Rahm Emanuel isn’t warm and fuzzy. He curses. A lot. And he is seemingly unconcerned what some of the most liberal elements of the party think of him and his views on where Democrats need to go.
But, here’s the thing about Emanuel: He’s almost always right. For my money, he is the single best message person in the Democratic party. He has a golden ear for what voters want to hear and, as importantly, what they don’t want to hear from his party.
Which brings me to Rahm’s appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher” over the weekend. Emanuel was asked by Maher about Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s horrendous approval rating and rather than just diagnose Johnson’s issues, he went broader — with a take on what ails the national Democratic party.
And here’s the really important thing Rahm said:
We've gone through 5 years where people became way too permissive as a culture. Which is why everything is locked up at CVS and Walgreens, that's a disaster. I don't want to hear another word about the locker room, I don't want to hear another word about the bathroom. You better start focusing on the classroom. In 7th grade if I had known I could have said 'they' and got in the girls bathroom, I would have done it.
And, scene.
Whether you think this is a fair perception of who Democrats are and what they believe, it is absolutely the view that lots of Americans — particularly those living in the middle of the country — feel.
For them, the Democratic brand is all about wokeness, all about permissiveness. And not at all about everyday economic concerns.
It’s one of the biggest reasons Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election. Independents and soft Republicans simply did not believe she and her party were focused on the things that really mattered to them.
Like I said: You can hate Rahm. But if you are a Democrat, you should listen to him. He’s been right a whole lot of times during his long career in party politics.
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