paying $0 in taxes. We have to create a new way forward and rewrite the rules of the 21st century economy to work for us. But that doesn't mean we have to be necessarily very gloomy as we deliver what, to me, is the most important message of our time. And it's the reason why our campaign is growing and growing while other candidates are dropping out.

CHUCK TODD:

You know, four years ago you had a lot of candidates, including Donald Trump, who were talking about bringing jobs back, bringing this back. And you've basically said, "You know, he told you this. It's not true." In fact, I think you use it as a way of saying that's why you've won over some former Trump supporters, who have now seen, seen it the way you see it on this. Is that really what we need to do, is sort of give up on creating new jobs? I mean, are we going to be in this kind of situation over the next 30 years where we just won't have enough -- we have too many people and not enough work?

ANDREW YANG:

Well, we're in the midst of the greatest economic transformation in our country's history, Chuck. But putting buying power into our hands will build a trickle up economy and allow us to create hundreds of thousands of jobs here in Iowa and across the country because that money doesn't disappear. It goes into local businesses and daycare services and car repairs, little league sign ups. So this is the way we actually rejuvenate main street America, by putting the gains of the 21st century economy into our hands, where it can actually support what's happening in our families and communities every day.

CHUCK TODD:

By the way, do you envision this being a permanent entitlement of sorts?

ANDREW YANG:

Well, if you look up, there's one state that has had a dividend for almost 40 years.

CHUCK TODD:

Right, Alaska.

ANDREW YANG:

And that's Alaska, it's the petroleum dividend. And there, it decreases income inequality. It makes children and families stronger. It's wildly popular after almost 40 years. And so there's no reason to think it will not be wildly popular throughout the whole country. They pay for it with oil money in Alaska. But what I'm saying to the American people is that technology is the oil of the 21st century.

CHUCK TODD:

Let's talk a little bit about the current debate happening inside the Democratic primary. And I think in some ways, you have tried to have a little piece of every bit -- of every lane that there is that we in the media try to create. But let's talk about the specifics of Medicare for All. You're essentially for it, but you haven't talked about how you would pay for it. We know we're having a big debate about how Elizabeth Warren plans to pay for it. But let me ask this basic question. I had a Congresswoman, Democratic Congresswoman on. If we haven't fully implemented Obamacare, why should we rip it up and start over?

ANDREW YANG:

Certainly, I was a fan of the themes of Obamacare. But many Americans agree that it didn't go quite far enough in terms of coverage and allowing Americans to have access to high quality --

CHUCK TODD:

How do you know?

ANDREW YANG:

-- affordable care.

CHUCK TODD:

How do you know? It hasn't been fully implemented. That's always been my question. I've heard this critique before. And I'm going, "We don't know." Medicaid has not been expanded in 50 states.

ANDREW YANG:

You know, and there's a reason for that. So we need to create a path forward for Americans to have access to care. I would not get rid of private insurance. And to me, the pay for argument is misplaced because we're already spending 18% of GDP, almost four trillion dollars, in large part because the system is not designed to keep us strong and healthy. It's designed to make money for the private insurance companies and the device manufacturers and the drug companies.

CHUCK TODD:

Let me ask you about impeachment. You have said you are in favor of this inquiry going forward. But there is a basic question that many voters are going to have. Do you think what the president did is of such an egregious act that he shouldn't be on the ballot in 2020?

ANDREW YANG:

Well, I agree with the panel discussion that you just had. I am for impeachment. But the fact is, when we're talking about Donald Trump, we are not presenting a new way forward and a positive vision for the country that Americans will get excited about. That's the only way we're going to win in 2020. And that's the only way we're going to start actually solving the problems that got him elected. Even when we're talking about impeaching Donald Trump, we're talking about Donald Trump, and we are losing.

CHUCK TODD:

And yet, you talk about Donald Trump quite a bit in your rallies because you seem to want to appeal to former Donald Trump supporters.

ANDREW YANG:

Well, if you listen to my rally speech, Chuck, the vast majority of it is just about the challenges that Americans are experiencing every single day. These challenges preceded Donald Trump. They will still be with us after Donald Trump is out of office. And if we don't get to work solving these problems, then we're just going to be trapped in this endless food fight. And the American people deserve much, much better.

CHUCK TODD:

Let me ask you one question that has to do with your own identity in this country. And this was a criticism written about you having to do with something you said during the last debate. Frank Shyong writes the following in The L.A. Times. "Seeing Yang up on the Democratic primary debate stage should've been a thrilling milestone for me as a fellow Taiwanese-American. But when I heard him use model minority stereotypes to describe himself, it was hard to feel proud. He still felt that the most practical use of his identity on a national stage was as a joke." You've had quite a few Asian American columnists write critiques of this, bothered by this a bit. What do you say to that criticism?

ANDREW YANG:

I am very proud of my heritage and I'm very proud of being the first Asian American man to run for president as a Democrat. And I think Americans around smart enough and savvy enough to know a joke when they hear it. I think that dragging some of these myths into the light actually makes them less powerful and helps dispel them.

CHUCK TODD:

Has it bothered you, that it has attracted -- I noticed earlier this week you've had to push back on this idea, I guess some white supremacists started saying nice things about your candidacy due to the political incorrectness, I guess you want to call it that, you push back hard on that. Does it bother you that that group of voters seems attracted to your candidacy?

ANDREW YANG:

Well, I've completely disavowed any sort of --

CHUCK TODD:

I know you have.

ANDREW YANG:

-- support from anyone who has those kinds of ideas. I mean, I'm the son of immigrants myself. But to me, we have to solve the real problems of this time. And attacking each other for poor word choice or things that are of marginal importance to the American people, unfortunately, takes our focus away from the real problems on the ground that got Donald Trump elected.

CHUCK TODD:

Andrew Yang, entrepreneur. Again, you have taken this Democratic primary and made a lot of people take you a lot more seriously than they had planned to. Andrew Yang, stay safe on the trail. And we look forward to seeing you again.

ANDREW YANG:

Thank you, Chuck. The Yang Gang is just going to continue to grow. We'll see you soon.

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