Okay, so Andrew Yang has called for Marianne Williamson to drop out of the race and to back Dean Phillips. And I really have to say: WTF?!
Okay, so, here's the thing about Dean Phillips. I like Dean Phillips. I admit, he started off as kinda meh, but I warmed up to him. However, Marianne Williamson has a better platform. And in the democratic primary, that's what matters for me. And you know what, speaking as an OG Yang ganger myself, I fundamentally reject Yang's take here. Dean Phillips has offered to run trials on UBI, Marianne Williamson supports UBI outright. Dean Phillips supports medicare for all, but also has kinda maybe indicated he might go in a different direction that's far more moderate, and Marianne just supports medicare for all full stop. It kind of baffles me that Yang is going so far to support Dean. It's one thing to endorse him. He kinda talked UBI first, before Williamson, and Yang gave an endorsement. ANd then Williamson embraced the policy fully, and Yang ended up feeling like he couldn't retract the endorsement because he already made his bed. Me, I'm not under those pressures. i will support who I want, I am beholden to no one, but my ideas, and I will follow the candidate that best represents those ideas. And that is Williamson.
This also happened BEFORE the polls closed, btw. I'm not saying this, knowing now that Dean has 20% of the vote, and Williamson 4-5%. I'm talking before this.
Personally, it's one thing to support a candidate over another, but to tell them to drop out so boldly before the results were in, especially when williamson objectively has a better platform on UBI and medicare for all right now, is disgraceful. I'm sorry. She should NOT drop out over that. maybe you can make an argument NOW after the results are known that, yeah....20% vs 5%? Maybe back Dean so we can get to 25%, but the way yang did this leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Don't get me wrong. I like Dean Phillips too. I just endorsed him as a very close runner up to williamson. I think he has strengths williamson doesn't, but he also has weaknesses that williamson doesn't. He's more practical and pragmatic, but also way more moderate. And whatever I think about Marianne's loopy new age views and weird "give peace a chance" foreign policy, Dean Phillips is a bit too moderate too. He told williamson her stuff is too expensive (although to be fair now that she's promising UBI on top of everything else he might be right), and even talked about having republicans in his cabinet. I mean...no. They both have flaws.
To be fair, Williamson's response lacked class too though. She went full on into sexism and framed it as a man telling a woman to step aside. Look, Marianne, people tell each other to drop out all the time. I know there was a lot of pressure for Ron Desantis to drop out so that in new hampshire Nikki haley had a chance. They made a man drop out, a man who CAME IN SECOND, by the way, to make way for the woman who came in third. And I didn't like that framing too much either. As much as I believed that the establishment needed to consolidate between desantis and and haley, i kinda believed desantis earned the right to fight on. You, as the third placer, do not tell the second placer to drop out.
I would say, NOW, HOURS LATER, yeah, we can make an argument for williamson to drop out. SHe got 5%, she barely registered, and dean phillips clearly has far more support in new hampshire at least. Even then, I have seen the national numbers and williamson is still the stronger candidate, new hampshire doesn't represent all of america, so I'm not even comfortable calling for that. I think that they should at least play out Nevada and South Carolina, and consolidate by super tuesday, if they are going to do it. But right now? no.
I mean, that's why Ron Desantis dropped out. Even though he came in second in iowa, his polling numbers in future states were dismal enough to make him just pull the plug and get behind haley. Iowa didnt necessarily reflect the country either.
But yeah. I don't like Andrew yang telling Williamson to drop out, when Williamson is, in some ways, a stronger candidate than Dean is. I also dont like Williamson playing the identity politics card to defend herself. If I were williamson, I'd lean into UBI. I'd frame it like this: "Look, Andrew, I support your top 2020 priority, basic income, full stop, Dean does not. Why are you telling me to drop out when he doesn't have as strong of a position on this issue? Why are you still endorsing him? My campaign represents what you ran on better than his in the first place"
Focus on the ISSUES. I hate it when these woman candidates (Hillary 2016, Warren 2020, now Williamson 2024) always hide behind the sexism card. It's cheap, it's lame, it's dishonest. It makes me lose respect for you when you do that. It's deflecting legitimate criticism. It's detracting from the issues. it's accusing your opponent of sexism. Really, it's a bad look. Don't do it. And I say this as someone who endorsed Williamson over Phillips. I believe Williamson has a stronger platform from an economic perspective. Dean Phillips is just another centrist with a progressive flair. Williamson is basically running as Bernie with UBI at this point, which is basically what I want deep down.
I'm just saying, she didn't have to go that way with her response. She had a policy argument. She should have used that, not the cheap shot identity card.
As far as what I actually think now that the results are in...I don't know. I'm not really inclined to pressure either to drop out. It's not like either candidate has a serious chance against Biden. Dean phillips did stronger in new hampshire, but he's weaker nationwide. Either way, with Biden at 70% of the vote, it's kind of a moot point, is it not? Why not just let both candidates virtue signal as they want? That's all these campaigns are. They're not gonna accomplish anything, they're a virtue signal. If Biden was at say, 45%, or even 55% like Trump is in some states, i would say, yeah, maybe consolidate the field a bit. Should Williamson make way for phillips, or phillips for williamson? I don't know. I COULD get behind the idea of williamson dropping out and backing phillips. But at the same time, nationally, Williamson is at 7%, and Phillips is at 3.3. As I said, new hampshire is not the entire US. Phillips had a nice break through moment there, but we don't know yet if this win will help him gain steam. I'd say if Williamson can't gain ground by South Carolina, yeah, she should drop out. If, however, Williamson gains ground in Nevada and South Carolina and it's more mixed, I'm not sure what should happen.
Honestly, i think Yang was jumping the gun and it came off as kind of rude, and I think Williamson's sexism insinuation lacked class. That's how I feel about this. This whole incident is cringe and I feel bad that people I normally respect so much are infighting like this.
My take, let the race play out a bit more. If Dean maintains his momentum, yeah, you can argue williamson should drop out. If Dean's lead is a flash in the pan and Williamson started trouncing phillips in future states, maybe Dean would drop out.
As far as my recommendations, I remain resolute. I made up my mind, and I waited pretty long to do so. I didn't full endorse williamson until the debate between them, and then UBI sealed the deal further. I gave both a chance, I like both to a certain degree. I just liked williamson better. And I stand by that. Phillips, I could live with too.There's no reason for infighting like this. It's just incendiary, and it's threatening to make this race ugly. Focus on the issues, and maybe someone drop out in time for super tuesday.
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