Democrat Emanuel Prescribes Bluntness

BY JOHN MCCORMICK

BIRMINGHAM, Mich.— Rahm Emanuel is delivering the Democratic Party a dose of tough medicine—in his usual blunt style—as the party enters a critical midterm primary season.

Asked at a recent fundraiser in this affluent Detroit suburb how Democrats might be able to win back the working- class voters who have defected to President Trump, Emanuel faulted his party in 2024 for being too focused on things such as transgender rights and not enough on pocketbook issues.

“We weren’t very good in this last election at the kitchen table. We weren’t very good in the family room,” said the former congressman, mayor and U.S. ambassador to Japan. “The only room we occupied in the house was the bathroom—and it’s the smallest room in the house.”

In an interview, Emanuel said his party grew too complacent during Barack Obama’s presidency, assuming the demographics of a diversifying nation would favor them going forward. He also said Democrats are now too fixated on Trump and it is hurting their chances in future elections.

“We became intellectually flabby and we became intellectually lazy,” said Emanuel, Obama’s first White House chief of staff. “To gain the confidence of the American people, you cannot just be a resistance, you also have to be a renewal. One of the things I’m trying to do is lay out that agenda.”

The stops Emanuel made during a three-day Michigan swing showcased the breadth of his résumé. They also made clear the seriousness of his ambitions, as he deployed a small advance team to make preparations ahead of his stops and a professional video-camera operator filming every public move.

Unbound by elected office, Emanuel is getting an early jump on the 2028 race before it becomes more fully engaged after November’s election. He is also trying to make his mark in the so-called ideas primary as he works to push Democrats in a more moderate direction.

Emanuel, 66 years old, has called for a mandatory retirement age of 75 for presidents, cabinet officials, members of Congress and federal judges. He has suggested America should match other nations in prohibiting children under 16 from using major social-media platforms. He has proposed a universal national service program for young Americans and called on states to adopt mandatory third-grade reading standards.

During his swing through Michigan, a presidential battleground, Emanuel proposed $10,000 in assistance for military servicemembers to transition to skilled trades when returning to civilian life.

He toured an apprentice training center south of Grand Rapids where he chatted with trainees and union representatives and confessed that a power saw gave him the “heebie- jeebies” because he lost part of his middle finger in a meat slicer working at an Arby’s restaurant in high school.

During an appearance at the Detroit Economic Club, Emanuel said he planned to offer a lot of bluntness between now and 2028. “I don’t give a crap,” he said. “I’m going to tell you what I think we’ve got to get done. You like it, great. You don’t like it, you can join my family and not like me.”

Kelly Breen, a suburban Detroit state representative who attended the fundraiser here, said Emanuel was on her list of potential 2028 candidates. “I would prefer to have a steady and knowledgeable hand,” she said.

Michigan, which saw 2024’s second-narrowest presidential percentage outcome, has competitive races this year for governor, U.S. Senate and a U.S. House seat that is considered a tossup.

In that U.S. House race, Emanuel is backing Bridget Brink, a former ambassador to Ukraine. In the interview, he declined to endorse any of the three major Democrats competing in the state’s Senate race.

William Lawrence, a 35year-old community organizer and progressive candidate in the U.S. House primary that includes Brink, dismissed Emanuel’s support for his rival. “I haven’t met anybody in the 7th District who is waiting around for Rahm Emanuel’s opinion,” he said. “It seems like he’s most interested in punching the left.”

Emanuel is remaining true to his center-left instincts as he travels the country, but also trying to avoid completely alienating the party’s progressive base. Minutes after criticizing Democratic missteps at the fundraiser, he showed a populist streak as he condemned corporate America for being “timid souls” in the Trump era.

Emanuel is also working to temper his reputation as a ruthless political brawler by occasionally offering glimpses of a softer, more sentimental family man. Still, the intensity he is known for is never far away.

At the economic club, he told an anecdote about his wife insisting years ago that if they ever had a fourth child, the newborn should be named Patience to give him a daily reminder of a life skill. His punchline: “I said, Just remember one thing: Patience is a waste of time.”