In the two years that Andrew Yang spent running for president, he shocked the political world. Yet, for the first year of that run, Wikipedia wouldn’t list him as a real candidate, Twitter wouldn’t verify his profile, and his events drew crowds of 30 or less in major cities. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Andrew Yang became a political sensation. He began drawing crowds of 5,000 chanting “MATH”, appearing as a guest on every late-night talk show, and his supporters, the Yang Gang, were dominating Twitter with his talking points. Since Yang’s political breakthrough, the millions who followed the 2020 democratic primary, the Yang Gang, and cross-industry marketers have all been left wondering — how the hell did that happen?
Fortunately for those left head-scratching, the story of Yang’s rise was documented and is told in this proposed book — Imposter Revolutionary. Inside the Andrew Yang approved political memoir (Yang has said he will write a foreword), author and narrator Andrew Frawley tells the story of Yang’s campaign from the point of view of the organization’s second staff member — a late-blooming millennial gamer, with no previous experience or interest in politics, who came to serve as the founder and director of the campaign’s marketing department — the team that coordinated the major hallmarks of Yang’s online movement.
Frawley’s critical role in shaping Andrew Yang’s campaign from its early days provides the Yang Gang and curious politicos a rare window into the campaign’s biggest mysteries. Imposter Revolutionary will discuss every major stage of the campaign, beginning from launch (three people working out of Yang’s mother’s apartment) the first year (toiling away on the strategies that gave way to Yang’s rise), and the fully scaled organization of 300+ staffers (once Andrew Yang became a serious contender for president of the United States). Lessons and stories from each of these stages will be subtly and accessibly framed with startup language to allow their successful crossover to startup employees of the growth market.
Frawley’s first months on the campaign were often spent traveling one-on-one with Yang, the two of them feeling like “such revolutionaries”, as Yang would say. The two Andrews rode around the nation together, frequently in Yang’s mother’s 1996 Subaru Impreza, speaking to whoever would listen. Throughout the campaign, the grandeur of Frawley’s travel stories scaled in parallel with the campaign’s success, including meeting Joe Biden, physically bumping into Elizabeth Warren, getting stuck at a Kamala Harris staff event, and attending the bizarre event that is an Iowa caucus.
Frawley’s shocking and intimate stories from his time on the campaign will set Imposter Revolutionary up as a page-turner with broad appeal. This book will detail stories and strategies known to almost no one, including those within the campaign’s inner circles, and will answer questions like: What caused the inexplicable fetishizing of Andrew Yang by the alt-right? Does MATH really stand for “Make America Think Harder”? How did Frawley’s 4th-grade crush redefine how Andrew Yang writes his signature?
Frawley grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Despite his proximity to the nation’s capital, he was always dubious about politics for the same reasons as most Americans — every politician seemed to be lying and playing games rather than focusing on helping people.
Frawley’s youth revolved around the internet and video games. He would often spend 80 hours a week (or more) online. This preoccupation contributed to his becoming overweight, 300 pounds at his heaviest. Discontent with his offline reality, Frawley earned Cs and Ds in high school and only had two friends. It was these early identifiers — overweight, dumb, and shy — that set the stage for a life of feeling like an imposter.
One summer in late high school, Frawley was struck by the motivation to shock his classmates, most of whom had never paid much attention to him. He began working out and studying how to be a social person. By the end of the summer, he had lost 100 pounds, and taught himself how to be confident from the articles on the internet. These changes were more than noticed by his classmates. Frawley became a symbol of an inspiring comeback story and was crowned “Prom King” by his senior class.
Frawley spent most of his time in college directionless and devising failed plans to “change the world.” One such plan manifested in an application to Venture for America (VFA), an organization for young entrepreneurs that was founded by none other than Andrew Yang. Frawley’s application was denied after an embarrassing visit to the company’s headquarters in NYC.
Crushed, Frawley moved to San Francisco where he lived in a 50-person hacker house (basically a dormitory of aspirational tech nerds). It was there that, after an existential crisis, he became consumed by concerns about the automation of jobs, and the threat that it posed to the stability of society.
While on a trip to New York City, Andrew Frawley crossed-paths with Andrew Yang. The two Andrews connected on their shared view of the automation issue and the urgent need for radical change. Shortly thereafter, Yang emailed Frawley, “I'm running for president in 2020 on Universal Basic Income. If you’re into that, feel free to join.” Frawley replied, “That is bananas. I am totally in.”
Thus began Frawley’s 800-day imposter-syndrome-riddled journey into politics.