"They believe in defunding the police, letting prisoners out of prisons, opening the borders, eliminating the Pentagon," former Barack Obama advisor and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Fox News Sunday, denouncing his party's Democratic Socialist rivals.
Emanuel continues testing the waters for a presumed 2028 presidential run.
"There is no way you’re going to [win the White House] turning a blue district to midnight blue," he added. "You got to do it by flipping red districts to blue, winning red states and turning them blue. That is how it happens."
Sunday's appearance was hardly the first time Emanuel addressed the threat to — from? — his party's left flank.
The Wall Street Journal's John McCormick wrote in September of 2025 that while Emanuel's "centrist message clashes with an insurgent progressive base mesmerized by figures such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani," and other Democratic Socialists, "the seriousness of Emanuel’s ambitions was obvious throughout his two-day visit" to — you guessed it — Des Moines, Iowa.
The default positions for mainstream Democrat officeholders (aside from Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman) seem to be either ignoring the DSA threat or embracing the least unpalatable parts of the DSA platform. That's why the last few weeks you've seen plea after plea by more centrist Democrats to reject the DSA.
A small sample:
- There’s Nothing Democratic About These Socialists —Jonathan Chait
- No more appeasement. Democrats need to fight the DSA —Jon Cowan and Matt Bennett
- The left-wing faction is hijacking the Democratic Party —James Kirchick
- DSA: Progressive or REGRESSIVE? —Van Jones
Cowan and Bennett are "third way" centrist Dems, but the other three represent the party's left wing... or at least they used to before the emergence of the DSA in recent years. Mark Penn, who's advised the Clintons for about ever, warned on X in July about Mamdani's New York: "Welcome to Socialism."
It's been pretty much the Summer of Dire DSA warnings. Meanwhile, actual high-ranking officeholders do stuff like this: Schumer backs El-Sayed, vows Democratic ‘big tent’ will win Senate.
That's why when Emanuel insisted on Fox News Sunday that "The Democratic Party is not open to be taken over," all I could do was laugh.
It was bitter laughter, but still.
By some measures, the party either has been co-opted or is well on its way.
"We’re using the Democratic Party as a ballot-access vehicle, not because we share its goals," DSA New York City cochair Gustavo Gordillo boldly stated in June. "We build our own organization, get elected under the Democratic label, caucus with Democrats when it’s useful, and push our own agenda from the inside."
"We see the Democratic establishment as an obstacle, not a home."
Roll over, Chuck Schumer.
But here's the thing Emanuel either doesn't recognize or can't afford to publicly recognize: Having no inherent limiting principles, the center-left eventually loses out to the hardcore lefties.
The Bolsheviks always slaughter the Mensheviks. And the Mensheviks always fail to see it coming.
Every. Single. Time.
This is where I wish someone would remind Rahm that it was his old boss, the nation's first Red-Diaper-Baby President, who paved the way for the DSA. So if Emanuel is serious about saving his party, he needs to go back and denounce Barack Obama.
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