Q&A: Andrew Yang on SF mayoral race, Trump assassination attempt, VP pick

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The Republican National Convention kicked off Monday, with delegates descending on Wisconsin following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

In the meantime, the debate continues between Democrats over whether they should replace President Joe Biden as their nominee. Andrew Yang, Founder of the Forward Party and 2020 Presidential candidate sat down with KRON4’s Stephanie Lin to discuss this week’s major political headlines, including Trump’s VP pick, the rise of political violence in the country, and the San Francisco mayoral race.

Below are excerpts from that interview. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Trump picks JD Vance for VP

KRON4: All right. So to start here, let’s talk a bit about the vice presidential nominee, J.D. Vance, a really interesting candidate. You know, he’s kind of about this rags-to-riches story. He was a former critic of President Trump — not much political experience either. Walk us through the Republican strategy here with getting him on the ticket.

Yang: Well, J.D. Vance is a very effective messenger for Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in particular. Hailing from Ohio, he grew up in the Midwest and understands that part of the country. But it’s a very confident pick on the part of Donald Trump. I do wish that J.D. Vance had piled on to the partisanship in the wake of the Trump assassination attempt.

He said, ‘Hey, this is the Biden administration’s fault.’ I prefer that he would try and reduce the temperature. But I think that’s one reason why Trump likes him, honestly, is that he’ll be a very effective attack dog and surrogate.

KRON4: Okay. And walk us through the contrast between him on the ticket versus, say, Mike Pence who was the vice president before.

Yang: You know, J.D. Vance, again, has a personality of his own. So it’s not this kind of be in the background… So this is more of a messenger of the base kind of pick. I think it indicates a real relationship. I know that J.D. Vance is particularly friendly with some of Trump’s sons in particular.

KRON4: Do you see him being on the ticket, moving undecideds in favor of Trump at all?

Yang: Well, that’s one reason it’s a confident pick, is that I don’t think it does, honestly. And I think Trump felt like he was going to win this race, and he didn’t need someone who’s going to drag in moderates or maybe soften his profile with women. I think he thought, I’m going to win this thing, so I’m just going to pick who I want.

KRON4: Let’s move on to the other big headline related to former President Trump, which is the assassination attempt, of course. Political violence and threats seem to be on the rise, especially when directed towards lawmakers. Do you think this is the new normal here?

Yang: Unfortunately, I think it’s been building for a long time. Threats against members of Congress have gone up 5 to 10 fold, for example. A lot of them have been saying, ‘look, we need protection, we need security.’ It’s not like a member of Congress has The Secret Service in that way. I think this is the new normal. It’s incredibly unfortunate.

Stephanie, it’s one reason I started the Forward Party is because I thought we needed a way to cool down the political temperature and make it so it wasn’t always blue versus red. It’s not left or right, but forward. I feel like we got here a little bit too late, honestly.

Trump’s grand RNC entrance, a VP pick and the new GOP: Takeaways from day 1

KRON4: Okay. And while we’re on the subject of the foreign party, how are things going with it?

Yang: Oh, we’re growing all the time, in part because people are frustrated, people are fed up, people in California are fed up. And if you go to Forward Party, you too can check it out and join a movement of independents and Democrats and Republicans who are saying, ‘look, we deserve better.’ We deserve leaders who will listen to us.

KRON4: All right. Going back to the topic of the assassination attempt, to want to get your perspective on this. The agencies investigating say that they found an AR-15-style weapon near the body of the alleged shooter. Do you think that that discovery is going to change how the former president thinks about gun violence and his stance with the NRA?

Yang: I doubt it will. You know, I don’t think you’re seeing any of that kind of introspection on the part of Trump or his team. Instead, the blame is, as usual, being cast across the aisle, saying that the Biden administration failed the former president in terms of Secret Service detail and making sure that he’s adequately protected. I wish that we were having a gun control discussion right now, but I fear we’re not going to.

KRON4: You’ve been quite vocal about the fact that you’re not in favor of another Biden presidency. You did stump for Dean Phillips until he at least decided to drop out back in March. Is this still something that you feel strongly about not seeing Biden on the ticket?

Yang: I’d be in favor of a Biden candidacy if he was going to win. But as a math guy, he’s not going to win. And he has not been on track to win for quite some time. And that was before this assassination attempt. I think at this point, if you’re the Democrats, you have to be trying to figure out how you can hold the House because you’re probably going to lose the Senate.

And the margin of victory, if you run Joe Biden as your nominee, in my opinion, is going to be a blowout. So at this point, you should be trying to run someone who’s younger and more dynamic to try and make it competitive in November. I do not think that Joe Biden is going to be competitive. And if you want to help out with that, go pass the torch because there are a lot of folks who are concerned about having Joe Biden as the nominee

KRON4: President Biden has said that he thinks his vice president, Kamala Harris, is qualified to be president. What do you think?

Yang: Oh, I think Kamala was vetted. She did run for president. But in my opinion, the Democratic Party should have a mini-primary. Joe Biden should step down and then there should be a mini primary where the top, let’s say six candidates — actually debate. As the American people, we would tune in, and Kamala would be there among that field.

That would be the way that whoever emerged from it would actually have the confidence and the excitement of the American people. Instead of just sending Joe out there to lose or saying, ‘we’re going to anoint this person, and let’s have a real process and a real debate.’

KRON4: Are you going to run for president again?

Yang: Oh, my stock response to that, Stephanie, is apparently I’ve got 40 more years, which is unfortunate how they had some laughs in the studio. But I mean, it’s an unfortunate signal of where we are as a country. I’m the son of immigrants. I want good things for Americans. I do not think that we’re on track to deliver good things.

Unfortunately, I’m just going to do everything I can to help.

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KRON4: All right. And as we start to wrap things up here, I want to get your take on local politics in San Francisco. We have a big mayoral race that’s coming up. We understand that you’re in town also for some local campaign events. Is there a particular candidate in the race right now that’s really interesting to you, that can really change things for the city?

Yang: If you’re a city that’s undergone the challenges that San Francisco has, you should not be voting for the incumbent. Let me say that I think the incumbent should be too ashamed to run. And the fact that she could prevail, again, is a sign of just how insular and dysfunctional our politics are. San Franciscans deserve better leadership than you’ve been getting. So let’s see that that happens hopefully in November.

KRON4: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the next mayor of San Francisco?

Yang: I know it’s public safety, crime, education, making sure that people are excited to live here, to work here, to go to bring their kids to school here. I love this city. My parents met at Berkeley, which is obviously right nearby, and it has seen better days. Again, you all deserve better leadership than you’re getting right now.

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