Rahm Emanuel talks education, Iran, and the future of the Democratic Party
Introduction
By Susan A. Hughes
April 28, 2026
“What would you like your next title to be?”
After introducing Rahm Emanuel—former mayor of Chicago, ambassador to Japan, White House chief of staff, congressman—Ned Price gave Emanuel the chance to make a big announcement with a pointed question.
Emanuel didn’t take the bait, exactly. He was at the Institute of Politics (IOP) John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum to discuss politics and geopolitics in the world today. While he didn’t say one way or another whether he wanted to add “president of the United States” to his list of titles, he sounded very much like a candidate in the running.
“All those titles are great, the trust is great,” said Emanuel, “but what you do with it is what really ends up mattering.”
Emanuel touted his successes improving education in the Chicago public schools when he was mayor, such as establishing universal full day pre-K and kindergarten, expanding charter school options, and increasing the high school graduation rate from 56% to 78%. “We were the first city to offer free community college tuition, books, and transportation to graduates with a B average,” said Emanuel.
In a spirited discussion, Price, the co-director of the IOP and host, led Emanuel through his thoughts on the current political environment, the U.S. strategy in Iran and abroad, and what Democrats needed to do to regain the American trust.
On education, Price asked what Emanuel made of this administration’s attacks on elite institutions of higher learning.
“Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think that a president of the United States would be doing the work of China, which is exactly what he is doing by attacking all the major research development institutions,” said Emanuel. “China right now is increasing their research funding to major institutions, and we have a president who proposes to cut 40% from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation.”
China, he said, has vowed to have a Cold War battle with the United States over life sciences, fusion, and quantum computing, to name a few topics. “We have government cutting the lifeline to America’s prosperity in the future.”
While Emanuel said he has yet to decide on his political future, he did propose a few ideas. The first is his commitment to a more cost-effective college education. “No parent should pick which child goes to college or get a second job or mortgage to afford it.”
Secondly, he said no one working in the Federal government should participate in predictive markets. He also proposed a 10% tax on online sports gaming and prediction markets that could fund the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
As for Iran, Emanuel disagreed with Trump’s decision to go to war. “I can’t unring President Trump’s bell,” he said. He also noted that decisions happening in the Oval Office are not between good and bad results. “If they are between good or bad, the chief of staff will handle it,” said Emanuel. “Anything else going into the Oval Office is bad or worse and it is the capacity of the people around you to decipher the bad or the worse possibilities.”
Now, he said, Iranian leadership has embraced the “nuclear option,” assuming control of the Strait of Hormuz. “Here’s what I would do to unring a bell that never should have been rung.”
In the short term, he said all boats should be allowed in and out of the Strait of Hormuz, or none should. “You cannot let Iran have control of the strait.” In the midterm, Emanuel recommended the United Nations set up a fee, with the revenue split among all parties.
In the long term, Emanuel recommended expanding the Abraham Accords, a series of joint normalization agreements signed in 2020 between Israel and several Arab nations, to include the United States. In a recent interview, Emanuel said countries that embraced this new plan to recognize Israel would be rewarded with the lowest U.S. tariffs, get to the front of the line to purchase U.S. military equipment, and work on building an oil pipeline through the Strait of Hormuz into the Red Sea to eliminate Iran’s global leverage.
But he cautioned, “You are not going to walk away. If you walk away, you are going to accelerate the problem you’re trying to actually stop.”
Pivoting to the status of the Democratic party—“the only party less popular that the Republican party”—Price asked what it needed to do to regain popularity.
“We got ourselves sidetracked on a whole conversation that is totally secondary to what people are feeling,” said Emanuel. “We’re off in some cultural cu-de-sac talking about stuff that is not important in their lives, like how to pay or get a mortgage, or how to afford healthcare.”
Democrats are accused, Emanuel said, of being “weak and woke,” and he felt politicians are giving them material to support this perspective. “The lessons out of Kennedy, Clinton, and Obama are to ground yourself where the American people are in their lives.”
Bringing the conversation back to education, Emanuel reiterated his commitment to community colleges and affordable higher education. “The community college is the economic fabric of our country,” he said. “It’s where 40% of the people who go to college attend. They are not on anyone’s radar, and yet they are the lifeblood of the economy.”
The complete discussion included Emanuel’s predictions for the 2026 midterms, his thoughts on Indo-Pacific relations, and his relationship with Netanyahu. It can be heard on the IOP’s YouTube channel.
Photography by Martha Stewart