Old School Democrat Challenges DSA: Put It on the Ballot

Sometimes a politician is right for the wrong reasons.

Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, former member of the House of Representatives, Chief of Staff for President Obama, Mayor of Chicago, and then Ambassador to Japan under Joe Biden, is what passes now as a moderate in the Democrat Party. As an Obama creature, he would have been considered pretty far to the left only a decade or so ago, but the rise of the nutcase commie left has moved that Overton Window quite a ways, leaving Emanuel a little closer to the center than he was. 

On Sunday, he appeared on Fox News Sunday with host Shannon Bream to express his displeasure with the communist left and to give them some advice.

WATCH: Former Chief of Staff to President Obama and potential 2028 candidate @RahmEmanuel weighs in on DSA: "I don't consider Democratic Socialists part of the Democratic Party... go run as a separate party. The Democratic Party is not open to be taking over now." pic.twitter.com/bbpNlmRKUx

— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) August 30, 2026

Here's the key statement:

Shannon Bream: Hasan Piker, who says the Democrat Party has failed Americans, and that he, and other self-described socialists, are offering a better way forward, if only the establishment mainstream Democrats would get with the program. So, we welcome back our guest, investor Rahm Emanuel. I want to get your take. You know Bernie Sanders is part of this group, too, and he says, quote, "people are sick and tired of the Rahm Emanels. They say the energy is not with the people of the past, it's moving forward with socialism" Your response?

Rahm Emanuel: Look, here's the thing. I don't consider democratic socialists to be part of the Democrat Party. About four weeks ago, they had a convention in Chicago, a separate party; they believe in defunding the police, letting prisoners out of prisons, opening the borders, eliminating the Pentagon. If you're so confident that people want that, I'll see you in November. Put it on the ballot. Let's go. Run, as a separate party. The Democrat Party's not open to being taken over. Now you have a progressive wing and a pragmatic wing. 

The commie left, the "democrat socialists," arose from that progressive wing. 

Emanuel is correct in the sense that, as he implies so delicately, Bernie Sanders and the rest of the Bolshevik wing of the Democrat Party are nuts. He's also right in stating that, should they really be so confident that the American people are down with turning the United States into a communist dictatorship - because that's how socialist and communist states always end up - then they should break off, form their own party structure, and challenge the Rahm Emanuel branch of the party from their left.

Of course, that would split the left-of-center to far-left vote, and guarantee a Republican majority in Congress for as long as the nutcases continued to run and as long as there are dependency-class people and clueless leftie trust-fund kids to vote for the commies. I'm pretty sure that's not the outcome Rahm Emanuel is looking for.

But at least Emanuel has acknowledged the elephant in the room that is threatening to pick the Democrat Party in its trunk, dash it to the floor, and stomp on it. The nuts are feeling some hubris right now because they've won a few primaries, and they have won a few races in deep, deep blue urban districts that would elect a pet rock to office if it had a "D" after it's name. Winning a statewide election, or rather more so, a presidential election, that's a whole different bottle of snake oil.

There is, right now, a struggle going on in the Democrat Party between the Rahm Emanuels on one side and the Bernie Sanders wing on the other, and it's only going to grow more contentious as the next two election cycles play out. It should be fun to watch.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

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