During this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel rejected overtures from so-called Democrat Socialists seeking a takeover of the Democratic Party.
Emanuel said the party was not a target for a takeover and said he did not consider Democrat Socialists a part of the Democratic Party.
“I want to get your take,” host Shannon Bream said. “You know, Bernie Sanders is part of this group too, and he says, quote, ‘People are sick and tired of the Rahm Emanuels.’ They say the energy is not with the people of the past. It’s moving forward with socialism. Your response?”
Emanuel replied, “Well, here’s the thing. I don’t consider Democratic Socialists part of the Democratic Party. About four weeks ago, they had a convention in Chicago, separate party. They believe in defunding the police, letting prisoners out of prisons, opening the borders, eliminating the Pentagon. If you’re so confident people want that, I’ll see you in November. Put it on the ballot. Let’s go run as a separate party. The Democratic Party is not open to be taken over. Now, you have a progressive wing and a pragmatic wing. Now, we agree that the system is rigged against working-class, middle-class families. Agree with that. How do we fix that problem to make sure that the American dream of owning a home, saving for your retirement, saving for your kids’ education and that your health care is not a nightmare, but a peace of mind?”
“How do we get that?” he continued. “Well, we’re going to have a good, solid debate about that. And I’m for that debate. I give the progressives some credit. They have been out there with ideas. Some I agree, some I disagree with. But the pragmatic wing, which is one of the reasons I’ve been talking about education, banning anybody from public office after — and all three branches of government at the age of 75, you are done. Banning social media for kids under 16, what you have to do to invest in our energy infrastructure to make sure we’re a 21st-century economy with a 21st-century infrastructure, we owe a good, solid intellectual debate. Now, I happen to think President Clinton and President Obama, who I work for, and Nancy Pelosi, who I helped make speaker, they led the right way. The last time there was a minimum wage increase, Nancy Pelosi had the gavel. There’s no way you’re going to get there turning a blue district to midnight blue. You got to do it by flipping red districts to blue, winning red states and turning them blue. That is how it happens.”
“Now, examples of this — you know, Senator Nelson from Nebraska was a critical vote for passing ACA health care and universal coverage for people with preexisting conditions,” Emanuel added. That didn’t happen from blue states. That happened because we had a Democratic senator in a red state. Joe Manchin was key to the IRA under Joe Biden, major energy policy. He was a Democrat in West Virginia. You have to win areas. Now, look, simple — seven states, 500,000 voters across those seven states determined who was president in the last three presidential elections. You’ve got to win in areas that are not safe blue areas, but persuade independent voters to come and find alignment with the Democratic Party. And I happen to think an energized, clear idea about the future. As I said, if I decide to run, I’m not a peacetime consigliere. I’m a wartime general. I win elections and make policies happen, like universal coverage, like making sure our kids have a good education and take on the failures of the establishment, whether that’s in the government or in the private sector.”
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