Shafted
To understand politics today, we need to understand what happened the last 20-plus years.
A good diagnosis comes from Rahm Emanuel (photo), a possible Democratic candidate for President in 2028. He’s been senior adviser to President Clinton, a member of Congress and a House Democratic leader, chief of staff to President Obama, mayor of Chicago and most recently Ambassador to Japan.
In an interview with The Atlantic’s David Frum, Emanuel says Americans got hit by three shockwaves in succession.
“First, the war in Iraq. You have a trillion dollars, thousands of men and women lose their lives, and their lives are maimed, and it’s built on deception, and nobody who was there is held accountable. And it devastates America and Americans and American communities.
“Six years later, five years later, you have the financial meltdown … and the bankers are demanding their bonuses, having destroyed Americans’ livelihoods and their savings.
“And third, after all that anger at the establishment comes COVID. And we, as Democrats, don the coat of the establishment. And I think those moments broke trust, confidence in the establishment in America. And we’re still living with that, as we can see by the reelection of Donald Trump. And you can see it in the rest of the developed world…. COVID was not only bad for your body; it wasn’t great for the body politic either.
“And so when you put that all together…what happened in 2024 is informative about understanding not just the anger [but] legitimate parts of why people are angry. They have a right to be angry. Rather than being given a shot, they were given the shaft, and Washington and the people that make it up let them down.”
In 2024, the Biden-Harris administration looked like the status quo, the Washington politicians who let them down.
Trump looked like he’d shake things up.
But now he’s giving us the shaft by upending the economy, slashing vital services and endangering public health.
That will give Democrats a shot in 2026 and 2028, if we learn the lessons of 2024 – and the last 20 years.
You have to subscribe to read The Atlantic interview. It’s worth it. They’re doing some of the best reporting today on politics, the nation and the world.
Shafted
To understand politics today, we need to understand what happened the last 20-plus years.
A good diagnosis comes from Rahm Emanuel (photo), a possible Democratic candidate for President in 2028. He’s been senior adviser to President Clinton, a member of Congress and a House Democratic leader, chief of staff to President Obama, mayor of Chicago and most recently Ambassador to Japan.
In an interview with The Atlantic’s David Frum, Emanuel says Americans got hit by three shockwaves in succession.
“First, the war in Iraq. You have a trillion dollars, thousands of men and women lose their lives, and their lives are maimed, and it’s built on deception, and nobody who was there is held accountable. And it devastates America and Americans and American communities.
“Six years later, five years later, you have the financial meltdown … and the bankers are demanding their bonuses, having destroyed Americans’ livelihoods and their savings.
“And third, after all that anger at the establishment comes COVID. And we, as Democrats, don the coat of the establishment. And I think those moments broke trust, confidence in the establishment in America. And we’re still living with that, as we can see by the reelection of Donald Trump. And you can see it in the rest of the developed world…. COVID was not only bad for your body; it wasn’t great for the body politic either.
“And so when you put that all together…what happened in 2024 is informative about understanding not just the anger [but] legitimate parts of why people are angry. They have a right to be angry. Rather than being given a shot, they were given the shaft, and Washington and the people that make it up let them down.”
In 2024, the Biden-Harris administration looked like the status quo, the Washington politicians who let them down.
Trump looked like he’d shake things up.
But now he’s giving us the shaft by upending the economy, slashing vital services and endangering public health.
That will give Democrats a shot in 2026 and 2028, if we learn the lessons of 2024 – and the last 20 years.
You have to subscribe to read The Atlantic interview. It’s worth it. They’re doing some of the best reporting today on politics, the nation and the world.