Running from the middle, is Rahm Emanuel the next Michael Bloomberg?

In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.Going into the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, the pragmatic thinking at the time was that Michael Bloomberg had a good chance of emerging as the winner to take on President Donald Trump. Bloomberg had the same qualities as Trump from a businessman perspective: He successfully went from growing up in a working-class household in Boston to Harvard Business School graduate to developing the revolutionary Bloomberg Terminal in 1982 that provided real‑time live market data, analytics, and trading capabilities. Wall Street had never had such a terminal at its disposal, and it instantly turned Michael Bloomberg into a business giant. He became one of the richest men in the world while employing tens of thousands of people at Bloomberg L.P. across more than 150 locations.With that kind of resume and even-keeled persona, Bloomberg shocked political pundits by winning the New York mayor’s race as a Republican, succeeding Rudy Giuliani and continuing his tough-on-crime policies. Bloomberg ran New York the same way he ran his businesses: efficient, effective, no-nonsense with an eye on balanced budgets and prudent spending. His approval rating always remained over 50% throughout his three terms as mayor.Big success in business. Big success in governing the largest city in the country. The anti-Trump as far as persona. And given the competition for the Democratic nomination, which included an aging former Vice President Joe Biden, an inexperienced Pete Buttigieg, an awkward Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a socialist in Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a bumbling Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), and relatively nondescript candidates such as Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), the thinking here was it was Bloomberg’s to lose — especially considering he had all the money he needed from his own checkbook at his disposal.But then something funny happened on the way to victory: Bloomberg became the top target of his opponents. Warren, in particular, roasted him during early primary debates by focusing on nondisclosure agreements he asked female employees to sign, in portraying him as some kind of sexual predator. And legacy media played right along: New York Times headline: “How Bloomberg Buys the Silence of Unhappy Employees; Every year, Mike Bloomberg’s company pays hundreds of fired employees to not say anything bad.”Bloomberg also supported Giuliani’s stop-and-frisk policy, which was applauded by the Right and condemned by the Left. This too was a focus in primary debates as the party veered hard to the left. In the end, Bloomberg spent more than $1 billion of his own money, only to drop out after Super Tuesday in March 2020.Fast forward to 2026: Another former mayor of a major city, Rahm Emanuel, is eyeing a run at the presidency during another open primary season similar to 2020. Emanuel was a chief of staff to former President Barack Obama, a three-term congressman, and a two-term mayor of Chicago. He has also worked in the private sector in investment banking and sat on the board at Freddie Mac.JOE CONCHA: COLUMNIST WHO CHEERED KIRK ASSASSINATION GETS HER JOB BACKAs you might have heard, the Democratic Party is in a civil war these days. The socialist wing of the party has seen tremendous growth since Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, was elected mayor of New York after being relatively unknown a few months prior and never even holding an actual job.The DSA has since become emboldened in laying out its plan for America if given more power, including abolishing police, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, prisons, the Senate, and the presidency; ending all private health insurance in instituting government-run healthcare; providing citizenship for all illegal immigrants in the country; dismantling the War Department; and ending military aid to other countries, especially Israel.Emanuel sees this path as utter madness and has been one of the few Democrats to forcefully reject the DSA. Most establishment Democrats are petrified to criticize the DSA, given its momentum and organization, instead opting for the talking point of embracing their ideas under a “big tent.”“I don’t consider democratic socialists part of the Democratic Party,” Emanuel said in an interview with anchor Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday.“They believe in defunding the police, letting prisoners out of prisons, opening the borders, eliminating the Pentagon,” Emanuel said recently. “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.”Emanuel’s rejection flies in the face of top Democrats, who don’t seem to care about these radical positions if it means regaining power in the House and Senate.Take Sanders, the unofficial godfather of the DSA, and his perspective on Abdul el Sayed and Angie Nixon, who are running as Senate nominees for the Democratic Party in Michigan and Florida, respectively.El Sayed has campaigned with Hasan Piker, the guy who called Jews “inbreds,” said that Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) should be assassinated, declared that “America deserved 9/11,” and has shared his hatred for the country and police officers, yet el Sayed won’t disavow him. And in her Florida race, Nixon has argued for reparations for all black citizens, a $25 minimum wage, a national rent freeze, and abolishing the Electoral College and filibuster, among other radical ideas.But here’s Sanders saying that doesn’t matter, all in the name of power.“We may not like el Sayed. We may not like Angie Nixon,” the soon-to-be 85-year-old said recently. “But you know what? If we win Michigan and if by some miracle we win Florida, you know what? We’re going to control the U.S. Senate. And we would very much like to control the U.S Senate.”Well, so much for integrity and principles. Winning is everything.So can Emanuel win? He sits at a 2.8% chance on the betting market Kalshi, placing him in ninth place behind Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), Harris, Buttigieg, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), and Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY). It’s still very early, of course, but one has to wonder if Emanuel, who is Jewish, can overcome the increasingly antisemitic wing of the party while running toward the middle in a field that, outside of Shapiro and Beshear, is going to run hard to the left.Because that’s where the energy is. And perhaps most importantly, that’s where the donations are going: The DNC is in debt while the DSA is operating at a healthy surplus. For Emanuel to separate himself, donations will be key.Being in the establishment used to be a good thing in politics. But as evidenced by the elections of Obama, Trump, and Mamdani on a micro level, being seen as part of the system, and therefore part of the problem, is increasingly seen as a negative.JOE CONCHA: DEMOCRATS TRY TO DIVORCE THEMSELVES FROM A TOXIC HASAN PIKEREmanuel rejects the insanity of the far Left.But so did Bloomberg six years ago. And we know how that movie ended.