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Pod Save America

Rahm Emanuel is Not NOT Running for President

Pod Save America

Crooked Media

News, Politics

4.683.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 December 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago and chief of staff to President Obama, joins Tommy to discuss where he thinks the Democratic Party went wrong in 2024, why he's advocating for a blanket social media ban for children under 16, and to reflect on the foreign policy decisions from the Obama era that have shaped the 21st century. Then, Tommy asks Rahm whether there might be presidential ambitions behind his recent podcast tour.

Transcript

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0:00.0

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1:45.1

SeeBlinds.com for details. Welcome to Potsave America. I'm Tommy Vitor. I just wrapped up my conversation with Rahm Emanuel, who is Obama's chief of staff. He was the mayor of Chicago.

1:50.6

He was a member of Congress for several years. And he was just the ambassador to Japan for Joe Biden.

1:54.4

He seems like he's running for president. I asked him about whether he's running for president.

1:58.4

You'll hear his answer. It's a little noncommittal. But the vibe suggests he is.

2:02.4

We had a ranging conversation. We talked about why he thinks the Democratic Party lost in 2024, how we can fix our brand and put forward a platform that actually wins back

2:08.8

the voters we lost to Donald Trump. We also geeked out on some foreign policy. We talked about

2:13.3

how Democrats should adjust their policy towards Israel in the wake of the war in Gaza, whether it was

2:18.1

right for the Trump administration to bomb Iran. He talked about China. We talked about Ram's time as

2:22.3

ambassador to Japan. And then how with the benefit of hindsight, he views some of the more

2:27.6

controversial kind of Obama-era counterterrorism policies like drones. It was fun to talk to Ron.

2:33.1

It was fun to mix it up. We had to agree

2:35.0

to disagree at a bunch of different points, but I think you will find it interesting. And he

2:38.9

certainly has a vision and view for where the party should go. And he is hitting the road

2:45.8

to make that known. And I think you'll enjoy it. So without further ado, here's Rahm Emanuel.

2:56.2

Great to see you. Nice to see you. First question. You have an aged a bit. I'm trying.

3:01.2

Is me interviewing you as weird for you as it is for me? It's a little out of body experience

3:06.6

that I have to be nice at this point. Yeah. I'm used to staffing, you maybe scurrying away, hiding in the back of the meeting. Let's just say this. To prepare for this, I had to do about two hours of meditation. Good. Good. I hope it was mindful. All right. So the Atlantic recently ran a big profile of you by a great reporter Ashley Parker.

...

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