 People come to me all the time be like, Hey, you're going to run again. I say, apparently I've got 40 more years because if you're, oh, thank you. Appreciate it. Wait, so what did that lady just say? Did she think you're the leader of the green party now? If you think that, Hey, you know, like, uh, Andrew Yang is done. Just stay tuned. What's going on guys? Welcome to a brand new style of video for the hot pop boys today. We are walking around New York city and I'm joined by Andrew Yang. Hey everyone. What's up? Yang gang. Appreciate you. Um, yeah, we're going to get talk about everything that is transpired, what you've been up to a whole bunch of other things. But first off, we have to go get some Taiwanese popcorn chicken. Look at this poppy poppy from Taiwan. I think it just opened last week. Aren't you guys. So we are waiting for our authentic Taiwanese popcorn chicken here at Poppy Poppy, but I got some cold brew tea from Taiwan here. Oolong another person from Taiwan here. Just kidding. Taiwanese American, but uh, I guess what's going on right now in the world, like, I guess a lot of people are unhappy with their choices, right? They don't like how old Biden is. Of course, Trump is super problematic, but nobody's really fully having fully embraced a third party solution. Even though, you know, you started the forward party. Do you feel vindicated with right wrong? And I was talking about AI, uh, back in 2018, 2019, and now AI is very much here. Robots are here to take over. Yeah, the robots are here. It's not the truckers. Uh, first it's going to be coders and artists. Unfortunately, was that an interesting development? We thought it was going to be the physical robotics and it's actually really the is the chat GPD. Yeah, it's happening in a different order than I thought, uh, but the other stuff's happening too. I mean, you look at manufacturing plants, uh, and service workers. A lot of retail is being impacted. So, uh, you know, some of the stuff's happening even faster than I thought it would, uh, it does make me sad. I agree with you, David, that there's a lot of, uh, what the heck are we doing? What are we going to do? A lot of pessimism. And the pessimism is born in part because no one wants a Biden-Trump rematch. I mean, they're going to be a combined 159 years old. It's it's really a dysfunctional system on display. Right. I guess, uh, where does that put you as the, the chairman of the forward party? Yeah. So, uh, we looked at it. I'm the math guy and I thought that if I, let's say, for example, I were to run third party, it would probably not be a good thing. I'd probably help, uh, someone I don't like do well. So, uh, we're trying to help create options in different ways. I will say that the best way to create an option in the presidential right now is to create competition for Joe Biden in the Democratic primary. There's a guy named Dean Phillips who's running against Joe. He's a congressman from Minnesota. He's for universal health care. He's for a lot of things for, oh, he's also for shaking up the two party system. Um, he's a white Andrew Yang. I'm just kidding. We actually even went to the same college. So there's some stuff in common. You don't want to say, you're like, uh, yeah. Like, he's your friend. He's your friend. Uh, he was my friend. Can you just check out because a lot of people watching that are on the left, they're not going to like that you just said that and they're going to go, uh, against you. No, so you're saying that the competition for Biden is good. Do you see what I'm saying? Like a lot of people on the left will be like, yeah, competition for Biden is good because like, you know, they're different folks. Um, there's different factions within a party, right? There's different subgenres. Yeah. And the way you let those factions play it out is you let them vote and compete. If you had a competitive primary, then you'd have Joe and Mary and William saying and Dean Phillips on the debate stage, but the DNC saying no, no, no, let's not debate. Uh, but there are going to be votes cast starting January 23rd in New Hampshire. If Dean Phillips upsets Joe Biden in New Hampshire, then it's game on and I personally would love to see it. Isn't it realistically, and I'm being completely honest here because they don't want Biden's brain to shut down on stage during a debate with other Democrats and that just seems like that would just be blowing the whole mission up, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like the dude taking it on. Yeah. His brain completely like shuts down in the room and his team is trying to minimize occasions where he's going to be performing and thinking on his feet in that way. So they want nothing to do with the debate, but I think that's part of the problem. But one of the things I'm saying is, look, if you want to beat Dean Phillips, Mary, and Williamson, then how are you going to do against Trump? You know, an RFK in the general. So, you know, if your guy can't get there for the primaries, why is he going to get there in the general? Right, right, right. So that's what I guess is interesting right now about everything. I guess what can people do other than, you know, because you're talking about obviously an internal thing within the Democrats, but what beyond that? Like let's say I don't even want to be involved in the whole sphere of politics at all. I'm unhappy. I'm a citizen. I'm a voting age. I'm registered. What can I do? Well, so if you want to avoid politics altogether, and this would make sense for a lot of people. I'm saying just take care of yourself, your business, your health. Take walks outside, turn off your phone. So obviously just watch Fun Bros. videos, but generally speaking, because social media is a downer in a lot of ways. Politics is a downer. What's happening out there in the world is often a downer. So if you want my honest advice, I still like, hey, as you politics just do you and that's totally cool. If you do want to get involved with politics though, I think deep films are a great way to go. I think supporting someone who's running that you like is a great idea. Andy Cam running percent in New Jersey is awesome. Evan Lowe running for Congress in California is awesome. Do we have to support all Asian candidates or is only the ones that are like progressive? Check out candidates as individuals, but certainly I will confess that I give them a much longer look if they happen to be Asian. On the state of the world right now we're talking about the pessimism here. Please dig into this. You know what's going to make you optimistic? Some Taiwanese fried chicken and calamari rings and oyster mushrooms, right? Right, right from poppy poppy. I guess what I'm saying is like is the state of the world legitimately super unstable or is it a social media narrative because I've also read a devil's advocate opinion that the world, you know, the health is up, you know, healthcare, medical tech is up. So and there haven't been as many major major wars until recently. So actually we were in a 2030 period, year period of like really great stability. I've also heard that argument, but it was just a media narrative that everything's always bad. The problem is that no one trusts into institutions anymore. And if you don't trust institutions and it's hard to feel positive about your future because you look up and say, hey, who's going to be looking out for me moving forward? I think that institutional mistrust combined with lack of affordability makes people legitimately ticked off sad because you know, when I ran for president, I said, look, the American dream is just your kids are going to do better than you did. And if you're young, it's like that you're going to do better than your parents did. And the odds of you doing better than your parents are now below 50 50. So that's a legitimate problem. Right. And that's one reason why I still want to see something change at that level. And I know it sucks. I mean, I know you just like, oh, like, you know, I like someone. Maybe it was even me. I didn't work out. So I just want to turn it off. But the problems are still there. And at least for me, thanks to many of you, you know, I still feel like I can make a difference. So like I'm grinding away. And you're getting addressed to haters. Yeah, please address the haters because there are people on the internet out there, whether they're Asian, non-Asian, you know, some of them are your former fans and they're like, yo, Andrew Yang's watch. Obviously, I know that you're still a very capable person and you're still doing a lot of things. But I'm just saying that that may be like an internet perception you see on a platform. Let's just say Reddit, for example. You know, I mean, I get it. And I appreciate everyone who went to bat for me. I will tell you that, you know, on my side, I still feel like I'm capable of all sorts of things. I still got millions of followers and fans, a mailing list of, you know, six figures. I can go on TV anytime I want. And right now, I'm boosting a candidate who I think can make a difference in people's lives. And I got to say both behind the scenes and in front of the camera, I feel like we're moving really, really significant levels of resources. So for those people who are like, Hey, you know, you're out on Yang. It's cool. I'm just going to be here doing my work. And then when you decide to check back in, you'll be like, Oh, this is actually really cool. Like I'm the co-chair of the third biggest political party in the country by resources in year two. My co-chair is a former teacher and governor of New Jersey. If I decided to back a candidate, I can raise five and six figures for them. And I'm picking people who I think are awesome. Who might even do something awesome for you. So, you know, that is true. I didn't have no idea who Dean Phillips and Andy Kim were until recently when you started putting them on or like, you know, I mean, raising awareness about it. But what's the best way to describe Dean Phillips? Because a lot of people are like, Oh, it's just another Democrat. I'm sick of being a Democrat. Democrats are weak and soft and letting all these things happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What is the best way I describe Dean Phillips? He's the CEO of Talenti Gelato, which is the sub-start just an ice cream company that you guys probably know. He really owns a Gelato company. He was the co-founder and CEO of Talenti Gelato that grew and grew in all of our freezers and some of our households. I think I sold a Unilever. He's a business dude. Build a positive entrepreneurial type. And so when he looks at something like our messed up healthcare system or you know, what's going on with our government, he says we can do better. So that's who Dean Phillips is. You know, I tell him all the time. I was like, dude, just lead with Talenti Gelato because people would be like, Oh, clear containers, twist off top. Innovation. That's the kind of thing we need. Also, by the way, he's 54, which is like our current leaders minus two and a half decades. And he's a pretty like that's an upgrade. Let's just put it in simple terms here. He's a pretty moderate Democrat, right? Like, I know he's very, he wants to be tough on crime and he wants to be he's a reasonable dude. He likes police officers as an example, but he also wants universal healthcare. He's pragmatic. He just wants to get shit done. You know, I would agree with the vast majority of what he would do, including by the way, shaking up the two party system. He wants to have a nonpartisan cabinet. He wants to have a youth cabinet where there's a young person from every state. He wants to shake things up. But what's fun is that he's because he's a reasonable guy. People think like, oh, this guy is not going to do anything dramatic. He's actually a stealth transformational figure. What does that mean? Like, you don't look at him and say, Oh, this guy is going to change everything. But if he gets in the White House, he's going to change more than any president in our lifetimes. All right, you guys, we've moved on to another section of our walk and talk with former presidential candidate, Andrew Yang. We're going to be talking about a lot of Asians and politics. What better place to do that than Panda Express? Panda Express, let's go. What is your Panda Express order? You know, I like their please say mushroom chicken for me, that's the mushroom chicken and the Teriyaki filet. Listen, guys, we're in a Panda Express eating Chinese American food. We got a Chinese American sauce and we have a Chinese American political candidate. Um, yo, do you want to split this apple pie egg roll with me real quick? I definitely do. All right, man. Yo, they have apple pie egg rolls here. I don't remember Panda Express having it. So it's a new item. $2. Um, we're here. We got to that's a mixture of East and West, by the way. We have to acknowledge the apple pie. Yeah, I mean, we're talking about how American apple pie is. This reminds me of McDonald's apple pie. That's not a bad thing. Yo, dude, this is pretty good. Is this us in a nutshell? Yo, yo, get the apple pie egg roll at Panda Express. It just dropped this holiday season. What's the situation you're supporting and you came out in New Jersey? Yeah, he's running for senator. Yeah, you are Senate. He's going to go from Congress to Senate. Right? Yeah. Um, what's the situation in a nut shell? He's running against the first lady of New Jersey, Tammy Murphy. She's a Democrat. She's a Democrat. She's the wife of the current governor. But a new poll came out that shows Andy up 23. Because guess what? Andy's been out there grinding in the community for the last six years. And before that, he was in the Middle East of the State Department. When people find out about Andy, they're like, ooh, this guy is an actual. Why didn't the Democrats get behind Andy? Why did they run the governor's wife instead of this guy who's been dedicating his entire life to the game? It's because the first lady in New Jersey said, Hey, I should be a senator. You know, and then the machine. Frankly, the machine has gone behind her because if the machine has a choice between first lady or scrappy Asian Congressional candidate or congressman, then they choose the first lady. But I think the voters are going to vastly prefer Andy Kim. So check out Andy Kim running for Senate in New Jersey. Wouldn't it be great to have a young Asian American senator out of Jersey? I think it's going to happen. Okay. So you left the Democratic Party. I got to be clear with you though. Today, so far you've only supported Democrats on camera on camera. Sure. But I mean, I was supporting you know, Lisa Murkowski who is running for Senate in Alaska. She's an R next to her name. She was like, is the Trumper. And one of my problems with the Democrats is they see what goes on on the Republican side. They're like, Oh, it's all Republican. There's a vast difference between some Republicans who voted to impeach Trump like Lisa Murkowski and then some other more MAGA types. So, you know, we've been getting behind good people of any party. It's a lot of fun and a lot of independence. So you're saying that's something obviously the forward party is doing. You're not just playing the lines. Oh, no. I mean, the joy of being an independence, you get behind a good person of any political party, but Andy Kim's a great great leader and he happens to have a D next to his name. It's cool. Why do you think there's so many Asian South Asian candidates or Asian candidates that are running as Republican this year? You've got obviously the background of Swami. Nikki Haley is getting real close, closer than a lot of people thought. Oh, you know, I think Indians have a slightly different situation and that you know, and it's also not true that all Asians are on one side of the aisle or the other. But I think a lot of Asian Americans are giving the Republican Party a longer look because they're fed up by the crime in neighborhoods by mistreatment in terms of let's say schools in their communities. And let's be honest, I do think and I'm not speaking for myself. I'm just saying a lot of Asians, they came over as students or they came over through a certain immigration process. There may not be the same 100% relatability to the current migrant situation, right? I mean, most Asian Americans in my opinion just want stuff to work. And so if stuff's not working and you look up and say who's in charge and if it's Democrats in charge, they say, huh, maybe I'm for the other team. One of the problems with the system is that they're only these two sides. And so if you don't like what's going on, then you have to choose the other side. And then people think, oh, you're for everything that this other side represents. Most of the time it's not true. Most of the time you're like, look, I just want my streets to be safe, my school to be good for my kids, be able to have a small business or a job that I can actually imagine a better life for myself. As long as those things are there, I'm happy. And if those things aren't there, then I start looking around saying, okay, who do I need to kick out? But why is this practical? Whether you want to call it hyper moderate or hyper centrist view, why is it just it doesn't get people fired up? Well, I can the moderate is not. Why do they move all the time? How come the middle is not sexy? When you say moderate, middle, centrist, it's not sexy. It's not emotional. It's not getting the first one. I just said, which is gets up to work better. I'm not even sure that's moderate. I think that's just common sense. That's sensible. That's rational. That transcends any political ideology. The thing is, if you look at what plays on social media and in the media, it's like certain cultural arguments or trying to villainize someone from the other side. Make people emotional. Yeah, make people emotional. And the disease is that things get worse in your community and just look up saying, okay, like, well, you know, who am I supposed to vote out of office to make this change? And if you're in a blue town like this one, then you start looking at the other other side and saying, huh, maybe they have something there. So that's what a lot of Asian Americans are struggling with right now, and particularly in blue enclaves like let's call it San Francisco. Like they're a lot of pissed off Asian Americans in San Francisco because they're really unhappy. Yeah, I mean, they're really unhappy with the way the city is being run, right? Yeah. And so by the way, you know what's happening in San Francisco as an example. So the incumbent Democratic mayor, London breed is running for reelection. And I think that's crazy. I think that city needs a change in leadership. And so everyone's like, oh shoot, do we have an option here? And so there's not an Asian running against London breed, but there's a guy named Daniel Lurie who's an outsider. And I'm going to suggest worth a long look if you're a pissed off Asian in San Francisco. So you know, I'm personally supportive of Daniel Lurie. I don't think that the incumbent should get reelected after presiding over the fiasco. That is what's happened in San Francisco over the last number of years, but it's a blue town and it's a machine town. And so then everyone's like London breed. She's such a good job. Let's bring her back. I think that's messed up. I bet a lot of Asians agree with that. What's the future of Asians and politics, man? Like you said earlier, you know, when you were saying for the people who want to stay out of the political sphere, focus on your family, get your finances in order, probably up your financial IQ, have some savings, just put your kids in a good school district or whatever. Convince more Asians to think about politics, at least local. Oh, what are you saying? Yeah, you should get engaged with a candidate or leader that you like and believe in. So I'm calling out a couple, Andy Kim in New Jersey, Evan Lowe's running for Congress in California is great. My guy, Dean Phillips, who wants to give us a choice on the presidential line. Just find a person that you're excited about and say, okay, look, I'm not necessarily getting into politics, but I like Andy Kim. Let's get him into the Senate. And then you'll see any Kim won't let you down. By the way, any Kim's a great guy. Evan Lowe won't let you down. Dean Phillips won't let you down. That doesn't mean that they're all going to win, but they're all genuine leaders. You want to try and do right by you. And then if they get into office, you know, you can be like, all right, fantastic. Let's see what they can get done. The second part of this, by the way, which is what I'm working on, is trying to make the system more responsive to us because one of the reasons why so many of us are saddened by politics is you get the sense even if I get a good person in there, they're not going to be able to deliver. They're going to be co-opted by the system, right? Like even their ideals or the things they want to do, maybe they're like, oh man, I wanted to do this thing. Hey, that guy gave you a million dollars as a donor check. I can't go against him. Yeah, you have a lot of machinery in place that wants to keep things from changing in a way that helps people. I'm trying to change the machines. And I think that the current two party systems failed the country. It's going to fail us again if we get a bottom truck rematch. So I'm creating an alternative, which you know, my joke is look, we're the third biggest country. We're the third biggest party in the country by resources. There's just a very, very steep drop off between two and three which there is. But you know, at year two, having dozens of elected officials, having a former governor and cabinet secretary as my co-chair. I mean, you know, we're doing all right. We just got on the ballot in South Carolina and Utah. So, you know, we're making progress and it's one of those, you know, it's not going to get built in a day type endeavors. Yeah, we're wrapping up this portion of our walk and talk. Here, let me let you join in. Yes. Yo, this chili crisp shrimp at Panda, another banger between this and the apple pie egg roll. We had that out of order. All right, so we sort of covered the national political landscape, sort of the Asian political landscape as far as Asian Americans being involved. What do you think about New York City and how, you know, your former opponent, Mayor Adams has been doing. I mean, as someone who lives here, my parent here, just wanted Eric Adams to succeed in the sake of the city. But I think it's objectively true that he's kind of gotten caught in some of his lesser tendencies and makes me sad. Not not surprised. When you say lesser tendencies, are you talking about popping bottles with models or you don't care about that? You're talking about on a policy level. Yeah, I mean, he's got a tendency towards cronyism and like cutting corners, seeing rules as optional. And it seems like his administration is getting swamped in those kinds of controversies and scandals, which would be okay if his administration was doing a great job. But they're cutting things like library hours on Sundays. I heard they might cut 3K or pre-K Yeah, they're cutting they're cutting like a 3K, which is for three year olds. They're cutting the next three police classes, which strikes me as one of the last things you would ever want to cut when you're still dealing with with concerns around public safety. So, you know, it's totally disappointing. I do think there's a great chance that he does not wind up with a second term. And at this point, I think the city should be ready to move on. Okay. I guess like you're not going to run again for the mayor of New York. No, I want to see to it that you know, there's a mayor everyone's excited about if there's someone that I'm convinced would do a great job that, you know, I might get behind them and support them. The reason I ran last time was I didn't see that candidate. You know, so I take things year to year, right? I guess what can people do, man? Well, what about New York? Like, what's the future of New York right now? Obviously, you've got a mayor that a lot of people are pretty unhappy with. Like everybody's in this place of like, you know, pessimism, cynicism. Like you said, I think institutions are what America is like known for to have that is better than other countries. If the trust in those institutions is evaporating, then what? So my two things is number one, if you don't have faith in institutions, you can still have faith in people. You can still find human beings. You're like, look, I think that's a good person. I'd like to see them. So it could be you guys, could be the fun bros, be like, hey, love their videos, want to support them in any way by the chili oil. You know, it could be a figure like Andy Kim or Dean Phillips or Evan Lowe or even me. But it's also about, hopefully modernizing institutions. You know, it's like if our political system doesn't work so well, maybe we should have rank choice voting, open primaries and things that make it work better. And there are folks who are trying to make things better still, you know, so, you know, find a person you believe in and find a way to make it so you actually can get excited about an institution again. All right, you guys, so we have arrived at the bodega. I'm going to get a turkey egg and cheese with lettuce and tomato with all the works. Excuse me. Hey, can I get a turkey egg and cheese with lettuce, tomato, onions, grilled onions and everything? All right, you guys, we've got our turkey egg and cheese here, salt, pepper, ketchup. Oh, I inherited half of this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a good order. What do you want? Like young Asians who are into apologies? It's not that there's as many, right? But there's certainly some and they feel underfed. They've seen your story. They saw a meteoric rise. And obviously, I know you, you're still doing a ton of stuff. But I guess on the shallow side, it looks like a meteoric fall. I run into young people all the time who'd be like, oh, man, like, loved you in the campaign. And in person, they're still all love. And even from my perspective, you know that there's nothing like a presidential campaign. You know what I mean? You go and you have this incredible movement and you're trying to get something done, still trying to get the same things done. You can't necessarily have the same level of energy around you all the time as when you're on the cusp of a presidential election. But no, like, I'm the same person I was before that run than after that run and still just trying to get great things done. But being out in the world, people come up to me all the time and just like, hey, man. Yeah. Like, you know, it's like, I can confirm this because while we've been filming this video on the West side of Manhattan, I don't know. I think you've had like eight or nine people be like, Hey, like, it was all good vibes. Yeah, because people sense that I was trying to help them. I'm still trying to help them. And, you know, you might not see everything I'm doing still trying to help. If you have been following me all to the good. But one of the things my wife says is like, look, in political terms, I'm still freaking young. I mean, one of my jokes is people come to me all the time be like, hey, you're going to run again. I say, apparently I've got 40 more years. You know, there's a lot of stuff to be done between now and then. And if you think that, hey, you know, like, Andrew Yang is done, just stay fucking tuned. Hey, man, what a way to end our very first walk and talk episode of the Hop Hop Boys. Good. You're right. You're changing my order.