Former Barack Obama advisor and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel took direct aim at the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) on Fox News Sunday, a move that comes as he continues to test the waters for a presumed 2028 presidential run.
“They believe in defunding the police, letting prisoners out of prisons, opening the borders, eliminating the Pentagon,” Emanuel said, denouncing his party’s socialist rivals. He warned that Democrats cannot win the White House by “turning a blue district to midnight blue,” arguing instead that success requires “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 has addressed the threat posed by the party’s left flank. The Wall Street Journal’s John McCormick wrote in September 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,” the seriousness of his ambitions was evident during a two-day visit to Des Moines, Iowa.
The broader Democratic response to the DSA, according to the commentary, has been either to ignore the threat or to embrace the least unpalatable parts of its platform. That pattern is why recent weeks have seen repeated pleas from more centrist Democrats to reject the DSA. Mark Penn, a longtime Clinton advisor, warned on X in July about Mamdani’s New York: “Welcome to Socialism.”
It has been, in the words of the article, “pretty much the Summer of Dire DSA warnings.” Meanwhile, actual high-ranking officeholders have made moves like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer backing a progressive candidate while vowing the party’s “big tent” will win the Senate.
Despite Emanuel’s insistence that “The Democratic Party is not open to be taken over,” the piece suggests the party either has been co-opted or is well on its way. Gustavo Gordillo, DSA New York City cochair, stated in June: “We’re using the Democratic Party as a ballot-access vehicle, not because we share its goals. 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.” He added, “We see the Democratic establishment as an obstacle, not a home.”
The author argues that Emanuel either doesn’t recognize or can’t publicly acknowledge a fundamental dynamic: having no inherent limiting principles, the center-left eventually loses out to the hardcore left. The piece draws a historical parallel, asserting that “the Bolsheviks always slaughter the Mensheviks” and that the Mensheviks “always fail to see it coming.”
The commentary closes by suggesting Emanuel should go further and denounce his old boss, former President Obama, whom the author characterizes as having paved the way for the DSA.
Source: pjmedia.com — https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2026/08/31/hes-running-this-obama-advisor-just-denounced-the-dsa-n4956733
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