In 2020, Chris Evans launched A Starting Point, which was supposed to be a political-explainer site with short videos in which politicians and experts could explain laws, bills and policies in short video clips. The site was supposed to be for Gen Z (the youths) and Chris got a lot of well-deserved pushback for engaging in both-sidesism and for platforming fascists. I actually didn’t know that A Starting Point was still a thing – I thought maybe Chris had quietly folded it or re-engineered it. But no. It’s still happening, and on Wednesday, Chris co-hosted a youth forum at the White House AND he got to meet President Biden.
Chris Evans and Mark Kassen, co-founders of the civic engagement not-for-profit A Starting Point, were speaking to Jean-Pierre and other White House officials for a youth forum about the environment, climate change, and the economy.
“We thought we could help shine a light on certain issues and create more civic engagement,” Evans told CNBC’s Emily Wilkins at an appearance at the National Press Club on Monday. “We each have our own social media [accounts]. We each have our own opinions, but that only reaches a certain amount. I think we both felt more good could come from creating a mechanism, a platform, where it is more about engagement, about education, demystifying issues to create a government that more accurately reflects who we are, because if you have half of the country not voting and not using their voice, you will never have a government that understands where we are going.”
Evans and Kassen have said that they don’t want to be at the center of A Starting Point in the longterm. Evans, for instance, had been very vocal in criticism of Donald Trump on Twitter, now known as X. Evans said, “I’ve made my opinions known so vocally that you don’t want someone at face value to think that we are pushing something. The nature of the site is information based and not my opinion. I am not an expert. I’m not a journalist. I have no right to be in this arena, other than as a voter, as an American, who wants to play on the one string I have, which is my voice, as we all should.”
When Wilkins asked if either of them thought about going into politics, they each said no even though they admitted to being intrigued. “I don’t think so,” Evans said. “I think there’s better ways to be a part of the world without having to do the work that goes into being an elected official.”
I suspect that – unlike the political reporting to the contrary – the Biden administration won’t be using celebrities as election year “surrogates” per se, but the administration will be using celebs like Chris to push voter engagement and education, and then GOTV. After the forum, President Biden did a video with Chris and apparently there are official Biden-administration aviator sunglasses now??? When did that happen?? Is Ray Ban doing a White House collab? Biden told Evans, “What you’re doing with the kids matters, so thanks for doing this…I’m a fan.”
Chris, thanks for everything you're doing to get young folks engaged in government and public service.
Because of you, our country's youngest leaders are getting off the sidelines and helping build the backbone of their communities. pic.twitter.com/TmN1Wk1qer
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 31, 2024
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, White House video.
He’s and Mark are trying to make a positive difference and I respect that.
I wonder how well those shades will sell.
If there are any Arab, Arab-American, and Palestinian-American readers left on this site, how do you feel about this post?
If it was Trump, this site would have most likely been covering every part of this genocide. Disappointed.
I’m none of those, but as a Canadian, I’m equally disappointed in my government’s response on Gaza, especially when, unlike the Biden administration’s statement before the ICJ preliminary decision and emergency orders, my government said they would respect the ICJ decision, and here they are, in lock step with the US defunding UNRWA and not saying a peep as the genocidal violence continues unabated.
Arab-American here – I posted a comment below but just saw yours. I am dumbfounded by this post.
Does Biden even care about getting the youth vote?
Based on how he’s handling everything in the Middle East, the answer is a resounding NO. Probably doesn’t help that the second in line to the presidency has accused young protestors of being Putin puppets or working for China.
It all bodes very poorly for the upcoming election. Sigh.
First, Nancy Pelosi is not second in line to the presidency. Not only is she not the current Speaker, she’s not even the current Democratic leader.
Second, she told the group the go back to their headquarters in China. While they do not have headquarters in china, a NYT investigation did reveal that over 1/4 of their funding came from groups connected to a man promoting pro-china messages. That man does have headquarters in China. His wife, who is the president of Code Pink, “strongly supports China and regards it as a defender of the oppressed and a model for economic growth without slavery or war.” I guess Uyghur people don’t exist. So Nancy wasn’t all the way wrong.
@kitten
So true. Any criticism of apartheid is immediately misrepresented as “foreign” influence. The pro-apartheid crowd are projecting their own sins on to others.
Chris Evans is as rancidly pro-apartheid as Biden, so water found its own level there…
TBD on how this plays out in 2024, but in the past we’ve seen 2 clear trends:
– GOP does not do as well during special elections (esp post Dobbs, presumably because the left is more politically engaged right now)
– More people voting -> worse outcomes for the GOP
So celebs like Chris & Taylor probably don’t feel a need to push hard for Biden and can focus on GOTV with (hopefully) the same outcome.
He looks like Robin Thicke.