Some Bernie supporters are spreading the lie that Yang said Biden promised him a cabinet position

[highplainsdem]

in return for dropping out and later endorsing him, and that Yang supposedly admitted this during an interview on the Breakfast Club a few days ago. (See reply 3 below for a Twitter link for a keyword search that will turn up many of these posts.)

This smear is complete BS.

YouTube link for the interview is below. The exchange being talked about is about 15 minutes in.

There'd been a much longer discussion first of whether Yang might run for mayor of NYC, which starts about 14 minutes in.

After saying that running for mayor is "a good possibility for sure," Yang says there are other possibilities including that he might join the administration "in some form" if the Democrats beat Donald Trump.

Yang is then asked directly if Biden offered him a cabinet position..

He says it's pretty clear he'd "have a place in the administration."

Which probably translates to Biden having told him he'd appreciate his help in the future.

I'm seeing lots of Bernie supporters claiming that Yang "admitted" that Biden "promised" him a cabinet position in return for dropping out and then endorsing Biden. They're calling this an illegal quid pro quo.

But Yang said no such thing.

Yang is obviously stressing that he still has lots of public service possibilities ahead of him, including possibly becoming mayor of NYC. This is exactly what should be expected -- he's putting as positive a spin as he can on his future, even after his presidential run failed. Yang says this sort of thing a lot. He said back in December that he'd consider being VP if the eventual nominee asked him:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/474689-yang-says-he-would-consider-offer-to-be-bidens-vp

And I have a very vague recollection of Yang posting a photo of himself and Biden in Iowa last summer, suggesting perhaps jokingly that they could be running mates. This was at one of the campaign events in Iowa that a lot of candidates showed up for.

This is just what Yang does. It's a type of perfectly harmless self-promotion.

But there's nothing in this Breakfast Club interview to suggest he was offered anything by Biden, let alone promised something in return for leaving the race and endorsing Biden.

It's disgusting that Bernie supporters are twisting what he said.

Anyway, if you run across this crap on social media. please shoot it down. This lie viciously smears both Yang and Biden.


That Breakfast Club interview:

[James48]

1. Please- already-

Stop with the "Bernie supporters did this... Bernie supporters did that".

There is nothing wrong with talking with another candidate and working to ensure your group/follower's interests are represented and/or incorporated - and that includes discussions about cabinet positions, or vital inputs into various recommendations in the future. THAT's POLITICS.

It's not right to be attributing nefarious complaints about unnamed Bernie supporters. Not here.

Just leave it, please?

Thank you.

[NurseJackie]

2. ...

[highplainsdem]

3. Go to Twitter and search for the keywords

biden yang cabinet

https://twitter.com/search?q=biden%20yang%20cabinet&src=typed_query

and you'll see what's going on.

I hadn't spent as much time as usual scanning Twitter for posts about Biden the last few days, but this morning when I was just searching for

biden

one of those posts accusing Biden and Yang of a quid pro quo popped up fairly quickly, and I searched and saw how many of them there were.

So I decided to post about it here, so DUers can shoot this lie down wherever they find it.


Editing to add that I've added a sentence to the first paragraph of the OP, directing people to this reply so they can use that Twitter keyword-search link for themselves.

[TwilightZone]

4. There's nothing wrong with calling out lies.

Since most of this nonsense starts with, and is perpetuated by, his senior campaign staff (the "dementia" nonsense, the "Where is Biden?" nonsense, etc.), there's nothing wrong with pointing out that it's nonsense. His staff has done more to push unfounded rumors and undermine Sanders than "unnamed Bernie supporters" have.

If Sanders supporters have more of a problem with the nonsense being called out than with the false smears in the first place, that's part of the problem.

[NCProgressive]

5. If the shoe fits ....

[George II]

7. This took me twelve seconds:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[highplainsdem]

9. Yes. Very easy to turn up a lot of those with a keyword search.

[George II]

10. I saw several dozen before I stopped scrolling down.

[Cha]

18. TY, George

[William769]

8. I guess you missed the thread last night on Unnamed Biden Cyber bulliies

That's dangerous.

[Sympthsical]

11. Watch 2016 replay.

And the people constantly bashing Bernie supporters will be totally stunned and accept no responsibility.

Hating people and calling them cultists doesn’t bring them to your side? Who’d have thought.

[Progressive dog]

6. I expected nothing less from them

and they continue to exceed my expectations. It's time for those people to crawl back to wherever they came from.

[DanTex]

12. LOL. He literally says "we've talked, and I'd have a place in the administration".

Not necessarily a cabinet position, but yes, obviously, Yang has been offered a position in a future Biden administration. It's not ambiguous. Why are people trying to deny this?

[highplainsdem]

13. That could simply mean Biden told Yang he was sure they could use his help and input.

Doesn't mean any actual position was offered.

Let alone a cabinet position.

Nor was there an offer made to get Yang to drop out and endorse Biden, as those Sanders supporters are alleging.

My guess is that Yang told Biden he'd be happy to help in any way he could, and Biden politely told him they'd appreciate his help.

[Celerity]

14. because the words 'cabinet position' never came out of Yang's mouth, so to claim it did is a lie

[Demsrule86]

17. So what? Even if true...it is meaningless. Yang endorsed after Buttigieg and Klobachar,

You mean politics might be involved in a primary? I need my fainting couch...

[The Magistrate]

15. This Illustrates The Blinkered Naivite Of The Whole 'Bernie' Cult, Sir

What in pluperfect Hell is supposed to be wrong with Mr. Biden offering Mr. Yang some inducement to get on board with Mr. Biden's campaign? This is how politics is, this is what effective politics looks like. This is dirt normal as bacon and eggs for breakfast. At least when Mr. G.B. Shaw was said to have made his life's work 'Declaring the obvious in terms of the scandalous' he did so with some style and illumination. This is just ignorant pretense and self-righteous priggery on display.



"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."

[Demsrule86]

16. Yang didn't have enough followers to make that worthwhile...and he endorsed him during

a primary where Biden massacred Sanders....boy these folks are desperate.