Rahm Emanuel might be the biggest asshole in politics. That was certainly the consensus back in the 2000s when I had lots of political contacts. He’s also filth in many, many ways and I don’t trust him.
But this is good. This is very good:
“Over the last five years, Israel has evolved from being lauded as the start-up nation to becoming, in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s words, a modern-day Sparta,” Emanuel said. “You have turned from being known for your technological prowess to being considered primarily a territorial pariah.”…
… “If I have anything to say about it, every Israeli found attacking Palestinian civilians or their property in the future will be sanctioned,” Emanuel said.
You are free to doubt Rahm’s sincerity. I sure as hell do.
Rahm is a very skilled political operator without any real principles. He gets things done, he’s a leader in the party and he’s genuinely feared by other politicians. His personal presence is intimidating.
And this is the sort of guy you need to turn. He was pro-Israel before not out of principle, as he claims, but because it was politically expedient. And he’s anti-Israeli now because he wants to be President and he’s not stupid like Harris, he can see that support for genocide is electorally toxic. If he wants to win the primary and the election he needs to be anti-Israeli.
Years of Americans seeing video after video of Israelis killing and torturing doctors, children and women have finally moved past the point that even Zionist control of essentially every major media outlet can mitigate. Generations of belief that “Israel are the good guys, the David facing Goliath” have been burned up in the fires of a live-streamed genocide.
So, this is good news. We don’t get a lot of it. Feel free to be cynical about Rahm, I sure as hell am. But that someone like him has turned matters and it gives other politicians permission to turn, because Rahm genuinely is a leader in the party.
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