Rahm Emanuel, a former aide to former President Obama and current U.S. ambassador to Japan, argued that President-elect Trump will “turn the Oval Office into eBay.”
Emanuel joined The New York Times’ Ezra Klein, where he was asked about what concerns him most about a second Trump presidency.
“Donald Trump is going to turn the Oval Office into eBay,” Emanuel said. “He is going to sell it to every special interest, and you’re going to be left paying that tab.”
The ambassador argued that the Democratic Party is going to become a “thin blue line” attempting to defend public interest from corporate interest.
The party will have to stand in the way of the pharmaceutical industry “getting everything they want” and the American public “paying everything you have,” he said. The party will have to stand in the way of children’s mental health and online protections and TikTok, he argued.
“The Oval Office will become eBay,” Emanuel reiterated. “And whoever pays the highest price will get what they want, and you’ll be left paying through the nose.”
Emanuel and Klein discussed the Democratic Party’s shortfalls in the recent election.
The ambassador argued that the party’s messaging should have been centered more on the gains it made for the American people and less on “democracy and the rule of law.”
“Guess what? We had those voters. It was the other ones we needed,” he said.
Trump has appointed tech billionaire Elon Musk to co-lead his Department of Government Efficiency. Musk pumped millions of dollars into Trump’s campaign, and there are concerns about his influence over the president-elect as the world’s richest man.
Democrats had an opportunity to go after Trump and his relationship with Musk, Emanuel said, calling it a “target-rich environment.”
“And we left it,” he said.
Emanuel pointed to Trump’s Cabinet nominations and said they reflect all of the special interests Biden spent his tenure fighting.
“Donald Trump is going to let them back in,” Emanuel said. “And not only back in, you’re going to pay for it.”
Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago, is a veteran Washington insider after serving three Democratic presidents. He’s known for being high-energy and often using profane language.
He’s been floated by Democratic strategist David Axelrod to become the new chair of the Democratic National Committee.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.
