Yang: ‘We Have to Stop Being Obsessed Over Impeachment,’ Present ‘Positive Vision’ for America

Yang: ‘We Have to Stop Being Obsessed Over Impeachment,’ Present ‘Positive Vision’ for America
Democratic presidential hopeful entrepreneur Andrew Yang speaks during the sixth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by PBS NewsHour & Politico at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Calif., on Dec. 19, 2019. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
Zachary Stieber
Updated:

While most Democratic presidential contenders railed against President Donald Trump on Dec. 19 at the 2020 debate, businessman Andrew Yang urged Democrats to focus on presenting “a new, positive vision for the country.”

Six of the seven Democratic contenders were unable to say why no House Republicans—and most of Senate Republicans—either voted against impeachment or have signaled they will vote to acquit President Donald Trump.

Amid declining support in polls for impeaching the president and removing him from office, while a Democrat Congressman switched to the GOP and another Democrat abstained from voting, six 2020 contenders at the Dec. 19 debate tried making the case about why Trump should be convicted. But none were able to say why not a single Republican supported the House vote to impeach Trump.

Most candidates lashed out at Trump.

Former Vice President Joe Biden called the president “a pathological liar” and “a fraud,” while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) claimed that the president “has sold out the working families of this country,” “wants to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid after he promised he would not do that,” and lied a lot.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) claimed that Trump is “the most corrupt president in living history.”

From left: Democratic presidential hopefuls, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, Mayor of South Bend Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and billionaire Tom Steyer participate of the sixth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California on Dec. 19, 2019. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
From left: Democratic presidential hopefuls, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, Mayor of South Bend Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and billionaire Tom Steyer participate of the sixth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California on Dec. 19, 2019. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Yang took a different tune, starting by noting that most Americans don’t trust mainstream media or Congress.

“The media networks didn’t do us any favors by missing the reason why Donald Trump became our president in the first place. If you turn on cable network news today, you would think he’s our president because of some combination of Russia, racism, Facebook, and Hillary Clinton, all mixed together,” Yang said.

But Trump won because of the major loss of manufacturing jobs in the year leading up to 2016, Yang said.

“We have to stop being obsessed over impeachment—which unfortunately strikes many Americans like a ball game where you know what the score is going to be—and start actually digging in and solving the problems that got Donald Trump elected in the first place,” Yang said. “We have to take every opportunity to present a new, positive vision for the country, a new way forward to help beat him in 2020.

“Because make no mistake, he'll be there at the ballot box for us to defeat,” Yang added.

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang smiles ahead of the Democratic presidential primary debate at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California on Dec. 19, 2019. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang smiles ahead of the Democratic presidential primary debate at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California on Dec. 19, 2019. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The House approved two articles of impeachment against Trump on Wednesday, one for abuse of office and another for obstruction for Congress.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did not allow a vote for the naming of House managers before the chamber broke for Christmas on Thursday, and has not said when she'll submit the impeachment resolution to allow the Senate to begin its impeachment trial. The impeachment effort by the House will need to win the support of the Republican-majority Senate before the president can be impeached and removed from office.

The other candidates on stage were former Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and billionaire Tom Steyer.

A number of other candidates did not meet the thresholds for the debate.

They are: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), former Obama administration cabinet secretary Julian Castro, author Marianne Williamson, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.).

Zachary Stieber
Zachary Stieber
Senior Reporter
Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. Contact Zachary at [email protected]
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