Emanuel Warns: Democrats Have ‘Lost the Plot’ — and Voters are Noticing
“You are worried about bathroom access and locker room access, why don’t you focus on classroom excellence? You have 50% of our kids not reading at grade level.”
Likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender Rahm Emanuel sat down this week with Michael Moynihan, co-host of The Fifth Column podcast. A veteran of American politics, he has served as a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton, White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama, a member of Congress, mayor of Chicago, and U.S. ambassador to Japan.
Reflecting on the current state of his party, Emanuel told Moynihan, “Democrats have lost the plot.”
We lost the plot. We, as Democrats, nationally, from Latinx to defunding the police, to police organizations are all racist, to bringing a set of cultural wars to our schools, we are on the losing side of those cultural wars. Full Stop.
You are worried about bathroom access and locker room access, why don’t you focus on classroom excellence? You have 50% of our kids not reading at grade level.
Moynihan interrupted, “Well, they can just say we can do both.”
You’ve proven you can’t because you’ve permitted a 30-year-low in reading and math scores, and nobody seems to be calling the whistle on this. We lost the plot.
“Why?” Moynihan asked.
Because the party got unanchored. Every one of our most successful electoral presidents anchor themselves in what I call middle class values, and values that are universally — at least in this country — ascribed to. We went from acceptance to advocacy.
Big difference. And I’ll just take one on that I shouldn’t. So here it goes. I remember fighting for Title IX. The reason we are champions in women’s sports in the Olympics in soccer, hockey, etcetera, is Title IX. Why would you undercut the premise of Title IX with the ability of trans men playing in women’s sports? To me, it’s insane. You are undermining one of the great accomplishments we as a country — but also spearheaded by the Democratic Party. Title IX! And we’re undercutting it!
Rahm Emanuel — Obama’s Chief of Staff, Clinton’s political director — just said it.
“We lost the plot.”
Emanuel: 50% of American kids aren’t reading at grade level. Reading and math scores at a 30-year low. The Democratic Party’s response was bathroom access and trans athletes… pic.twitter.com/VjvaZO08pc
— Jake (@JakeCan72) April 2, 2026
Emanuel’s clarity on these issues places him within the shrinking minority of Democrats who have refused to go along with the sheer madness that has taken over the party in the last decade.
He’s carving out a lane of his own. He wants to show voters that while he still believes in liberal principles, he is grounded and focused on practical solutions. And if the 2028 field resembles the 2020 field, it will likely be dominated by candidates who have embraced a progressive ideology that feels closer to a religion than a political worldview. Against that backdrop, Emanuel is positioning himself as a clear alternative.
And there just might be an appetite for such a candidate. A newly released CNN poll asked Democrats, “Do Congressional Dems have the right priorities?” A majority — 52% of Democratic participants — said NO, they don’t.
They HAVE lost the plot, and the Democrats agree. pic.twitter.com/ok43ntQth2
— Morning Glory 🇺🇸🌼🇺🇸 (@DoryBeutel) April 2, 2026
Are voters growing weary of the party’s heavy emphasis on social justice, equity, and identity politics at the expense of everything else? Are they looking for more substance and for real results from their public servants, instead of empty rhetoric and virtue signaling?
Emanuel focused on education during his mayoralty. He emphasized the importance of early education as an indicator of long-term success. ABC Chicago reported that he worked to bring Chicago more in line with national averages. One of his first major initiatives was extending the school day and year in Chicago Public Schools.
According to ABC Chicago (2019):
CPS now boasts record high graduation rates, 78 percent at the end of 2018 compared to just 57 percent in 2011.
Students have also shown strong gains in reading tests scores, up to 61 percent at or above national standards in 2018, compared to 46 percent in 2013. There have also been record gains in math scores up to 57 percent compared to 45 percent in that same time frame.
If Emanuel is right, the problem facing Democrats isn’t merely electoral — it’s foundational. A party that loses its focus on core concerns like education, economic mobility, and middle-class stability risks losing the very voters it claims to represent. The question now is whether Democrats are willing to course-correct, or whether voices like Emanuel’s will remain in the minority. If the early signs are any indication, there may be more voters ready for a reset than the party’s current leadership is prepared to admit.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
He is bit late to sounding the alarm on this. I guess better late than never.
It is a shame he drove off that bridge and drowned.
Right after he put a bullet through his right temple and the gun was found next to his left hand. On the table was a cyanide-laced drink.
He has excellent experience. However his time as chief of staff to Obama disqualifies him big time.
Clinton was successful primarily because he adopted much of the Republican agenda. He also benefited from the peace dividend but here he screwed up as if he thought there would never be another war,
Obama was not successful in my opinion. I would start in on the reasons why. I wander if Emmanuel thinks Obama was successful?
Bottom line is Emmanuel is a Jew so he will never get the nomination in todays democratic party. He and Shapiro and Pritzker are toast. I wonder if they realize it. I also wonder how soon they and other “Jewish” democrats
will be primaries by the progressive/muslim wing of the democratic party.
Correct on all counts. Emanuel is “right” on this stuff from our standpoint but only because he is totally a political animal making even the Clintons look nonpartisan in comparison. He realizes there is a very wide lane in the Dem party for someone who is not bat guano insane on transgender and other issues. And as a Jew he has zero chance at the nomination, he will be devoured by the Muslim/Pali faction that now has veto power in the party.
So, Emanuel and Fetterman — two Dhimmi-crats out of a wretched party of hundreds of thousands of elected and non-elected apparatchiks operating at the municipal, state and federal levels, believe that the Dhimmi-crats’ unrepentant, corrosive and idiotic ideological fanaticism is a political loser.
And, neither man is a Dhimmi-crat standard-bearer. Dhimmi-crats at large won’t change their wretched tune, until they begin consistently losing successive elections, at the congressional and presidential levels.
Don’t be fooled. Rahm is best buds with the Clinton’s and believes none of this. He is just saying whatever he thinks people want to hear to try and claw his way back into some type of power. He is as moderate as Spanberger
Oh, I’m not fooled.
And, I would never believe in a Dhimmi-crat’s profession of alleged moderation/moderacy.
Emanuel comes across as slightly more sincere than the greasy used car salesman who is the governor of Commiefornia.
Right. Kids aren’t reading at grade level. Rahm states the obvious fact, but left out the important part for his party: it’s due to systemic racism, white supremacy and capitalism. The teachers’ unions are not going to tolerate any deviation from the approved script.
Actually, as Chicago’s mayor, he had the opportunity to actually improve the education system.
The definition of insanity is to constantly do the same thing and expect different results.
Many Chicago students are doomed because they have been assigned to schools that have failed to educate their students for 40 years plus.
If Rahm really cared, he would have fixed the system.
The democrats seem to need an illiterates who will continue for 100 years to drink kool aid.
Rahm really cares. He cares about Democrats having power. He really does.
Boy, people are sure pushing this angry vile midget retread lately.
“angry vile midget retread” may look good in comparison to hopelessly senile dotard, incoherent semiliterate DEI stooge or vapid hair-gelled refugee from GQ cover. After all we’re talking Democrats here.
Does Guy know you have been in his adjective jar?
It gives George Steponallofus someone to look up to.
/ducking
I had to look it up. I’d thought George was shorter than he is. In fact, I thought both were shorter than they are but your right. George is a couple of inches shorter than Rahm.
“Every one of our most successful electoral presidents anchor themselves in what I call middle class values…”
Who does he count as successful electoral presidents? Obama? Biden? Both said one thing and did another.
He is saying the right things but saying and doing are two different things.
Plot? If you have the media, academia, most of the Federal judiciary, millions of fake ballots, and the Twins of Destruction (Thune and Roberts) you don’t need a plot.
He’s running. Right now he’s running to the middle to gather normies. In a sea of retards, he’s cruising with twin turbo diesels while the others are clinging to the surface with floaties.
He will win the nomination in a landslide. Sorry but I think he will win in 2028 if Trump doesn’t kick the crap out of the cheat.
Vance/Rubio nor anyone will beat the cheat margin if RE is on the ticket for the other side.
There isn’t a way in the world that either of the main parties are ever going to nominate a Jew. It just isn’t going to happen.
Naive me not noticing the Jewry. I partially retract… the retards will launch their attack Muslims on him however he knows how to play the corrupt machine and pay the right grifters. You can’t buy a Muslim, but you can rent one for an election season.
Improvements in Chicago graduation rates under Emanuel are mostly meaningless. Given the graduation standards (and school promotions), they are basically only measuring lower drop out rates.
Graduation has become an attendance award in far too many schools (not only Chicago).
What some of the more sane past Democrat supporters have lately realized is the the Democrat party has no objectives beyond retaining and increasing their power, and that issues their electorate actually care about will be sacrificed in service of the party’s power quest.
“You are worried about bathroom access and locker room access, why don’t you focus on classroom excellence? You have 50% of our kids not reading at grade level.”
Rahm, those people don’t HAVE kids.
This is very worrisome.
He makes perfect sense.
All the democrat normals who sat out the last election because Kamala was just too much a moron will vote for him.
We can only hope they run another failed communist as candidate and not someone like Emmanuel
“Emanuel focused on education during his mayoralty.”
So he was in favor of school choice? Anything else is rearranging the deck chairs.
Mock him at your own peril! All politicians say what they think will get them elected. There are millions of old school Dems who will vote for him and a lot of indies. Bill Clinton was a master of this tactic. TDS plus a reasonable sounding Dem just may be the foe we will face in ’28.
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