On Sunday, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang appeared on CNN to discuss his tweets criticizing the FBI’s raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and to discuss his new Forward Party. In the ten-minute plus interview, Yang struggled to have clear answers to many of Jim Acosta’s tricky questions. When pressed on the Mar-a-Lago search, Yang was asked if he thought it was “okay” for Trump to have “top secret documents” and answered. “no”. Of course, we have little information about the nature of the documents in question and this was just a CNN dig at Yang for taking an unapproved talking point on the matter.

I’m no Trump fan. I want him as far away from the White House as possible. But a fundamental part of his appeal has been that it’s him against a corrupt government establishment. This raid strengthens that case for millions of Americans who will see this as unjust persecution.

— Andrew Yang🧢⬆️🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) August 9, 2022

Acosta points out that the “moderate, common-sense majority” as Yang describes the Forward Party, is also the title of Yang’s new book. Acosta asks,

“But are you just promoting yourself, I guess is what I’m asking, are you just out there promoting yourself with this?”

Yang laughs off the question saying starting a national political party is a silly way to sell books. Acosta then plays a video of Democratic Strategist James Carville who calls the Forward Party “a really stupid idea.” The abrasive interview continued with Yang struggling to convey the platforms of his new centrist third party. Acosta grilled Yang about the party’s positions on the hot-button issues of gun control and Roe v. Wade. Yang responds,

“The Forward Party has a not left or right but forward stance on even the most divisive and contentious issues,”

Acosta fires back,

“Well, what does that mean? Don’t you have to take a position on something?”

Yang repeats his ideas about the “common sense consensus majority” and the two-party system. Acosta concludes that the party doesn’t have any policy saying,

“It doesn’t sound like you are taking any hard positions. It sounds like you’re sort of a fill-in-the-blank party. You know, if somebody wants a party with no clear policy positions, you’re it.”

Yang continues,

“We’re for the common sense consensus on guns, abortion, climate change but we’re not getting a common sense consensus result on any of those issues.”

Acosta rebuttals,

“What are those positions? Those are just sort of fuzzy… but those are fuzzy… nebulous… it sounds like something you came up with in a focus group.”

Truth be told, Yang’s Forward Party is light on the platform issues that we are accustomed to seeing. Some of the platform is repackaged from his presidential campaign, you will find Universal Basic Income and the VAT tax are still included. The real agenda is to change elections to have ranked choice voting and open primaries, as I previously wrote about while Yang was in Nevada where his supporters have put this voting reform on the ballot for November. Democrats, Republicans, and the Libertarian Party in the state have criticisms from party leadership, and lawsuits already swirling.

Read more: FreedomFest ’22: Andrew Yang Announces Forward Party and ‘Final 5’ Voting Reforms