Andrew Yang on Joe Biden's presidential campaign

Andrew Yang on Joe Biden/2020 Democratic Nominee | Rebuilding post-Coronavirus Crisis | GZERO World

What I'd want Joe to do, is that we have to let the American people know that this pandemic is going to cause damage that's going to be with us for years. And we need a new Marshall Plan scale initiative to rebuild the country. And to me, that should be the vision that Joe presents saying, it's not just enough that, look, I would in minister the government effectively through this kind of crisis, but to recognize the fact that there are going to be scars that are deep and wide from this economic, psychological, cultural, and that we need to have this massive rebuilding effort that is going to span years and years.

And this is what the rebuilding effort looks like. We're going to make investments in this. Some of the obvious ones are the things that we've needed for years or decades like greater environmental sustainability infrastructure, things that you could legitimately spend hundreds of billions of dollars on and create hundreds of thousands, even millions of jobs. That to me would be the vision that we should be presenting because the danger is that this becomes just pure referendum on Trump. And I think that Trump's done a terrible job managing the coronavirus crisis. But there is a natural propensity for people to rally around the flag and rally around the leader in a time of crisis. And Joe has to make a positive case and present a bigger vision than I'm not Trump, let's go back to normal.

Ian Bremmer: And when can he start doing that? Because I mean right now of course, I mean not only do we have these press conferences every day, but we're in the teeth of the crisis. We haven't turned the corner yet. People are still under lock down. Can Biden start to deliver that message now or I mean does he really realistically speaking have to wait until we at least have the immediacy, the urgency of all of these people dying in the rear view mirror?

Andrew Yang: That's a great question, Ian. I personally do not think it is too soon to start presenting a positive vision of what we can do after this crisis. Even in the depths of the crisis, even right now when, I agree with you, to me, priority number one is just getting PPE into the hands of healthcare providers in Louisiana. That's number one. And so focusing on that is 100% the right thing to do, but it's not too soon to start thinking about how we're going to actually rebuild after this crisis clears, whether that's weeks, months from now or even next year after hopefully a vaccine gets developed. To me that's one of the roles of the presidency is to present a vision to the country that people can get excited about and passionate about.

More from GZERO Media

Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party Pete Hoekstra speaks during the Michigan GOP's Election Night Party.
REUTERS/Emily Elconin

Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped former Michigan congressman and Netherlands ambassadorPete Hoekstra to be US ambassador to Canada.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony for the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2020.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Donald Trump’s election win has Canadian premiers worried about the future of free trade. Trump has promised to levy across-the-board tariffs of between 10 and 20%, but it’s unclear whether Canada would be included.

Striking Canada Post workers, represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).
REUTERS/Carlos Osorio

After years of struggles with their employer, Canada Post, posties in Canada have gone on strike as the holiday season settles in.

In this photo illustration, a Google Chrome logo seen displayed on a smartphone with a Google Logo in the background.
Reuters

The Department of Justice is fighting to force Google to sell off its Chrome browser in an antitrust action against the company.

Malawi soldiers part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) military mission for eastern Congo, wait for the ceremony to repatriate the two bodies of South African soldiers killed in the ongoing war between M23 rebels and the Congolese army in Goma, North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo February 20, 2024.
REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi

Fighters from the M23 rebel group in northeastern Congo have been targeting civilians in violation of a July ceasefire agreement, according to the Southern African Development Community, whose peacekeeping mandate was extended by a year on Wednesday.

Ari Winkleman

Donald Trump has promised a laundry list of things he will accomplish “on Day 1” in office. To name a few, he has vowed to immediately begin a mass deportation of immigrants, streamline the federal government, pardon Jan. 6 rioters, and roll back the Biden administration’s education and climate policies.