Rahm before and after
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Presidential ambition is a heckuva drug…
* Partial transcript…
KELLY: Should we be putting men in female prisons? Men claiming they’re women.
EMANUEL: No.
KELLY: And, alright, and here’s my last one for you: can a man become a woman?
EMANUEL: Can a man become a woman? Uh, no.
KELLY: Thank you. That’s so easy, why don’t more people in your party just say that?
EMANUEL: Because I’m now going to go into a witness protection plan. [laughter]
KELLY: My money’s on you, I think you’ll be fine. No, it’s just so nice to hear the truth said without qualifications.
EMANUEL: Look, it just can’t happen.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:02 am:
The bigtime media always give this guy airtime and they seem to like him a lot. But where are the voters? No one in Chicago wants him around. He has no natural constituency. Assuming he’s running for the Democratic nomination, this type of talk gets him nowhere. His shtick on pronouns is tiresome.
- Lurker - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:04 am:
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind.
The answer is blowing’ in the wind.
It always has been for this perennial follower trying to be a leader.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:05 am:
It might work. I mean, how many times did Trump flip flop in his life.
- Keyrock - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:06 am:
Maybe he’s running to position himself for a cabinet position in the Vance Administration. /snark
- Leatherneck - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:07 am:
Has Rahm been hanging around Blago and buddies too much lately?
That question gives me an idea for a new business opportunity: “Rahm N’ Rod’s Hair Club for Men.”
- GoneFishing - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:10 am:
Seems like Rahm is positioning himself as a Democrat but someone who is a conservative. May work in some places. I hear a lot of chatter about how people hate pronouns on things. Not sure about the second part but I could see it gaining some traction. Probably not enough for a nomination unless he knows something I don’t.
- Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:14 am:
Rahm’s electoral strategy has always been to chase the GOP to the right. The party needs to run away from this disaster of a candidate as fast as they can.
- Sox fan - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:14 am:
It just seems that Rahm is using this issue as much as he can to distract from his record with the Black community in Chicago. It’s his cover up of the Laquan McDonald shooting and his closing of elementary schools that’s going to ensure his defeat in a primary, not his gender politics.
- Chicagonk - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:23 am:
This is the problem with politicians like Rahm. They say whatever they need to say to get elected. Newsom is the same way.
- NIU Grad - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:27 am:
One thing we forget about people like Rahm is he spends all his time with the movers-and-shakers in the business community and has cut off himself from any real, voting constituencies. Hard to tell how much of this is him trying to bring the party to the right vs. him just becoming a Republican because he spends all his time with rich Republicans. Good luck with that, dude.
The Democratic Party doesn’t spend all of its time talking about Trans people. The Rahm-types are the ones trying to use Trans people (mostly vulnerable children) to make a name for themselves in conservative circles.
- Larry Bow Jr. - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:35 am:
Wonderful news everyone, Rahm “Wallet Looking for a Constituency” Emanuel is back to trash any democrat who could beat him in a primary, which is essentially all of them. Fun stuff. Megyn Kelly is so glib and fun in the way she spreads race based hate (and all kinds of other hate), what a great person for a Dem politician to joke around with and normalize.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:40 am:
Emanuel is a cunning and intelligent person. There has to be some reason he is zigging when everyone else is zagging. He is not stupid and certainly not obsequious.
- Amalia - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:40 am:
Yep, people are sick of “what are your pronouns” and “pregnant people” One often feels like meetings are a sociology class. Spend some time reading fights on line from some big, legit names who discuss. you will actually read the thought that medical intervention can change a person’s chromosomes which would certainly come as a surprise to those who have abnormalities that affect medically. things have gone off the rails from don’t discriminate against someone to a lack of recognition of biology, science. Democrats believe in science, climate change is real. One can change one’s gender, but not one’s sex.
- Pants on Fire - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:49 am:
Has Rahm been uncorking bottles with his “wine buddy” Bruce Rauner lately?
- Stephanie Kollmann - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:51 am:
==The bigtime media always give this guy airtime and they seem to like him a lot.==
It’s great to have a billionaire brother with the power to greenlight or blackball media deals.
- H-W - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:51 am:
That is a terrible answer, that accuses transgender people of “changing” their identities. That is not what happens. It suggests “choice,” which is the same false argument regarding sexuality.
Transgender is about gender. Period. It is about a people’s masculinity and their femininity. Just as I and Mr. Emmanuel did not “choose” to be masculine, “men,” and just as Ms. Kelly did not “choose” to be feminine, “woman,” this small group of people do not “choose” to have a gender identity contrary to their biological presentations.
As I have said many times, the solution is not to be found in denying people’s reality; the solution is finding acceptable ways to include everyone; punishing people because they differ is ungodly, especially when reasonable accommodations exist and are easy.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 10:54 am:
The overt text is Rahm Emanuel throwing trans people under his campaign bus. The subtext is that he did it by going on a show of a woman who got her NBC show canceled after saying she didn’t see what was racist about blackface.
- Downstate - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:00 am:
Rahm is not going to die on the transgender hill. When only 20% of the population favors men in women’s sports, political reality starts to creep in.
- AlfondoGonz - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:01 am:
I think it’s possible to believe that trans people should be afforded all the same rights and be treated with the same decency that should be expected for everyone while holding your own beliefs about the efficacy of their transition.
- Responsa - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:04 am:
Rahm is definitely putting himself out there. It’s pretty obvious that he is running for president. Here’s another new long form interview with Bari Weiss on The Free Press. His obvious baggage aside he gives a compelling interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4GHSu4Jo4s
- tumblin dice - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:10 am:
Is it possible that Rahm, the person who won the house back for dems in 2006, just saw his party get routed in 2024, and feels the party needs to revise its messaging? There are few politicians as skilled as Rahm, and few as connected to the voters and what they want than Rahm. Dems on this page better wake up and realize that the party is losing what was once its base. It’s losing blue collar workers. It’s losing black and brown voters. Even though the party more accurately represents their interests, democrats constant ideology politics, and rush to put the needs of a small subset of its electorate, the LGBTQ+ community, front and center constantly, is driving away more moderate factions of what was once its base. To win again, dems must win them back, as well as former Obama voters who have voted for trump. Voters are tired to being lectured, tired of being told what they can and cannot say (defensible within reason), and tired of being made to feel like there is no place left for them in the democratic party. Rahm sees this, and is making adjustments, which is what good politicians do. If this comment gets posted, I expect to see some express fake sympathy for “the poor white man” and I would predict that comment won’t come from a black or brown person, or a union worker. It will likely come from the people who have driven this party so far left that there isn’t room enough in the tent anymore. We need to stop canceling, and start focusing on speaking honestly and directly in a way that connects with the economic issues that matter across race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:14 am:
===We need to stop canceling===
Stephen Colbert is on Line 1. /s
- Candy Dogood - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:24 am:
Rahm Emanuel is really doing us a favor here. He is letting us know that he’s a bigot because he thinks it is okay for him to be a bigot because Donald Trump was elected.
Back in 2016 he was still a bigot, but he was uncomfortable proclaiming his bigotry in public.
Rahm didn’t change. He was always a bigot.
He just lost whatever sense of decency remained.
- KBS - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:25 am:
This is gross. The GOP used this issue to drum up hatred and fear, and seeing some Dems go along with it is horrifying. I’m glad to see Pritzker isn’t one of them. My trans nephew is leaving the country because he knows it isn’t safe for him here. I’m not voting for anyone who doesn’t understand why he feels this way and will promise to undo the damage.
- anon2 - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:27 am:
Well said, tumblin dice.Rahm has a clear message that Democrats will ignore at their own peril.
- Downstate - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:27 am:
tumblin dice,
Very interesting recap. I agree with your sentiments. At this point, how does the DNC tamp down their left wing element?
It’s very hard, when anyone that suggests anything like you’ve expressed is termed a “traitor”, etc.
As a Republican, I’ve felt the same backlash by expressing my outrage/frustration with Trump’s handling of Epstein.
I think it will take someone high in the party to finally ask, “Are we losing our base?” Rahm might be the first. But it will take more than him to sway the party.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:27 am:
“There are few politicians as skilled as Rahm”
Nice, I literally LOL’d at this one.
He had to bail on the last race he could have run in because he was going to come in 3rd in the primary.
I predict this guy won’t have it in him to face voters again. If he was going to try to run for office as a democrat again he wouldn’t be playing footsie with Megyn “Santa’s White!” Kelly.
- Michelle - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:30 am:
Megyn Kelly, Matt Walsh and many other Republican influencers are destroying many far left issues online because the policy positions don’t withstand 30 minutes of open dialogue and scrutiny. Rahm is smart to recognize that since there are no moderate Dem influencers. Most centrists or moderate Dems (Anna Kasparian, Joe Rogan, Dave Rubin) but they usually end up getting personally attacked for questioning some progressive orthodoxy and drift right.
- Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:33 am:
- the person who won the house back for dems in 2006 -
Please do some basic research and stop regurgitating this mythology. His actual record in the races they put effort into was mediocre, especially given how unpopular Bush was.
- Chris - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:34 am:
Rahm, people across America are struggling with the cost of living, immigrants are getting snatched off the street just for being immigrants, and the current President was best buddies with a human trafficker.
Spare me the spiel about throwing a minority group under the bus
- Original Rambler - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:36 am:
Moderate Dem here and I hear what tumblin dice is saying. I could see myself voting for Rahm over many of the names bandied about so far. The most important thing we need to do is get DJT and his progeny out of the oval office. Rahm is the kind of candidate who can do that. Illinois is only one of 50 states. I don’t believe his mayoral baggage will have the legs for the rest of the country that some here appear to think it will.
- Sterling - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:38 am:
== Spend some time reading fights on line ==
Well, there’s your problem. I recommend not doing that. Maybe go for a walk or something instead.
- Proud Papa Bear - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:45 am:
Just got back from a week in Canada. It was great, like 30 years ago in America.
Every day, people, including conservatives, are learning that they have loved ones who are transgender. Some hold onto their hatred and some embrace their loved one. It’s just a shame we have to rip each other apart like we do with seemingly every other issue in this country.
- Anyone Remember - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:46 am:
“Presidential ambition is a disease which can only be cured by embalming fluid.”
Senator Estes Kefauver
- Here Here - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:47 am:
Rahm has been doing excellent interviews to national audiences with some smart advice for the party in the wilderness. Many folks on this site need to review why Dems lost and it’s not because we didn’t go left enough. There will be lots of voices out there and Rahm’s may be one of them.
Let’s hear them all. At the end of the day, the DNC needs to audit how we keep losing blacks, hispanics, asians and non-college-educated. The transgender issue ranks around 99th for salience. The party has to put its working-class shoes on and start listening to voters where they are. Otherwise, hello political irrelevance for the next decade.
- lake county democrat - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:51 am:
It’s worth noting that Rahm did clash with Kelly over bans on teen transition even with parental consent. Also that trans activists like Briana Wu have been beseeching Democrats to give up on bathroom and amateur sports issues.
- Leo from Dolton - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:52 am:
You may not like Rahm, but there are few who are as politically smart as he. IF he is saying these things, you can bet they have been thoroughly focus-grouped and poll-tested. So all you pretend campaign gurus should spend your time analysing what he has to say instead of making fun of it. My money says he knows what he’s doing. You don’t have to like it, just have to accept it.
- Chat_BP3 - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:52 am:
Rahm is doing a poor imitation of Gov. Beshear’s messaging on this issue. You can address concerns people have with “woke language” without putting down marginalized communities.
Just talk to people normally without falling into the same bad faith arguments the GOP is constantly pushing.
- Rose - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:54 am:
I miss Rahm
- H-W - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 11:56 am:
@ Tumbling Dice
=== Dems on this page better wake up ===
That the sky is falling in your mind, does not mean that the sky is falling. Suggesting that democrats can win if they join MAGA and learn to differentiate and discriminate is a false proposition. Yours is an argument for racing to the bottom to see who wins. In fact, everyone wins if we race to the bottom.
Civil rights matter. They always have. Your right to carry a concealed weapon is just as essential as my right to public accommodations. Your right to face your accusers is just as essential as my right to due process.
On the other hand, if you have a right to discriminate against gay people or trans people or Latinos or immigrants, then everyone has the right to discriminate against you. The race to the bottom is a fool’s game.
Civil rights are human rights. Creating policy that denies the humanity of some because “in theory,” some girls might want to wrestle and some boys might want to play volleyball is simple hate magnified into legislation.
It is hate, because finding alternatives is so much easier than legislating discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity or immigration status or sex or gender or age. Accommodations are simple.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:01 pm:
It’s clear that a whole lot of people here are existing solely on election day, 2024. But things change.
For example, the post-2012 GOP consensus was that they lost because they were far too harsh on immigration. Trump completely disproved that four years later. Biden received more votes than any presidential candidate in history four years after that. And then Trump won four years later. His positions didn’t really change on this topic.
It ain’t one thing. It’s never one thing. And even if it might be one thing for a moment, things change in politics.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:02 pm:
==There are few politicians as skilled as Rahm, and few as connected to the voters and what they want than Rahm==
He was basically handed the mayorship by a wildly popular hometown president, coasted easily in his first election, and then managed to run afoul of what voters wanted so profoundly he had to drop out of his 2nd reelection race.
People remember him being unpopular because of the murder of Laquan McDonald and he certainly was, but what they forget is that he (”allegedly” but successfully) covered it up to win reelection in 2015 and *despite a 2nd endorsement from Obama* was successfully forced into a runoff against a candidate to his left.
He is not especially skilled at politics or connected to voters. He is skilled at raising money and being connected to people who have it.
- Remember the Alamo II - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:03 pm:
The reason the Republicans are constantly bringing up transgenderism is because most people do not understand it and this lack of understanding has generated an overall lack of support for transgender -related policy initiatives.
In other words, Rahm is simply raising a truism - that Democrats should not be focusing their attention on an issue that the majority of voters do not care about. Taking it to another level, it is actually a smart strategy for Republicans because when Republicans bring up transgender issues, it almost always results in a net positive for the republicans - either because Democrats get defensive and double down on an issue that most people do not care about, or because a Democrat will alienate other Democrats because they aren’t willing to go to the mat to defend a position that isn’t shared by most voters.
From a human standpoint, it is horrible. But from a political strategy standpoint, the republicans are having a lot of success. Donald Trump did not get elected in a vacuum. Rahm is correct in that we need to start paying attention to what voters care about.
- Rose - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:03 pm:
Rahm knows an 80-20 issue when he sees one. So does Gavin Newsome.
Those two win elections. The activists lose them.
- Proud Papa Bear - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:03 pm:
“IF he is saying these things, you can bet they have been thoroughly focus-grouped and poll-tested.”
You think Trump (or Obama for that matter) were successful because they followed what was focus-grouped and poll-tested? They were successful because people believed they were genuine, the exact opposite of what you’re saying.
- Homebody - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:05 pm:
The centrist dems keep insisting on ignoring their base. They are spending their time pandering to the rich donators and “moderates” who aren’t going to vote dem anyways. Look at how the NY dems are embarassing themselves avoiding endorsing the winner of the dem primary in NYC. That is why dems are losing.
The progressive/leftist base’s economic arguments are scary to the rich donators. But if centrist dems did more than pay lip service to those economic concerns, that is how you’ll pick up more of the rural and working class base.
It is easy for the GOP to trash dems are elitist and out of touch when the dem leadership actively works against the majority of their voting base when the voters get “out of line”
- H-W - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:06 pm:
@ Michelle
=== Most centrists or moderate Dems (Joe Rogan) ===
You lose.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:06 pm:
=== Democrats should not be focusing their attention on an issue===
As far as I can tell, he’s the one focusing on this issue every time he opens his mouth.
- Leo from Dolton - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:10 pm:
=You think Trump (or Obama for that matter) were successful because they followed what was focus-grouped and poll-tested? They were successful because people believed they were genuine, the exact opposite of what you’re saying. =
Saying what is poll-tested and a focus group doesn’t make someone not genuine. It helps them identify which items to focus on. You have limited time in a campaign and no reason to educate voters. Tell them what they already believe. You’re seriously delusional if you don’t think Obama polled and used the intel.
- Candy Dogood - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:13 pm:
Democrats seeking to win by out bigoting the bigots is an electoral strategy they haven’t tried for at least a good 5 or 6 decades.
It’s also a very lazy position to pick.
Rahm just hates the working class, middle class, and especially hates minorities. So he’s running as a bigot.
Other democrats that want to run as bigots should make their bigoted positions clear during the primaries.
Rahm is a very rich and out of touch person. If he wants to set up his campaign to run on Republican Astroturf, good riddance. He’s a stain on Illinois.
- Cool Papa Bell - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:17 pm:
@ Tumbling Dice
== Voters are tired to being lectured, tired of being told what they can and cannot say ==
I offer that the lecture is coming from one side telling you to be scared, watch out for “your way of life being stolen” and how your family is at risk with school kids using litter boxes in bathrooms.
There is loud angry messaging on the topic. But its not coming from the side of the street you say it is.
- SWIL_Voters - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:22 pm:
Aside from right wing echo chambers, where are you people constantly being lectured by elitists or being confronted with people demanding you conform to pronouns or being threatened with cancellation? I’ve never had this problem or encountered it in real life. It honestly seems as easy as just being nice to people and acknowledging we’re all in this together. Doing that I’ve literally never had a problem. Have you tried just being normal?
- Keyrock - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:22 pm:
Rahm will win back black voters disaffected from the Democratic Party? Wait until the Laquan ads run (if he ever gets enough traction for another candidate to bother).
- Michelle - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:28 pm:
==But if centrist dems did more than pay lip service to those economic concerns, that is how you’ll pick up more of the rural and working class base.==
I agree this is a very good start but the party needs soften itself on 5 or 6 social issues and show the orthodox enforcers and lazy name callers the door. The social issues are so far out there right now, the former base of the party can’t hear the economic message. Shaming blue collar voters and calling them deplorables will never work. People are joining the Republican party because you can talk more freely and ask questions without the same level of blowback you can expect as a Democrat.
- Amalia - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:35 pm:
spend some time reading what Cong. Sarah McBride thinks about the issue. In particular she defends Cong. Seth Moulton and believes he should not be pushed aside because of his position on transgender issues. Both Democrats. Interestingly Sarah, transgender, attacked for her comments. Long piece in the NYT a few weeks back, interview on this. If she gets a more moderate position, the far left in Illinois should think more.
- SWIL_Voter - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:37 pm:
How should I soften my stances Michelle? What do I need to do to appeal to the people threatening and bullying trans kids? How should I soften my position on preventing child suicide to appeal more to Matt Walsh and Megyn Kelly? Please help me understand. How many people do we need to feed into the wood chipper before you’re happy?
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:47 pm:
All of you so convinced that A) Rahm Emanuel is a viable political candidate in 2025, and B) trans issues matter in elections, feel free to cite any objective evidence you can find.
You won’t find it because it doesn’t exist but that’s not gonna stop any of you from pretending to care about “integrity in women’s sports,” of all the ridiculous things an American conservative could pretend to care about.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 12:52 pm:
==If [Rep. McBride] gets a more moderate position, the far left in Illinois should think more.==
You do understand that people rarely become (and remain) the first-ever member of a minoritized group elected to a given office by representing the median opinion of that group?
And that, whenever they offer more conservative views than others within their group, members of the majority group often hold them up as an example to ask why everyone else can’t just be more like them?
And that this habit doesn’t age particularly well?
- Michelle - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 1:14 pm:
Until the Democratic party promotes open non-combative dialogue and fosters “disagreeing without being disagreeable, it seems easier for most voters to walk away from the party than risk being on the wrong side of an issue with a member of the far left, new Democratic “base.” The inability to foster open communication has, and will, continue to undermine Democratic pro-choice candidates, the Democrats ability to roll back federal set-backs on abortion and hamper Democrats re-establishing a pro-choice majority on the Supreme Court.
- Loyal Virus - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 1:22 pm:
Folks, the dems did not proactively *make* transgender people the focus of any campaign. Like marriage equality, it was the right seeing an opportunity to use lies and misinformation to needlessly scare people to score political points. And we let them. The problem is there isn’t a big supreme court decision pending like Windsor that affirmed marriage equality (for now). It’s the opposite- scotus has been and will continue to strike blows against the ability for trans people to have bodily autonomy, self-determination, or even exist.
Education and personal stories are the key. The lies about gender-affirming care must be countered with facts. Decades of science and support from major medical orgs needs to be acknowledged. The canard that trans people in bathrooms make others unsafe must be countered with facts. It’s not the time to run from this human rights issue - I hope ‘the party’ understands that.
Rahm & Gavin’s words - and any ‘debate’ about transgender people’s humanity - furthers the demonization of trans people when the administration has removed the 988 suicide and crisis line’s LGBTQ subnetwork. They would like queer and trans people to simply cease existing, don’t help them.
- West Side the Best Side - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 1:27 pm:
Interesting background behind Rahm. It looks like he’s speaking from the flames of hell.
- The Rahminator - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 1:35 pm:
“Now, you’re either on the bus or off the bus. If you’re on the bus, and you get left behind, then you’ll find it again. If you’re off the bus in the first place — then it won’t make a damn.” - Ken Kesey
Clearly, Rahm was never on the bus. The question is if Rahm is already throwing immigrants, transgender Americans, women, Black Americans, disabled Americans, LGBTQ Americans and labor unions under the bus, who will he throw under the bus tomorrow?
Pritzker has a better approach.
Yes, Democrats need to develop a populist platform, populist messaging, and a populist brand.
But that is not the same think as copying Republicans’ platform, messaging, and brand. Quite the opposite. Democrats need to define themselves in sharp contrast to the GOP so that the GOP is no longer defining them.
Rahm will never become President by running as Trump Lite. He will never win the Democratic nomination by running as Trump Lite.He will never finish better than fourth in any primary or caucus by running as Trump lite. He will never put himself in a position to trade his presidential aspirations for a cabinet post or other political post running as Trump Lite. I’m not sure who would want his advice or endorsement at this point.
@Amalia - First, I think you misread Sarah McBride. She said there should be room in the party for those who disagree on specific policies but are generally supportive of the rights of transgender Americans to live their lives.
Secondly, Seth Moulton had subsequently walked back his statement, but his initial comment was full-on bigoted fearmongering from an ex-Marine. Worse, he hid behind his pre-K daughters to do it. I am sorry, but if you have a four year-old daughter, she is going to get run over and knocked down on the soccer field, because that is how four year-olds play soccer. And the gender identity of the kid that knocks your kid over is irrelevant.
As for high school, college, or the pros: women and girls get injured competing against women and girls every damn day, sometimes seriously. If he is that much of a Helicopter Dad, my advice is to sign his daughters up for piano lessons instead.
Same advice to you, Rahm.
There are only 750 MLB on the active roster. There are nearly 500K kids playing high school baseball, and millions playing little league or some other youth baseball.
Telling your kids that they did not get a college scholarship or make the pros because the rules unfairly discriminated against them by allowing players that were bigger, faster, threw harder or hit further does a disservice to kids.
Kaitlyn Clark did not start out shooting logo 3’s. She was adapting to defenses in college that guarded her at the 3-point line. If the other players are bigger, faster, stronger, double- or triple-teaming, winners do not whine. They find a way to win.
- Here Here - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 1:43 pm:
Interesting point from the Bari Weiss interview with Rahm Emanuel — that the wins by moderates in both Virginia and New Jersey may show the path to winning in 2026 and the White House. Weiss pushed Emanuel, saying Democrats are going farther left and he cited their double wins to counter that.
His emphasis on making the American Dream accessible for all is a smart way to reach the millions of voters we lost last November. Rich is right — politics is always changing.
- Former Downstater - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 1:51 pm:
==with a member of the far left, new Democratic “base.”==
@Michelle, this is a patently absurd statement.
If (what you consider) the far left is the Democratic Party’s “base”, why is the establishment literally falling all over itself to stop Mamdani in New York
It’s been common practice for the Democratic Party to steam roll over the left flank over their party at least as long as I have been alive. To suggest they cater to the more Progressive members is in stark contrast to anyone’s with lived experience.
Also, the national Democratic Party has spent the last several elections listening to focus groups chasing the so called “moderate and independent” voter like Liz Chaney.
Remind me again how its worked out for them?
- Amalia - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 2:07 pm:
-And that this habit doesn’t age particularly well?-
I think Cong. McBride knows best how to move the needle by not demonizing those who cannot approved of the entire agenda. for an absurd take on things see the lawyer of the ACLU who botched the case at the USSCourt by not listening to most trans activist groups. talk about things that do not age well.
- H-W - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 2:07 pm:
Thanks, Rahminator.
- Alton Sinkhole - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 2:12 pm:
==why is the establishment literally falling all over itself to stop Mamdani in New York==
Log off Reddit. That isn’t happening.
- Former Downstater - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 2:24 pm:
==Log off Reddit. That isn’t happening.==
Oh really? So the fact Hakeem Jeffries met with him last week and still didn’t endorse him is fake news then?
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 2:25 pm:
Please stick to the topic at hand. A debate over NYC politics doesn’t belong here.
- Former Downstater - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 2:43 pm:
I was. Many commentors were suggesting Democrats cater to what they deem the “far left”, and that Rahm was smart to go for the center.
I am of the belief that Democrats spend far too much time chasing the center and lose because of it. Further, they do so in part by attacking people on the left end of the party.
I offered up Mamdani as an example of this phenomenon I was referencing in relation to Rahm.
It was Alton Sinkhole who essentially called me a lair and thus turned this into a discussion about NYC politics. Something I never intended.
- Original Rambler - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 2:59 pm:
Based on what I’m reading, the Dems will be locked out of the WH for some time. Reminds me of the turn of the millennium GOP where the right to birthers (right to life not an accurate descriptor) created such a division that the GOP kept losing election after election. If everyone here who thinks Rahm is a bigot stays home if he gets the nomination, well, good luck with the sympathies of the GOP nominee.
- Alton Sinkhole - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 3:00 pm:
To the topic at hand:
I think Rahm is essentially correct that boys should not be playing girls sports. When it comes to grown adults, inculding invididuals who have been on HRT for a long time, my stance is that it should be up to the individual professional leagues or college conferences.
The fact is policies like “free gender reassignment surgeries for prisoners” cost Democrats massively in the 2024 election. And remains heavily unpopular today. There has to be room to moderate on this issue, but “The Groups” take a very all-or-nothing approach, which you can see in the treatment of Seth Moulton’s very reasonable take earlier this year that he personally would feel uncomfortable with his daughters playing against biological boys.
Where Rahm loses me is his answer at the end. Men can absolutely transition into women (and vice versa) and denying that is plain wrong, I hope he clarifies what he actually means here as it undermines any leigitmate qualms.
- low level - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 3:06 pm:
Personally I think he is correct, but it doesn’t matter. Rahm Emanuel is not becoming President.
- Jerry - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 3:10 pm:
The ONLY people who are concerned about pronouns are Republicans.
- Rahminator - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 3:20 pm:
=== Rahm Emanuel is not becoming President. ===
Bingo.
People have forgotten about CPS strike, Obamacare, and NAFTA.
Except for the Teachers, Health Care Workers, Machinists, Steelworkers, Autoworkers.
- Loyal Virus - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 3:30 pm:
Alton- by “policies like “free gender reassignment surgeries for prisoners” are you referring to the 8th Amendment? The mistake was the campaign not doing anything to counter Trump’s ads - that one, and the ’she’s for they/them; Trump is for you’ commercial. If dem’s thought they were pulling a rope-a-dope on that topic they forgot the part about fighting back.
- Not Your TIme - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 3:47 pm:
Someone tell the former gov chief comms officer to let her vendetta against JB and team go. Lining up these opportunities/disasters for Rahm is not a good use of her or the former mayors time.
- Rahminator - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 4:12 pm:
=== former gov chief comms officer ===
Becky?
- Alton Sinkhole - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 4:50 pm:
@Loyal Virus:
If you have access to any polling that shows a winning argument for Dems on that issue then I’d genuinely love to see it.
- low level - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 4:56 pm:
She has a vendetta against JB?
- Pinkerton Detective - Wednesday, Jul 23, 25 @ 5:21 pm:
==The ONLY people who are concerned about pronouns are Republicans.==
Just shut down the comments section now, nothing will ever top this level of leftoid commentary.